Q4 is known for the frenetic pace that inevitably comes with the final push to meet (and exceed!) annual goals. Amidst the frenzy, we need to pull ourselves out of the weeds of the current plan to focus on creating next year’s plan. Short on time, many leaders short-change the planning process, committing a few cardinal sins that perpetuate the planning-to-scrambling cycle.

At ScaleHouse we spend a lot of time working with founders on exit strategies that are focused on selling to a strategic buyer or private equity firm. But what if you’re a CEO looking to exit while still desiring the company to run in perpetuity? Or you’re looking to give up control of the day-to-day so you can focus on contributing to the business in a different way?

It seems a new business book with tips and tricks for scaling growth is released on a weekly basis. Given the constant influx of business content, it can be difficult to know what is actual field-tested advice that works, and what is a potential distraction.

"I'm so busy!" As summer (for many of us) winds down and conference season and Q4 ramps up, this mantra will echo louder and louder.  We trade stories of miles flown, cities visited, sleepless nights counted, deals saved, speeches given. The tally of these items becomes a proxy score for our value as an employee, our stature as a professional. “She must have a very important job,” we think, “she is always so busy!”  We’ve come to equate busyness with professional status and we’ve come to equate professional status with self-identity. That combination equates to… burnout.

September marks the beginning of the Q3/4 trade show season. Even if you’ve already read our previous post on this subject, it deserves revisiting before you hit the road with a big event investment.

Running an agency, regardless of the type, requires grit, determination, some serious smarts and of course, persistence. Without these ingredients, you will do well to survive, let alone thrive. But what if your ambitions are loftier than simply survival or running a lifestyle business? What if you want to grow your agency and achieve some scale so that you can exit with a high valuation?  That's a challenge that a lot of agency owners tackle and with varying degrees of success.

Innovation tops the list of business buzzwords right now, especially in the data and analytics space. Everyone wants to be INNOVATIVE. GreenBook’s recently published annual list of most innovative companies spurred discussions about what makes a company innovative and how innovation seems to thrive among some companies and die amongst others. These discussions were also heard earlier this year at the Front End of Innovation Conference where major corporations, government agencies and start-ups came together to figure out how to fuel innovation in their respective sectors. Across the discussions, a few consistent themes emerged:

Burning the busy badge of honor promotes a better work environment and it has an added benefit…supporting your success. Warren Buffet is famous for advising, "The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything." Buffet isn’t the only (highly) successful individual to support the art of saying “no” more often. Steve Jobs, Tim Ferriss, Jim Collins and even Oprah have all gone on the record with similar points of view. So why don’t more of us listen to their advice? Why do we continue to accept more commitments, driving ourselves to the brink of burnout?

Summer is the perfect time to step back and focus on your business instead of being mired in your business, ensuring you're ready to hit the fall ramp up in full-force. To help you succeed, we’re launching our series of Masterminds aimed at supporting key business areas including sales and marketing, product development and leadership and culture.