Frameworks for Freedom: Helle Brodie on Scaling Without Burnout

Welcome to the Scalable Expert, the podcast where we unlock the secrets to building a business that grows with you, not around you. I'm your host, Tara Bryan, business strategist, mentor, and creator of the Infinite Scale Method. If you're a coach, consultant, or service provider who's maxed out with one-on-one work. Overwhelmed by the grind and ready to scale your expertise into a business that works for you, then you are in the right place. Each week I'll share actionable tips, inspiring success stories, and proven strategies to help you reclaim your time, grow your income, and create a business that delivers results without sacrificing quality. Let's dive in and make your business infinitely scalable. Hey, everybody. Welcome to this episode of the podcast. I am thrilled that you're here. I want to introduce you to Helle Brody, she is our guest for the day. So welcome Helle we're so excited for you to be here today. Kick us off, give us a little bit of a sense for who you are and what your business is.

So first of all, thank you so much for having me on your show. It's really an honor. So who am I? I'm a business coach. I call myself a business success coach and I work with entrepreneurs who have been in business for a few years, and so they've figured out how to get some business, and they've created some messes for themselves. It's pretty common because, you know, when you start in business, you're grabbing at every opportunity that comes your way. And before you know it, you're doing things that you don't want to do, you're working crazy hours, and it's not necessarily fulfilling. And so how do I, how did I get into this? Well, I've been an entrepreneur for 37 years. I started my, my business, my first business, when my son was born, and I thought, great, no boss, no overtime, no more two hour commute to the office every day, more money, and my time is my own, right? It was kind of an illusion at the time. So, 37 years ago, I hung out with my shingle, started a landscape architectural practice. Super successful. I absolutely loved it. Before I knew it, I was working 70 hours a week. I was a single mom. I had two kids, in, in competitive skiing. And my own mother was terminally ill. So I was exhausted and stressed and just surviving on adrenaline. This was not the picture I had when I, you know, when I started my business. Now, this isn't why I quit my job, right? And so, you know, I walked into Starbucks one day and I thought, I looked at the barista and I thought, you know, she has way more fun in her life than I do. I wasn't spending time with my kids. I was losing connection with my friends and starting to feel alone. And even my hobbies were starting to feel more like obligation. And then when my mom passed, I knew things had to change. Like, I just couldn't live like this. So I had two choices. I could either give up my business, and it was tempting, or I could figure it out. So I decided I was going to figure it out. Took course after course. Business courses, personal development courses. I even gained a couple of coaching designations to get this figured out. And I figured out there's a way to do it. There's a way to have it all, you know, and, and it had such a huge impact on my life. I wanted to share it with other entrepreneurs who were feeling the same way I did, you know? And, and, so I've, I've turned it into a bit of a system and I call it your CPU. So it's about commitment, it's about performance, and you. And it's now the system that, that, supports my life. It doesn't run my life.

Yeah, that's amazing. So I have to tell you that our stories are very similar and so I can go through that a little bit, in terms of that. But I have to say that you have such a calming energy.

Well thank you.

Is that what you bring to your clients when they're all frantic and doing all the things? You're just like, okay, it's fine. We're going to develop a system, right? You're just very calm.

Well, thank you. I take that as a huge compliment. So when you think about it, that entrepreneur who's going, oh my God, I don't know which way to turn. There's so much, there's this, there's that, I didn't know what's going on. Can I even handle this? Because self doubt always comes into play, right? Do you need another person who's doing all of this stuff? Or do you need someone who's calm, you know? And, you know, I've had my clients tell me, you know, you just make us feel confident.

Yeah, yeah,

We have a sense of confidence we didn't know we had after talking.

That's amazing. I love that. It's because it's interesting because it's like, again, like you and I do something very similar, but I lead with more like the passion and the confidence like I'm like, okay, let's go right like I calm them down, but I also am very confident. So I'm like, okay, this is the path, this is what we're gonna do. And so you did the same thing you just do it with more calm than I do. So I love that because it's, it's a nice parallel in terms of if you're listening, listen to the differences because, I think that this is a total sidebar, but it is interesting like that, that, we do similar things. I'll share my story with you in a second, but we do similar things, but we would attract two very different people.

Absolutely.

And that's an amazing, actual, kind of nugget for those of you who are listening, is that you can do something really similar to somebody else, but attract different people and that's amazing. And that's awesome, right? Like somebody who would be attracted to a very calm style wouldn't be attracted necessarily to my style because mine is a little bit more, you know, like passionate, right? And then vice versa. And so that's a total sidebar, but, but something that's really important, If you are listening to this and you're like, ah, just, I'm struggling with, why somebody would hire me over somebody else and da, da, da, that's a really, this is a really great example of that. And so thank you for your energy because I, I love it. It's very nice. Yeah.

Well, I just want to add, you know, I mean, that's why everybody says you've got to be authentic, right? Because if I try to be like you, like it just, I'm sorry, it doesn't work for me. Right.

Yeah. Yeah.

And yet. I mean, I've got lots of energy. It's just a different type of energy.

Different type, yep. 100%. And, but that's the gift. And that's, that was not even intended in our conversation, but I think that's such a powerful example of that in play, which I love. And, it just brings me joy to hear you tell your story, from your perspective, even though it's very similar to mine. I was also, you know, doing the corporate thing and then started an agency that was very successful. I'm 20 years in, not as long as you, but, but 20 years, so I have a good run, but it was the same thing. I, I, you know, thought I was going out to live the dream and it was going to be amazing and everything was going to be great. And then, it was great, like I loved what I did, had you know, an amazing roster of clients, but the more clients we had, the busier we got, and it wasn't like, when is all that freedom and awesomeness going to happen? Like, it's great that we're growing, but when am I going to realize all this? And I had that same realization where it's like, what, something is not right in this business model. And then took it into, okay, so how do I figure out how to scale this without taking up all of my time, all of my team's time and all of the things. And so I love that because I, I think everybody gets to that point, right? You're, you're maxed out. Your time is not your own and you think about what am I going to do? And in my case, I actually shut down the agency. Like I was like, I'm done. I can't. So I'm, happy to hear that you didn't do that, but I just shifted into a completely different business model. Right. But, but as you're kind of reflecting on that journey and pivoting to a different business model, tell us a little bit about like, how are you growing and scaling and serving your people now and also not maxing out your time? What does that look like in your world?

Well, there's a, I mean, there's two sides to that, right? So my, my process, CPU, is you know, a lot of it's about you. And I mean, if you're, if you're doing similar things to me, you know, that, that, you know, the, you know, when the, the owner stops growing, the business grows. So in this new model for me, because it's, you know, I haven't been doing this for 37 years, right, There's constant growth for me in different areas. You know, I've got a base, I'll say knowledge about business and growth and I'm still growing, you know, I mean, I thought, I think that's critical for people like you and I. Now in terms of scaling, so I have my one to one clients and I absolutely love them. The majority of my clients are one to one and I also run, I run a mastermind for women in business. It's called Thrive Business Circle. Now at the moment, I'm just doing an in person mastermind because a lot of people are getting tired of looking at screens. And so that's growing and I'm getting ready actually to open up a second one because I'm just finding that there's really a lot of demand for that. So that's one way that I'm scaling. Eventually, I'll probably turn, turn some of my coaching into, into group coaching, but at the moment I'm really, really enjoying just working one on one with people and, and just helping them with, with their specific problems because, as you know, we don't live in a silo. It's not just business and personal life. They kind of get mixed together. So what's happening in your personal life happens in your business. And so it's very easy to, to help somebody with the whole picture. And I really, like, I really enjoy that. So eventually I'll, you know, head more into group coaching for now. I've got my, my one on one clients and I've got my mastermind clients and, and it's great. I'm loving it. I'm just loving it.

That's amazing. And so, and, and so it's, it's great that you are, you know, you did the one on one model, you figured out like, okay, I'm going to shift, I'm going to help really solve some problems for my one on one clients and then shift a little bit into group. Even if it's not, it's not like shifting your one on one into a group model, it's starting with a different group model, which is great. And then as that starts to grow, then you're going to go, oh wait, now I can't handle any more one on one clients. I can't handle any more of these masterminds because your time is maxed out. And so that's when then it makes sense to start looking at some scalable offers package this gift that you have for helping your one on one clients so you can get out to help more people in the world without kind of that one on one piece.

You know, I think, I think I don't think I'm ever going to give up 100 percent of my one on one clients just because like I just enjoy enjoy it so much, you know. And that's what I like about the masterminds is people bring their issues to the table and as a group, we can help them solve their problems and support them in achieving their goals, right? You know, it's sort of a, it's the closest I could get to one on one coaching, it's doing a mastermind because it really addresses individual concerns. You know, it's not a, yes, there are all the standard things that we need to learn in business that can easily be translated to a, a group coaching, model, and I'm just having a whole lot of fun right now.

Yep. Yep. That's amazing. Well, and that's, and that's what such the gift around it, right. Is that you can make it whatever you want. You can make it where you're helping other people and. You know, your one on one is still your, probably going to be your highest level of service that you provide for someone. And then you sort of fill out, fill out the rest of it as you build out the rest of your business, to put it together. Awesome. So tell us a little bit about, um. so for my audience, tell them a little bit about like, what would be a tip or trick or something that has helped you not only in the business you have right now, but make that transition from kind of just knowing that you just did not have the capacity to keep working 70 hours a week, and you needed to make a shift. Like, what would be your advice for someone who's in that position?

So if I, if I look at my previous business, there were a couple of sort of critical things. I mean, I, I had to really learn to trust other people, and give away or give them autonomy to really do things the way, I mean, everybody does things a little bit differently. And so, in order to do that, what I needed to do was create processes, SOPs, so I could take everything that was in my brain and pass it over to, to my team members. So they had, I mean, they had a clear idea of how I was doing things. Now, I mean, it took a while to sort that out because I thought I was being consistent, but I wasn't, you know, and it's just, we all think we're being consistent, oh, but I'm just going to do this this time and I'm going to do, well, no, when you have to actually write it down and say, this is the way it is that's when you realize you're not being consistent at all. So it was a combination of things. I needed something to, to transfer what was in my head to my team. And then I needed to trust them with it. And the cool thing about the processes was that it was a baseline. So because we were then doing everything consistently when that team member had a new idea or something changed in the marketplace, we could look at this new idea compared to what we were doing and say, oh, like we were being consistent. Oh, so how does that fit in? How's that going to change? Like it just, they became living documents. In the business and not to create rigidity, you know, and they're all about flexibility because once you have them in place, they're actually, they're a framework for freedom, right? Because you know, what needs to happen.

I love that framework for freedom that remember that people, because that is totally it, right? Like, it's not, yeah. It's not restrictive, but it's taking that chaos and moving it into something that's manageable, and then from that manageable place, then you can get creative, right? But like, you can't be chaotic and creative at the same time. It doesn't work.

Yeah, well, and so what it does is, you know, I say a framework for freedom because it frees you up from the, okay, what do I have to do next? What do I have to do next? To, okay, this happens easily and effortlessly now. And now my mind and my time is available for the creative stuff. For solving important problems, right? For what really matters. You know, and in the end, it gives you, it gives you time to do what you really got into business for, what you love. It frees up your time, it increases your cash flow, increases your profits. Like, I mean, there's a, they're dull and boring things, you know, we didn't get into business to start, you know, create processes, but they really are the lifeline of your business. You know, they really are that framework for freedom.

Yep, yep. I agree a hundred percent. And that's the, that's the, one of the things that we do is, is I always call it duct tape and paperclips, right? Like what you know, that when you, your business is put together with duct tape and paperclips, it's time to take a pause and really start to, to figure out your process and frameworks and all of the different things so that you don't just keep operating, in crazy mode.

Yeah, chaos.

Yeah, for sure. Awesome. All right, good. So, give us one tip or a book, resource, tool, template, something that you can't live without, in your business.

I have one here. I don't know if it shows. Oh, I think it's mirrored. It's called Stress Wisely. Um, and it's just, you know, stress is one of the things that, that I address with my clients because we all feel stress. Stress is never going to go away and there are some good parts to stress, right? You know, there's, the kind of stress that just energizes you and it gives you a boost of adrenaline and you get a ton of things done. And then, you know, if you've ever seen the stress curve, you know that that's where you are and then you hit the peak and then it starts going downhill, right? And it's that, it's the stress that is continuous, there's no break for us for it. You know, our bodies and our minds are, we perform well when there's stress and there's rest. As entrepreneurs, what happens is we get stressed and more stressed and more stressed and more there's no break. And so, it's really about it's about self care. You know, it's about understanding what is it that causes you stress. What's your trigger? I have a, a client, Sue, for example. She went through the whole thing. That whole same picture. She was going crazy. She's very, very capable. Incredibly bright. And she discovered that, I mean, she could handle almost anything. She discovered that the main cause of her stress was actually perfectionism. That's what was making her stress. So once she understood that, we could start to work through that process. She created, um, self care rituals that were, you know, she couldn't move from, you know, workouts, no more take out food, or, very little take out food, good night's sleep, all of those things to really look after herself. And then she developed, strategies to use in the moment, right? Take a few deep breaths between meetings. Go for a quick walk at lunch, get some fresh air, clear your mind. She started journaling, you know, she, she developed strategies she could use in the moment. And stress, I mean stress affects us all, especially these days with all the crazy stuff going on in the world.

Yep, yep, for sure.

And we're not going to get into details.

No, no, no, no, not right now, that's for sure.

We'd be here two days.

Yeah, awesome. Well, that is a great resource. We will definitely put that into the show notes. I haven't heard that one before, so I'm excited to go check it out.

It's actually relatively new.

Is it? Oh, okay. Well, that must be why I haven't seen it yet. So, there's usually like a number, sort of a similar theme to books that people bring up and so, it's always exciting to see new ones that are cropping up. So, that's awesome. Alright. For my audience, what would you give them as like your one main, For, wherever they are in business right now.

For wherever they are in business. I would say that that falls into commitment, right? Commitment is different than this is what I'm going to do. Like, are you really going to commit to what matters to you? What's working for you? And making a commitment means this is what I'm going to do. There's all these bright, shiny objects out there. I'll consider the bright, shiny objects, but I make a commitment to this, and that's making a commitment to yourself, to your business, and to your future.

I love that. Very good. Very, very good. I like that. Awesome. All right. So for my audience, if they would like to learn more about you and what you offer, any of those masterminds or one on one, give us some sense for where we can reach you.

So I have a website my business name is called Freedom Journeys. So that's why these processes are a for, you know, a framework for freedom. So it's freedomjourneys.ca. So I'm in Canada. So freedomjourneys.ca and I also have a, a resource, that I'd like to share with your audience. And it's called the Freedom Formula for Entrepreneurs, 10 Steps to Leveraging Your Time, Boosting Profits, Busting Your Income Ceiling Without Losing Your Freedom.

Excellent. I love it. All right. You've heard it from her and we will also add it to the show note. Thank you so much for being on the episode today. We just appreciated all of your insights that you had. And for those of you who, are listening today, thank you, and we'll see you next week.