The same secret scale up success strategies that help entrepreneurs grow their businesses to the next level will benefit individual sellers who recognize their territories as their own business.
Lauren Cohen works with foreign investors to find the right business opportunities, make the right investments, and get and keep their visas. She discovered along the way that many of these people didn't pay a lot of attention to their business structures and that the same was true of American business people.
7 Steps Scale Up Success Strategy
Lauren characterizes her role as creating a GPS for your business, but you have to have a destination. You can't tell your GPS that you don't know where you're going.
These 7 areas of a business' foundation can result in disaster if they are overlooked.

1. Funding in capitalization. Without the right capital, or if you're under-funded or under-capitalized, it doesn't matter how great your business idea is, you're going to fall apart.
2.  Business planning. If you don't have a business plan and an exit strategy, you don't begin with the end in mind.
3. Branding and marketing. Building your brand is part of your foundation but it doesn't exist independent of all these other elements, and marketing is part of branding.
4. Legal and compliance. Without a legal structure in place, which so many business owners don't have, you're risking your family and everything you have.
5. Financial and taxes. Everyone knows what that is all about.
6. Operations and systems. Without systems, you can't repeat your success.
7. Insurance and licensing. If you don't have insurance and someone sues you, you've got nothing to protect you. Without the right licenses, you can be shut down.

Know your area
You cannot be an expert in every area, so Lauren's number one tip is to stay in your lane. You don't know what you don't know. Figure out where your gaps are and then allow someone who is an expert to oversee the process.
She suggests a 3-step process to assess your company.

• Assess
• Diagnose
• Deliver

Diagnose the issues and then fill the gaps you identified in the process.
Exit strategy
Lauren related the story of a client who wanted to exit her business within five years so she needed an exit strategy. She needed a strategy to get from where she is to where she needs to be.
She wants to sell to one of four parties but she doesn't want to sell at a discount on her dollar. Rather, she wants to sell at the highest possible dollar amount. In order to do that, she needs to increase the profits.
That's where the various elements of branding, compliance, taxes, operations, and all these other components become important because they will help the business owner get more value at the time of exit.
[Tweet "Begin with the end in mind when developing your business plan. Develop an end game and then create a strategic plan to ultimately get you there. #BusinessPlan"]
Funding and capitalization
It sounds crazy, but if you ask someone to invest $100,000 in your business, they are going to laugh at you. If, on the other hand, you ask for $5 million, they'll suddenly believe that you're serious. The problem is that there's no ROI for $100K.
The cost of obtaining the money is so high that it's not even worth it for them to pursue it.
Financial and taxes
This one is easy. If the IRS is after you because you haven't paid your taxes, get them filed. You may pay penalties but at least you'll be up-to-date.
Legal and compliance
Legal and compliance include your corporate record books, which everyone should have. Some companies don't even have the corporate entity which is a whole other story.
Make sure you have a corporate record book that's affiliated or associated with that entity. Hold a meeting each year and record the minutes in that record book.
Reflect all the changes to shareholders and bank accounts in your records.
She estimates that 70 percent of businesses don't keep their record books up to date. If you try to sell your business or you end up in litigation, you'll need that book.
Building and scaling
It's vitally important to have all of these considerations in mind as you're building and scaling your business. If you find a potential strategic partner who wants to help you build your business but he discovers that you don't have all your contracts in place, the deal will fall apart.
If you have the wrong documents, you're potentially setting yourself up for liability.
Don't try to do this alone. Consult with a professional. Everybody avoids hiring a lawyer or a professional for fear of getting the bill at the end. But it's better to get the bill now than to get a larger bill later.
"Scale UP Success Strategies" episode resources
Grab a copy of Lauren's book Finding Your Silver Lining In the Business Immigration.
You can take a copy of her quiz at showmethemoneyquiz.com. It's quick, free, and fun and it will give you access to schedule a call with her. You can also find her on Facebook @scaleupcheckup or on LinkedIn @scaleupcheckup. You can also reach her directly at (866) 724-0085 or info@scaleupcheckup.com.
Connect with me at donald@thesalesevangelist.com.
Try the first module of the TSE Certified Sales Training Program for free.
This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance.
TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump.
If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us.
Tools for sellers
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Every seller should create good content as a tool to gain leads, grow their business, and increase overall success. 
Kyle Burt first heard The Sales Evangelist podcast two years ago when we interviewed Alex Berman about using video in sales. Kyle, who once chose business school over film school, went home and started making videos. 
Massive success
Kyle quickly turned his video capability into massive success for himself. Before video, he was using cold calls, email, and "screaming from the tops of mountains," knocking on every door and delivering cookies. When you're starting out, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes. 
He realized that video provided a good strategy to get leads. But he shifted his focus to making videos because he wanted to make videos. He realized he had a level of value and a perspective that wasn't being shared. 
Kyle recognized, too, that only the people in his bubble would understand the content he was posting because it was niche content. 
Coca-Cola
He established a weekly schedule because he knew he had to post consistently, and he introduced Whiteboard Wednesdays. It was a chance to introduce different technologies.
Maybe 20 videos later, he was on vacation in Cancun in 2017 when he got a LinkedIn message from the VP of technology for Coca-Cola. He assumed someone was pranking him, but in fact, the gig turned into a consulting opportunity with the company.
When Kyle realized the VP had seen the very first video he ever posted, the most awkward of the bunch, he knew that he was on to something with video. 
Objections 
In the case of objections, sellers often face their own objections to appearing in or creating videos. 

• "I don't look good enough for the camera." 
• "I don't have the right equipment." 
• "There isn't enough time to create videos."

The important parts of the content are good audio and good content. 
[Tweet "When you see something that looks like a commercial, smells like a commercial, and feels like a commercial, most people run. Instead, be relatable in your videos and focus on the message. #VideoContent"]
Fear of the comments
In my own case, I've been slow to take advantage of YouTube because I'm a little bit afraid of the comments I might get. People can be nasty sometimes. 
The point is that there will always be the possibility of those comments. Someone once told Kyle he sounded like a little baby. He wasn't even entirely sure what they meant by it, but he had to let it roll right off. 
You have to be ready to take it on the chin when you put yourself out there. You're going to get some good and some bad. 
Internalize the fact that nobody has it all figured out, and then realize that people are genuinely good. Most people don't want to tear you down, so don't spend your time on the small number of people who have something negative to say. 
It's worth noting, too, that stories only survive for 24 hours, so they won't live forever. If you create a bad one, it won't be around for long. Even with LinkedIn, the feed algorithm means that it might technically always be there, but it will be harder to find. 
Persistence
We spent two years trying to get Kyle on the show but we couldn't make it work out because of different schedules. Our recording day is Monday because it's what works best for my team, and sometimes we have to bypass opportunities if they don't fit with that schedule.
In Kyle's case, he was persistent. He got early access to LinkedIn Live, which as of this writing is only available to a few people, and he invited me to connect with him. After 18 months of no real interaction, he reconnected with me and we made it work. He grabbed my attention and we ended up recording with him on a day outside of our normal schedule. 
Disrupt the norm. Create good content that stands out. 
LinkedIn reach
My good friend Stephen A. Hart from the Trailblazers Podcast pointed out recently that there are 9 billion impressions on LinkedIn every week, which amounts to 468 billion impressions annually. Of those, only about 3 million users are creating content. That means there is a lot of space to create more free content. 
You can't find that kind of visibility on YouTube, Facebook, or any other platform. Basically, there are a small number of creators and a huge number of impressions, so it behooves you to grab a piece of the video market. 
I happened to get into podcasting early when there were only a few sales podcasts. Now I'm a grandfather in the podcasting world. 
Much innovation seems to happen with consumers first. The business world moves more slowly because there are more considerations to think about. 
The marketplace dictates what it wants. 
Coffee With Kyles
Kyle previously collaborated with another guy named Kyle to launch a video podcast called Coffee With Kyles. Now he's working on a solo style show that will primarily involve live video. It will allow him to eliminate a lot of the editing and create more interactive experiences. 
In the case of this podcast interview, our audience can't interact with us right now as the interview is happening. When they are finally able to, it will change the game. 
The goal is to get more people engaged and online. When you go live, you can't stop the show because something goes wrong. Kyle said he has gone live five times and has broken the system five times. 
Because of his persistence, he was one of the few to beta test LinkedIn Live, and it allowed him to connect with people and build relationships.
If you try to be known, you'll miss the mark. If you create good content, you will be known. It's all about who knows you. 
If you aren't creating some form of content or interacting with content on social media, you are irrelevant. Figure it out quick. If you're a writer, write. If you can do video, do that. If you can do audio, do audio. Figure out your lane and experiment. Every seller should create good content.
[Tweet "In the end, the middle is just noise. #Noise"]
"Every Seller Should Create Good Content" episode resources
You can connect with Kyle on LinkedIn or at his website, www.catchcloud.com. 
If you haven't connected with me on LinkedIn already, do that at Donald C. Kelly and watch the things I'm sharing there.
You've heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we're offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you can be part of our upcoming semester.
You can take it on your own or as part of the semester group. The program includes 65 videos altogether, and we just completed a beta group that helped us improve the program and maximize the information in it.
If you and your team are interested in learning more, we'd love to have you join us. Call (561)578-1729 to speak directly to me or one of our team members about the program.
This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.
I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.
Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.