Sarah Fejfar 0:00
If it's never going to be okay for you to be in any other arrangement for your mastermind, then you shape then when sourcing a venue, you can automatically throw out all these options. And they never have to be a question because if a U shape for 30 Can't fit, then it's not an option on the table anymore. We move on next. I think there's so many little things like that, that we can have someone help us get out of our heads to document it so that we can make it easier on our team to wash, rinse and repeat every time or make it easy to hand it off to a vendor to support us.
Sarah Fejfar 0:37
How are entrepreneurs like us daring bravely to build a stage? Ditch the sweat pants and step up to the mic? How do we create our own transformative events? So we can get our message out into the world in a bigger way? It's not only profitable, but it's actually something we can be proud of. That's the question. And the answers are inside this podcast. My name is Sarah Fejfar. Welcome to greenroom Central.
Sarah Fejfar 1:06
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you wanted to put on your next event, and you wanted to put it on the calendar, but behind the scenes, it felt like an uphill battle. It's like you want to put on the gas. But subconsciously, you're finding yourself putting on the brakes. Today, we're going to cover a topic that could be impacting your business regardless of your impressive numbers that you've achieved. And the all of the suite events that you've hosted. We're talking about scalability, if you're not at least breaking even with your events, if it feels overwhelming, in the least, to you and your team, if you're struggling to consistently fail your events, or if you're unsure where your events fit into your overall business strategy, this episode is for you, and you are in the right place.
Sarah Fejfar 1:58
I was talking with one of my coaches recently, and they put on the most amazing events, their retreat type events, destination events, high ticket events. And they're amazing at doing this. And I think they're meant to be event hosts like bats, like a calling of theirs in life. And maybe that's the same with you, like you just feel called you're exceptional at hosting. And I feel this way about my coach. And the sticking point is that while they love, love, love planning, memorable experiences and love, love, love hosting the like the picturing the planning and the producing, they've got it all nailed. They want the outcome, but the marketing it takes to get they're not so much. It's like they wish they could just remove that piece of the puzzle and do the other stuff.
Sarah Fejfar 3:07
And in fact, the thinking of putting what the events that they do on hold indefinitely because they haven't figured out the filling up piece that makes it feel easy. I know that the HUD love that word is the feeling it is not a doesn't give them a sense of like ease, and it breaking my heart because they're so good at what they do. So good. And I can tell it lights them up. And I don't want them feeling at peace. To me it's essential ingredient, right? But I don't want that piece to make it so that people don't get to experience their events. You know what I'm saying? And so this is just one example of a sign that what you've built as amazing. It may as it may be might not be scalable, and might not be repeatable or profitable.
Sarah Fejfar 4:25
Like it's, there's just a piece missing, and some transformation that needs to happen inside of the entire box that is hosting events. So storytimes over. I want to dive into the four signs that indicate that your event might not be as scalable as you think. And don't worry, I'm gonna weave in some strategies and examples to help you overcome these challenges. I won't leave you hanging, but I do Want you to grab a pen and a paper or open up your notes app, however you like to take your notes, I recently started using the apple. What is it like audio memo recording app, it's called. But it records voice memos. Instead of because I was using the voice to text to speech speech to text feature.
Sarah Fejfar 5:26
But I was noticing that it wasn't always capturing my my words correctly. And then I would go back later to read the notes that I had spoken into my phone and had them turned into text. And I didn't even know what I had said there. So I started using this Voice Memo app. And I feel like it might be a game changer. Just telling you that in case you're a person like me, who gets ideas while you're driving, and you need to, like record them right then and there before they escape, and need some way to do that. So okay, that was a tangent, let's get back on track.
Sarah Fejfar 6:09
I'm telling you that you need to grab a pen and paper or open up your notes app, because I do have a hunch that what I'm going to talk about today is something that you're going to want to capture, and then use those notes to brainstorm with your team. After you and I are done hanging out today. Let's get into it. First point I wanted to talk about this, the first sign that things might not be as scalable as you'd like them to be transformation as an order is financial sustainability. So it's so important to break even or achieve profitability, because if not, resentment sets in, and it is not going to fill your cup like you hoped it would to host an event.
Sarah Fejfar 7:03
And if that is you, what I want you to do is grab my guide over at greenroom central.com. It's the one labeled, download the free formula, how not to lose money. And that should help you just hand it to whoever manages your budget, or your event budget on your team and have them go through it and understand what it looks like kind of the order of operations of making money planning decisions, so that you're able to break even or achieve profitability. I know we've done a whole, we've had a whole episode on the show previously about how it's not all about the money. But we have to think about the long game but and yes, like 100% believe in that.
Sarah Fejfar 7:53
I did a whole episode on it. But I still want you breaking even at minimum and just breaks my heart. When people lose money on events, I just don't think has to be like that. And I'm just sensitive about event budgets. It's like a soapbox of mine. I think it's always been something I've been really good at. And I want to pass that skill on to you and your team. And we spent a whole module audit inside of five minute Academy and because I just think it's that important. Nobody needs resentment when they're doing the super fun thing in their business, like hosting a mastermind or a conference, right. So let's avoid any kind of cup draining activity, which is a direct result of like, financial instability.
Sarah Fejfar 8:52
So let's work on the money stuff, shall we? Yes. Great. Okay, next one, Team overwhelm. So here's what this looks like. If you've ever thought to yourself, I don't want to host another event because it'll put too much stress on my team, then you might be suffering from this sign that your event is not as scalable as you thought. If you've ever thought, I don't want to take my team away from their other priorities. Or if you've ever thought it took every thing that we had last time, and I cannot do that to my team. Again. If you've ever had any of those thoughts, then, then team overwhelm could be a problem for you that you need to transform and your business that you can scale. And what this looks like is hiring additional team members or outsourcing tasks to ease the workload.
Sarah Fejfar 10:00
And it goes back to the the age old strategy of documenting, creating those SOPs so that the systems are in place, because the systems help you scale. And if you don't, when you have the systems documented, you can either first delegate it to a team member, so it's off of your plate, and it's not causing you overwhelm. Or you can hire a contractor or another team member to support you, or vendors. And when you have documented systems like this is how this happens. This is how we welcome guests into our events, at our events, this is how it's done. At our events, this is how we think about ordering swag. And what matters to us, and what types of pieces that we need for every event like, until you're at a granular level of all of the things documented into an SOP format.
Sarah Fejfar 11:20
It's not going to feel like something you want to do to hire a person. But maybe maybe what you need to do is hire a person who, like that's what they do. And they love to do, which is documenting processes. I remember going into my very first job out of college and I was an accountant at, you know, things you never thought I'd say I was an accountant at a very large bank. And they I don't know how this came up, but ended up sitting with some payment processors I was in the like the department that pays invoices pays bills inside of this bank. And maybe it was part of my training, I don't know. But I was sitting with this group of processors who like shadowing and watching them key in information from invoices so that it could go into the payment system.
Sarah Fejfar 12:26
And they had metrics to hit every day, like we have to have to process 600 invoices like they have to see it pop up in front of their screen. And they have to key in the key pieces of information, like the invoice number and date and everything. So into our system. And I was watching and I was noticing like, Well, why is why are they doing it different from this person to this person or from this type of invoice to this type. And I and I brought it up to the manager was like I just I feel like it would be more efficient if it was done this way. Or if I feel like if like everyone did it this way, it might be like more accurate. And they got so excited, because no one had ever made these recommendations before.
Sarah Fejfar 13:21
And so now it was my job to document this enhancement to the process and like train them on it. And and it's one of my earliest memories of being a nerd about this kind of stuff about feeling so excited about systems and processes and streamlining efficiency and like optimizing for excellence. And I think it's why I'm so good at events is I just I see where we can be a little bit more efficient, a bit a little bit more clear, concise, a little bit more streamlined. And all that to say, if your team is overwhelmed, or if team overwhelm is keeping you from putting the next date on the calendar, then that is a sign that you need more help. And maybe you need to go get help in the form of someone to help like extract your event vision out of your head and document it so that you don't have to be as involved in every event.
Sarah Fejfar 14:38
And there's less decisions that your team has to make every event because it's just known like this is how we do it like it's never a question of Are we okay with a room with pillars? The answer is always no. Or are we okay if this room can't quite fit, you shape we'll we'll have to do classroom or If it's if it's never going to be okay for you to be in any other arrangement for your mastermind, then you shape then when sourcing a venue, you can automatically throw out all these options. And they never have to be a question because if a U shaped for 30 Can't fit, then it's not an option on the table anymore. We move on next. I think there's so many little things like that, that we can have someone help us get out of our heads, document it so that we can make it easier on our team to wash, rinse and repeat every time or make it easy to hand it off to a vendor to support us, or hire an additional team member to support us.
Sarah Fejfar 15:42
So that's that team overwhelmed. Third thing I wanted to talk about, we've talked about financial sustainability, we've talked about team overwhelm. Now let's talk about consistent event filling. So if you're unable to predict event attendance, and that feels daunting, or you're in a panic at the thought of hosting another event, because you know, it'll be a grind to fill it. Just like last time. If you raise your hand for either of those, then consistent event filling might be the area that needs transformation in your business in order for your events to scale. My strategy for you here is simple. I made you a guide and a video, you can find it over at greenroom central.com. It's the one labeled get the free guide 107 ways to fill your event.
Sarah Fejfar 16:39
And when you download it, you'll get a video series too. And it'll just talk you through the process of making a plan and working the plan consistently and also give you a whole lot of strategies that coaches are using right now to consistently feel their events. And I want that for you. But it's going to take some work on figuring out what your model is that you can consistently predict attendance. And I think until you can get there, it will always feel like you're putting your foot on the gas and your foot on the brakes at the same time. And just not going to achieve growth on the event side of your business. Like you'd want. No, no, you wanted to hear. But it's just so important. Back to that story.
Sarah Fejfar 17:34
I told you at the beginning, that one of my coaches who just is amazing at creating experiences. And I was having a conversation with them about how what if we mapped out a business model where we had high volume product that they were selling, that would naturally attract the type of people that would be the right fit for the type of event experiences that they create. And just like create our funnel, sometimes that's what it is, is backing into. The next one here, number four alignment with business strategy is knowing how the event fits, and how and creating a feeder system for it. So that was consistent, consistent event filling, let's move on to the last one for which is alignment with business strategy.
Sarah Fejfar 18:45
And what that looks like is if you never know year over year, where you're going to put your event on the calendar. Or if you never know what you're going to sell at the event. Or if you never know what segment of your community, you'll invite to the event. If if you rose raise your hand for any of those. There might be an issue that needs some transformation in your business as relates to events and scalability around alignment with your business strategy. And what I want you to do is go back and listen to episode 74 of this podcast where I dive into mapping your ascension model and the strategic placement of events so important because if we don't know where it fits, either in the calendar or in the funnel, then it makes it hard to make this a regular thing because then we're constantly building new bridges constantly reinventing the wheel.
Sarah Fejfar 20:06
Is that a metaphor? Is that two metaphors in a row? It this, it's a strategy, strategy. It's part of your overall business strategy hosting events. It's not this whim of like, Oh, I'm feeling like I need to be more connected with my community. They're asking me for an event, I'm gonna host another one, or, yeah, I think an in person experience with this product or service would make sense. Let's just add that in. Even though I didn't plan for it on the front end, when I priced it. I just want to do it, because it'll be fun. And it's what they want. And I'll enjoy it too. Well, that's just like a lack of planning and alignment with business strategy. So let's be forward thinking and plan full. And know that when you have this regular cadence with your events, it'll just be so much easier on your team.
Sarah Fejfar 21:10
I mean, think back to when you were getting started with creating a cadence for recording your podcast or publishing content on social media. Once you got it figured out, like this is our content rhythm. Didn't it feel like a huge weight was lifted off of your shoulders? Like, that's figured out, we don't have to think about that, again. It takes so much weight off of the process. It reduces decision fatigue. There's a reason why Steve Jobs will always wear the same outfit, right? Or I don't know if this is true, but like presidents have people picking out their outfits, like it's a thing, because we need to make less of the unimportant decisions and more of the important ones.
Sarah Fejfar 22:06
And if we're constantly trying to figure out where the event fits in the calendar, or how many we're gonna host, or what we're gonna sell at it, or what segment of the community is invited to this thing. It's just we're rehashing things that don't need to be rehashed. I will get off that soapbox now. I'm passionate about you hosting more events that are repeatable, and profitable and scalable. And these four things financial, financial sustainability, Team overwhelmed, consistent event filling and a lack alignment with business strategy are signs of a weak point, and an invitation for us to take a look deeper and shore things up.
Sarah Fejfar 23:04
So that we can move forward, right and grow. So I think that's where we'll wrap things up for today, on the four signs that your event might not be as scalable as you think I want you to remember that identifying which one is keeping you stuck is the first step towards making positive changes to event planning inside of your business. And I want to give you an action step. I think this deserves an hour of brainstorming with your team to discuss what you heard today and how to apply it to your events. Like right now, when you get done listening to this episode, just like text, your integrator and tell them you want to add this to your next team meeting agenda or set aside a specific event of meeting to talk just about this topic.
Sarah Fejfar 24:06
And if a question has come up for you that you need help with, I want you to drop it into my DMs over on Instagram, and I will help you out. Thank you for hanging out with me today. I have loved every moment of it. And know this tough love I know, but it's because I want the best for you. Make it an outstanding rest of the day. Take care. Thank you for listening to the greenroom central podcast. If you love this episode, then please take a screenshot on your phone and post it to Instagram and be sure to tag at zero Fejfar and let me know why you liked it and what you'd like to hear or who you'd like to hear from in the future. That'll help me know what to create for you.
Sarah Fejfar 24:51
The number one thing I'm asked by CEOs whether it's their first event, or their 20th is Sarah, why don't we get more butts in seats. And so I put together a guide for you head over to filling events.com For your free copy of 107 ways to fill your event. I want to help you quickly master event marketing events. Even if you've never done it before, I've scoured the online business world and found 107 of my favorite strategies working right now. To fill your next in person or virtual event. Create the event promotion plan you need from these easy to implement customizable strategies for free over at filling events.com.
Sarah Fejfar 25:36
I appreciate your commitment to leveling up and learning the mindset and strategy of live events. Keep going, keep learning. If you want more, head over to greenroom central.com For show notes and all the links from today's episode.
