Tension at the Threshold

2023 was going to be the year I transitioned from a soloist to an agency owner.

I had big dreams of being an operations agency for small- and micro-businesses, expanding the work I was doing as a fractional COO last year.

I looked at my financials and if I was growing at the pace I was growing at last year, I would run out of my own capacity in about March, and to continue growing I would need to hire another person on my team.

So, I did what any planner would do.

I joined a mastermind of other agency owners as I prepared to build. I started documenting the tools I used with my clients. I stockpiled a cash reserve in case I needed to absorb some cost before I recouped any revenue upside. I started looking around for potential team members to join me.

Yet, as the months continued on, I sharply realized I was nowhere near ready to bring someone else into my business beyond very specific tasks like social media or tax planning.

My internal tools were organized for me, but only because I know what I’m looking for when I edit them.

I didn’t yet have a robust enough sales pipeline to consistently bring in enough new clients quickly enough to sustain another team member.

While how I structured my engagements was similar, the work I did for each client was relatively varied.

But at the foundation, I wasn’t sure being positioned as a Fractional COO was the work I was called to do!

I know that at my core that I’m at my best in designing and co-building the business model, methods, and management practices to ensure a robust, sustainable, and profitable business. But once the holistic business framework is running, I am itchy for a new and thorny challenge.

This period is the tension at the threshold.

The threshold period where you’re pulled to switch or add on ​business models.​ Being pulled to move from being a soloist to adding a team, moving from 1:1 work to group containers, from bespoke packages to more productized services or courses.

This threshold point is filled with tension: you realistically can’t do more than you’re already doing, yet you want to keep growing, and you don’t feel like you can slow down because you don’t want to lose momentum…

So you’re torn between wanting to burn it all down and slamming on the gas to ease the pain of being at this plateau, at this precipice between where you’re at and what’s next.

And in our speed- and growth-focused culture, the pull is always to move forward more quickly.

To push through the threshold to the next evolution in your business.

To hire the contractor, to launch the group, to film the self-guided course, to take on the next project.

But what if you got comfortable sitting in the really uncomfortable tension?

Being oversubscribed with a waitlist while you restructure your processes and pricing and client roster.

Holding off on launching the paid group or membership, but building momentum and exposing more people to your work through regular workshops/roundtables/webinars.

Strengthening your boundaries and clarifying your business structures.

Getting really consistent with the marketing activities you’ll need to have solidly in place for the next phase of your business.

Making those connections that build your reputation, your relationships, and your audience because you’re consistently showing up over time in a place of service, not selling.

Using this time to dig in below the surface of your business and being honest about where you’ll outstrip your foundation when you grow. Diagnosing those areas that don’t run as effectively as they could - or run on your shoulders when they could be delegated, automated, or simply eliminated.

In this period of my own tension, I’ve been spending this summer revising my positioning, restructuring my offers and pricing, clarifying and documenting my methodology, cleaning up my processes, rewriting my web copy and overhauling my website, and updating my visual identity (new photos coming soon!). While delivering for clients!

It has been a project. But as I prepare for growth (maybe? or maybe just continued sustainability right where I’m at), I’ll be coming from a much stronger, rooted foundation to support that growth.

Where are you facing thresholds in your business, and how would it look to sink into the uncomfortable tension versus pushing through?

I’ll leave you with a small quote from Lindsay Mack about the Knights in the Tarot, as a supportive anchor for the energies at these thresholds.

The Knights, connected to Air, are really representative of flexibility, mutability, offering us many options of rhythmic living. … And grace, in that sometimes we really want to move quickly, but life is inviting us to move a little bit more slowly. Grace is really helpful in those moments because that’s very common. That’s as common as, you know, we’ve all experienced that, when our rhythm is not necessarily a preferred one, or we’re in our head about how it’s somehow wrong or a problem. So The Knights can help us to be with that.

…

So The Knights, in essence, can be Anchors and allies to us in the journey of moving more fully toward a very deeply loving and respectful relationship with our bodies, our timing, our rhythm, and our pace.