The Bottom Line

Read time: 3.5 minutes.​
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Hey Reader,

Have you ever felt like your business is stuck in the mud, unable to gain momentum no matter how hard you push? Trust me, you’re not alone. One of the biggest bottlenecks to growth is often—you guessed it—us! We end up being the CEO, the marketer, the salesperson, and the tech support all rolled into one. Sounds familiar, right?

Today, I want to share with you a fantastic concept called the “Replacement Ladder. Inspired by my buddy Dan Martell and with a little twist from yours truly, this strategy can help you identify what roles to outsource so you can focus on what you do best. It’s helped me create both a business and a life I love! Let's dive in!
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Below are the various feelings you might feel, the potential hire to alleviate you from those feelings and what elements that new hire will own (so you don’t have to).
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Dan sees it as a ladder to climb, whereas I think you can simply select the feeling/roles/hires that you want to offload first.

Rung 1: Admin – From Stuck to Unstoppable

Feeling: Stuck
Hire: Admin (Executive Assistant, Virtual Assistant)
Ownership: Inbox and Calendar

Most business owners are controlled by their inbox and calendar - rather than controlling it. As a result you don’t get to focus on generating revenue. Days are filled attending to the needs of the inbox. If you find yourself drowning in administrative tasks—managing your inbox and scheduling meetings—it's time to bring in support. Picture this: you wake up in the morning, look at your calendar, and everything is perfectly organized. Your inbox only has messages that require your attention. Magic, right?

The reality is that handling administrative tasks can consume a significant portion of your day. These tasks, while essential, often pull you away from strategic activities that drive business growth. Hiring an admin allows you to delegate the mundane and repetitive tasks, such as managing emails, scheduling appointments, and organizing documents. This way, you can reclaim your time and mental energy to focus on high-impact activities that move your business forward.

For instance, instead of spending hours sorting through emails, you can have an assistant filter out the noise and prioritize the important messages that require your attention. They can respond and deal with anything you don’t need to see and you can only focus on what you do. Similarly, instead of juggling your calendar and trying to fit in meetings, your assistant can manage your schedule, ensuring that your time is allocated efficiently.

Rung 2: Onboarding & Delivery – From Stalled to Streamlined

Feeling: Stalled
Hire: Coach or Delivery Specialist
Ownership: Onboarding and Support

Are you bogged down by onboarding new clients and dealing with support issues? This can be a major growth killer. Hire someone to manage the onboarding process and handle all those support queries. Imagine not having to answer another "I need to change my credit card info" email ever again. This will free you up to work on what truly matters—growing your business.

When you are responsible for every aspect of client onboarding and support, it’s easy to hit a ceiling. You only have so many hours in a day, and spending them on repetitive onboarding tasks and support inquiries limits your capacity to take on new clients. By hiring a delivery specialist, you can ensure that your clients receive a seamless onboarding experience while you focus on scaling your operations.

This hire will handle everything from guiding new clients through the onboarding process, answering common questions, resolving issues, and ensuring a smooth transition into your service. This not only improves the client experience but also frees up your time to focus on strategic growth initiatives.
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The 2.0 move here is to also hire a coach who can do some/all of the delivery for you. This way you have a team who can help you serve more clients.

Rung 3: Marketing – From Friction to Flow

Feeling: Friction
Hire: Marketing Expert
Ownership: Campaigns and Traffic

If creating campaigns and managing traffic feels like pushing a boulder uphill, it’s time to bring in a marketing expert. In fact, unless you’re deeply skilled at marketing, this should be an immediate hire. Sure, you need to know enough to direct the strategy but let someone else handle the nitty-gritty of building and managing campaigns. This can be a game-changer, allowing you to scale your marketing efforts without burning out.

Marketing is the lifeblood of any business, but it can also be incredibly time-consuming and complex. From designing campaigns to analyzing traffic and optimizing conversions, the tasks involved in effective marketing require a specific skill set and a lot of attention to detail. If this isn't your forte, it's best to hand it over to someone who excels in this area.

By hiring a marketing expert, you can ensure that your campaigns are strategically designed and executed to achieve the best results. They can handle everything from social media management, content creation, SEO, PPC advertising, and more. This allows you to maintain a strong market presence without getting bogged down by the complexities of modern marketing.

Rung 4: Sales – From Frazzled to Freedom

Feeling: I want freedom
Hire: Sales Team
Ownership: Sales Calls and Follow-Up

Let’s face it, handling all sales calls and follow-ups yourself is not sustainable. If you want to grow, you need a sales team. They can take over the inbound calls and the crucial follow-up process. Remember, the fortune is in the follow-up! Free yourself from the constant sales grind so you can focus on strategic growth.

Sales is another critical area where business owners often find themselves stretched too thin. Taking every sales call, nurturing leads, and following up with prospects can quickly become overwhelming. This not only limits your ability to scale but also affects your overall productivity and well-being.

A dedicated sales team can handle these tasks more efficiently. They can manage the entire sales process, from initial contact to closing deals and maintaining relationships. This ensures that no potential opportunity slips through the cracks and allows you to focus on other areas of your business.

Rung 5: Leadership – From Stress to Success

Feeling: I want flow
Hire: Leadership (General Manager, COO, CEO, Head of Growth, etc)
Ownership: Strategy and Outcomes

Finally, for the ultimate business freedom, hire a leadership team. This could be a General Manager or a COO who can take over the strategic and operational planning. They’ll handle everything from growth strategies to financial planning. This allows you to step back and focus on what you’re passionate about, be it coaching, creating, or just enjoying life.

As your business grows, so does the complexity of managing it. Strategic planning, financial oversight, and operational management become increasingly demanding. By hiring a leadership team, you can delegate these high-level responsibilities to experienced professionals who can drive your business forward.

A General Manager or COO can take charge of daily operations, ensuring that everything runs smoothly. They can develop and implement growth strategies, oversee financial management, and handle any challenges that arise. This enables you to step back from the day-to-day grind and focus on the bigger picture.

My Journey “Up” or “Across” the Ladder

Let me share a bit of my own journey. The first thing I outsourced was sales because I just didn’t enjoy it. I could drive leads, but I hated closing deals. Next, I brought in marketing and support teams to take care of important areas that I didn’t want to do, and now I have zero involvement in admin tasks. My next step is to hire a full leadership team to handle growth and revenue, allowing me to focus solely on strategy and coaching.

Outsourcing sales was a game-changer for me. It allowed me to focus on what I do best—driving leads and strategizing. With a dedicated sales team handling calls and follow-ups, our conversion rates improved, and I regained valuable time to work on strategic initiatives.

Bringing in marketing and support teams further streamlined our operations. With experts handling these critical areas, we saw an increase in efficiency and customer satisfaction. Now, I don’t have to worry about administrative tasks at all, and my focus is on high-level strategy and growth.
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Also if some of these hires are attached to growth, they can be paid based on performance.

The Big Picture

If you want to grow and have the freedom to take time off (yes, even a whole year if you want), you need to climb the Replacement Ladder. By strategically outsourcing tasks, you’ll free yourself from being the bottleneck and transform your business into a well-oiled machine that runs with or without you. Remember, your business should serve you, not the other way around.

Imagine having the freedom to take a month-long vacation without worrying about your business falling apart. Or even taking a year off, as my friend David Bach once did, to travel and enjoy life. It’s possible when you have the right systems and people in place that your business not only doesn’t fall apart but thrives even more. By climbing the Replacement Ladder, you can create a business that grows independently of your constant input.

Got any questions or need more details? Hit me up, and let’s chat!

To your success,

Nicholas “Replaced” Kusmich

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P.S. Ready To Maximize Your Profits?
The best way I can help you is by showing you how to get more QUALIFIED sales leads, at much less costs, without using an old, outdated traditional funnel... Interested? Learn more here → https://scale.nicholaskusmich.com/fast-track

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