EP368: Strategies for Turning Your Business into a Scalable Machine

Stacy Jones | September 20, 2023 at 10:00 AM

The power of measurable steps

The best way to achieve success in an agency is to share your goals across the company and break them into small, measurable steps. This way the consistency is the same and the efficiency is there. But, it is not always that easy. Learn from Raul Hernandez-Ochoa.

Raul is the founder and CEO of Do Good Work, a consulting practice that helps independent digital businesses achieve profitable growth. With extensive experience as a digital growth strategist and entrepreneur, Raul is known for helping businesses achieve profitable growth and make a meaningful impact. In this blog, Hollywood Branded highlights the importance of breaking down your goals into measurable steps to achieve consistent efficiency.

The Importance Of Integrated Sales And Marketing Strategy (14)

A Little More About Raul

Raul has tripled the growth of digital businesses, generated millions in revenue, and designed high-performing marketing and sales teams. He has been responsible for driving $50 million in sales and overseeing $25 million in ad spend and has trained thousands of entrepreneurs through private programs and live events.

Raul is also a published author and a sought-after public speaker, sharing his insights and strategies for success

Interview Transcript Highlights

Stacy: I always like starting off the podcast with - what got you here today? Where did this mega of strategy and growth come from? And how did you land here?

Raul: Oh man, definitely not the Mega! But by accident, actually. I was trying to start a software company, and that turned into partnering with a friend that I had never met, but we were connected on Skype. He was in Brooklyn and I was in San Diego. We started the company and said, "Hey, let's dive into solving a problem for the market." Turns out the market we were serving needed marketing and sales help. So I was like, okay, let's learn it!

So we learned it and started doing services, more freelance, fractional agency work, and booking clients. That took me out of my day job into finance. I was VP of Morgan on the retail banking side, so that was like sales at scale, moving a quarter million dollars from one account to another. We learned that building the company online is not what we wanted to do because we had to hire a team.

So from there, I helped transition to helping other agencies - digital marketing agencies - grow from acquisitions to mergers and all that fun stuff, leading teams and being part of some thought leaders in the space. And that's where I got my first exposure to training and coaching.

Stacy: And so when you're working with a new client, what's the first step you take? How do you help them first figure out what actually needs to be fixed and where the growth opportunities are? And then how do you figure out from there what the next step is?

Raul: I think I'll just tell you real experiences and examples. There's always the audit piece - you'll hear this from the McKinseys and big consultants - do the audit, review what they're doing, and then find the gap from here to there. That's obvious. But I think what makes it different is always aligning with the goal of the business owner.

I come from a bootstrapped entrepreneur background. I work with people who have to make their marketing pay for themselves. I honor that. I don't work with people who have a lot of funding or whatever.

It's about aligning their actual intention with starting the business and their end outcome. We overlook that a lot - we talk about revenue, growth, and all the fun stuff. But why? That's an important question because answering why reveals the strategy.

Do you want to exit, for example? I just finished a call with a new cohort group and asked who wants to sell their company or exit one day - maybe 50% raised their hand. Some want cash flow to invest in other parts of life/business, others want to exit in 2-3 years. Just depending on the why allows you to design backward what you're building. I look at it from a design perspective - I wanted to be in animation if you can believe it!

So I come from a creative lens first, then put the analytical on top. But it's all designed - what are you designing towards? And what's the best path to achieve that growth number or exit number?

Stacy: Are there certain platforms better suited to be organized? Our team uses Monday, Teams, Slack, etc. More keep coming out.

Raul: The tools matter less - I've used Slack, ClickUp, Basecamp, and Google Drive. Have the framework and foundation. Growth is initiated by duplicating your idea into someone else's brain and facilitating their action, especially as you scale so it's not all on you.

Sneak peek into Marketing Mistakes ( + How To Avoid Them) episode

Stacy: What are the next steps once everyone is communicating on the singular platform?

Raul: Ensuring we have the right initiatives aligned to your goals. I like to break down companies into departments: marketing, product, operations, and finance. They focus on their area.

Those initiatives ensure each department has its top actions, deliverables, and outcomes for the quarter/year. Break those down into one-offs, habits to implement, or multi-pronged projects. Dissect so you can really get to work in alignment towards why we're doing this, then build with communication, execution, tracking, and empowering others to execute.

Stacy: After taking all your steps, what should leaders keep in mind when trying to pull this together cohesively?

Raul: Every goal you have now is accomplishable. Be honest with yourself and stick with it long-term, step by step. Progress may be slow but focus on excellence in execution daily and you'll see inflection points and be able to pivot.

Stacy: Well now is a great time for you to share - how can listeners find you? If they need help, where should they go?

Raul: The best place is my website do-good-work.io/marketingmistakes. You'll have access to a free book, training, and a way to contact me.

Check Out The Podcast!

The power of breaking down your goals into measurable steps is one step closer to having a successful agency. If you're eager to learn more about achieving profitable growth and ensuring consistency, listen to the entire episode below.

Every week we have a marketing professional on our show to share their tips, tricks and lessons learned from their professional experience. Check out some of our other podcast blogs from earlier this year:

How can you make sure you don't miss an episode? Click below to subscribe!