29 Leadership Lessons On Running A Fast-Growing Business

Bryan Miles, along with his wife Shannon, currently leads three different seven-figure companies.  He is the CEO & Co-founder of Miles Advisory Group (MAG), the parent company of the brands eaHELP, a virtual assistant company and MAG Bookkeeping, a virtual bookkeeping company for churches and non-profits.

Bryan is an unbelievable leader.  MAG was recently recognized as #131 on The Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies.

Recently, he appeared on The 7-Figure CEO Podcast with Casey Graham, owner of The Rocket Company.  The following are 29 Leadership Lessons On Running A Fast-Growing Business I gleaned from their insightful conversation:

1. It took about two fiscal years for EA Help and about 3.5 years for MAG Bookkeeping (to break the seven-figure mark).
2. If we charge more we can pay our people more.
3. In the early days, it was all-hands on deck.  I wore about 87 different hats.
4. You don’t own anything until the day you can leave that place and the business doesn’t need you.
5. Own things not run things.
6. I look at what I was doing day-to-day and asked who could do it.
7. Start small.  Our first salesperson was part-time.
8. Our sales accelerated the more I got out of it.
9. As the owner I stopped hiring people because I stunk at it.
10. We didn’t hire anybody until we had a job description.
11. Relationship managers are what makes us sticky in our market.
12. Early on we hired too quick.  We didn’t vet people enough.
13. We also didn’t fire quick enough.
14. We had to define what our sales cycles looked like.
15. The lid to their next stage of growth is knowing where to find customers.  Not just customers, the right customers.
16. There is going to be a certain universe of suspects and prospects…Then move into some form of dialogue.
17.  A proposal is not a contract.  Some business folks jump too quickly.
18. After the proposal stage they should ask you for a contract.
19. We promise what we say and we expect that of our customer too.
20. Stop talking to the wrong prospects and start talking to the people that are going to be right customers.
21. Excel spreadsheets do not work for managing sales if you want to be in business.
22. In the early days you’re fighting for cash.  It is the lifeblood of any organization.
23. At eaHelp we went from red to black in 14 months.
24. You’ve got to get cash so you have to go get sales.
25. I look at our numbers daily.
26. If you don’t know your numbers you don’t know your business.
27. I chose not to grow our business on credit.  I chose to let the business grow itself.
28. He (Richard Branson) was insanely good at listening.
29. People with extreme wealth, they’re still people.  And they’ve got hopes and wishes and dreams and pains just like the rest of us.

This was as good an interview on launching successful businesses as you will ever hear.  Click HERE to download.

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