Ep 207: When Success Breaks You with Christine Lavin

A Business That Blew Up Fast

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Imagine this. You start a business, it blows up immediately, and you get burnt out. You close it down That's what happened to Christine. She launched a successful maternity brand and it, it blew up overnight and she just wasn't prepared for the success. So she shut it down, and she's telling us today about how that first failed business turned into what her new business is. So we're gonna talk about how to learn from what didn't work and adapt. I'm Sarah Noel Block, and this is Tiny Marketing

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 0:49

Hello. Can you introduce yourself to the audience?

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 0:54

Of course. great to be here. My name is Christine Lavin. I'm the founder of Lavin Advisory Group. I support founders who are evolving from early traction, and they are finding themselves drowning in their own business. They can't seem to get out from under their business. So they, are growing rapidly. They have proven success, but they are still operating their business within the initial model that got them to where they are now. And I help them define, um, simple systems, process workflows, delegation solutions to get their head back above water, and then we work on a bigger, um, strategic growth plan that helps them scale their business in a way that aligns with them

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 1:37

That is helpful. I wish I met you like five years ago

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 1:43

I wish I met myself years ago when I had my first business.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 1:47

Yes, that's what we're talking about today. So I think pretty much everyone who would be listening to this show has experienced this, where they have... They launched a business, maybe it's even just an earlier version of your existing business, and it, something didn't work. It bombed completely, or maybe it didn't and it blew up, and you were overwhelmed. That, that's what happened to me in that first two years is You too? Yeah. I had more clients than I could handle, and I didn't know how to scale. That was the learning curve that I was implying with on that one. So walk me through your first business

Fit To Be Mom Origin Story

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 2:35

Yeah, absolutely. So my, my first business was a brand of maternity activewear called Fit to Be Mom. I had, I had started out my career in corporate, all the big, big name companies, business cards, you know, expense accounts, all that. did that for about 12 years and realized, it wasn't everything I thought it was, or I just had reached a point where I really wanted to build something of my own. So I pivoted into the fitness industry, dabbled in a couple of different ventures, and eventually launched, a brand of maternity activewear when I saw a, a gap in the marketplace. And I, I had a concept, found someone within the fashion industry to help me get it off the ground, and when I launched it, it just took off. It obviously was a very niche, niche space within the apparel market, within the activewear market, and it took off, and it grew over the course of seven years. and I initially had it, w- was, working just wholesale, and then I launched my website, so I was doing retail as well. And it grew so fast, and I just literally tethered myself to a treadmill with my finger on the, the, the speed up button. And I just thought, "I'll just go harder, faster, stronger, harder, faster, stronger." And, conceptually, we know that is not a sustainable model. and what I didn't do over the course of those seven years... I, I did a lot, but what I didn't do is I didn't build in systems into the business to help the business operate independent of me touching everything. I didn't, seek out the advisory, the, the strategic advisory support that I needed from people who had that vision that I couldn't at the time inside the glass jar, right? And so I, I didn't build in a strategy to help me think out, further ahead than where I was at the present time. And as a result, I really didn't have the mindset of being a founder. I just thought I can, muscle my way through all of this. So no shock,

Burnout From No Systems

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 4:38

a- after seven years, I was completely fried. I also had three kids along the way, which just added a little bit...

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 4:44

process?

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 4:45

Like pretty much during that process. I had my first when I launched, and then I had two more. And

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 4:50

use your maternity wear though.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 4:51

I did. I, I was my best customer, but, but I completely burned out. And so I quietly closed my business at 40% of the volume that I needed to be at in order to position it to exit. And, quietly closed it and then, ended up drifting into the nonprofit space for about seven years. But really, it was always with me of what if I had those systems in place? What if I had that a- advisory support? And, it still sits with me today of, those were essential elements of growing my business that I did not implement and I didn't seek out.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 5:28

Yeah. That is hard too, because when you're starting your business, you hope that it'll blow up, but you don't expect it, so you don't plan ahead on what am I going to do when it hits that level? And you... That was your first business ever, right? You

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 5:47

my first business ever. Right

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 5:50

like you didn't know what you didn't know.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 5:53

E- exactly. I, I thought I, I had gotten my MBA. I, I had all of the credentials on paper, but, the, the-- for me also the mindset, I grew up as a, a child of the, the '70s and '80s when, women were being told, "You can do it all, you can have it all." And, the image of the, the woman wearing the business suit, holding a baby on her hip and the frying pan, and huge shoulder pads. cradling a phone, holding a briefcase, and it was the octopus woman of you can do it all. And y- as we know to be true, yes, you can do it all, but maybe not all at the same time. Or, the best thing you can know is what you aren't good at or what you can't do, and where you need to fill in those gaps. And so that was really a big mindset shift

Time Value And Delegation Choices

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 6:40

for me. so

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 6:40

Yeah. If you could go back 14 years, what would you have done different at the very beginning? Because I'm curious, how would you decide what are the gaps that I'm missing

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 6:58

Yeah. A great question. So the first thing I would've done is recognize the value of my time, right? As the founder and as the, the face of the brand, I needed to be out in front of the business and, connecting with, with stores, with showrooms, with wholesalers, w- just really getting out there. I did not need to be in the day-to-day and picking and packing orders and, making small decisions on sourcing that, someone else was better qualified to do. And so I spent too much time behind the business and not being in front of the business. and just recognizing, almost what my hourly rate was and what I was doing for that hourly rate. and it's time. time is your most valuable asset. And obviously I was very limited in that with a growing family and not spending my time in the right places of the business to really drive it forward in the ways in which it could sustain itself.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 8:01

So way back then, you were in a position where things were probably in a financial crunch with three little kids and a growing business. How do you decide the budget on being able, like what to outsource and what not to? 'Cause I think that drives a lot of the decisions in those, the early businesses. I just can't afford it, so I'm going to push through

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 8:31

E- exactly. A- and I, gosh, did I have a budget or was I just... I think I was so reactive. I was so focused on the product and the cost of the product and the distribution of the product that I looked at any type of advisory support as, unnecessary, like a massage, that, That's a nice

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 8:50

nice to have, yeah.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 8:52

a nice to have, but I don't really need it and I can muscle my way through it. And, y- but again, that investing in your business, y- you know this better than anybody, investing in your business is such a necessary component to scaling, and not just in, certain aspects of the, the product, but really in those intangibles of the, the strategy and the support and the guidance, because that would have made an incredible difference for me in, understanding the value of my time, where else to invest, in terms of resources, people, all of those elements. I think I just was caught in the reactive nature of the decision-making.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 9:36

Yeah, and I think that happens when you grow so quickly. Your business gets ahead of where you are both mentally and in that business maturity mindset. You, you're not in a position to be able to make those decisions. I like... I can think of a couple different examples of people who have done that and chosen to get that strategic advice early and how much it helped them. And, times that they, that other people have invested in something and it ended up bombing. Sometimes it does. Sometimes you invest in something and, that was an experiment and now I learned it's not worth investing in next time

Shiny Objects And Real Priorities

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 10:21

And and you have to, a- as with anything in life, you have to do your due diligence and understand what you're solving for before you buy the thing, right? the whole shiny object syndrome that we're surrounded by, e- even more so today than we were, years ago of just there are so many things around us that promise, to, relieve our pain points, right? and th- they're all legit, but you have to understand first and foremost as a founder what you need to solve for first. And that's really, that's the initial work that I do with clients is helping them to s- to put everything out on the table and let's just, let's take a whole, let's canvas the landscape here and really understand w- where are the blockages, where are the hidden opportunities, what are the biggest levers that we can pull now for the biggest effect, and how do we start to prioritize that, right? and then we'll know, what systems to build, where to backfill. Maybe there's a, a hire in there. Maybe it's just a simple workflow that needs tweaking, whatever it is. but having a, a, clear understanding of what it is that you need to solve for first is really a helpful exercise. and oftentimes y- it's, you can't do that from within. You need someone from the outside to be able to see the whole picture.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 11:40

I dare to say you can never really do that from within. You need that outside perspective. okay, so it sounds like that would be your gateway offer, is that mapping, that decision mapping. I wanna talk about that. But for anybody who is listening and maybe they just, they need to start that iteration, that decision-making process on their own first, what's the first thing that you would have them do?

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 12:11

In, in terms of working with me or just

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 12:14

If they were doing this on their own and trying to figure out what problem

The Bottleneck Snapshot Diagnostic

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 12:18

do I need to solve first, is there a process that they could go through that would help them narrow that down?

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 12:29

Yes. there, there are certain sort of questions they can ask themselves in terms of, where their time is being spent, w- where the, w- where their effort is going in the business, and if that's actually driving forward revenue or if that's just managing an aspect of the operations. a lot of the work that I do in my initial engagement, which is I have a, a service that I call the bottleneck snapshot, and it is e- effectively a, a diagnostic where I spend 60 to 75 minutes and with a client just really probing and drilling down and asking questions from all different angles. this is not, just the data points of how big is your business, how many employees, but really about, where their real pain points are, where they are now relative to what they envisioned. what... If they could wave a magic wand and change one thing, what would that be? Just getting down to the heart of things, and it's in, it's within that exploratory process that a lot of things actually surface. a quick example is, of one, from a recent client I worked with. She is a very successful, s- B2B SaaS, advisor, and she really hates the sales calls. c- just, it, it makes the hair on the back of her neck s- stand up, and, and that, that didn't surface until, late in the conversation. and yet she has these other offerings that could be scalable that would, a- alleviate a lot of the sales conversations that she's happening, right? so it's in that work that we do. So it's this, it's a 60 to 75-minute session. I then take all of that, along with my own research, and, within 48 hours, I deliver back to the client what I call, the obstacle brief, and that is a, a written document of, again, the, the, the blockages that I see, the, the findings, the opportunities, and the roadmap of what, how to go about addressing, that growth. And from there, there's different ways that, that the client can work with me. But that's really meant to be just the, the way that a client can get a different perspective that they might not otherwise be able to do themselves and get a, a sense of working with me and, and just as a starting point for them.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 14:40

Yeah. let's make sure to drop that into the show notes so people can sign up for that. Who typically signs up for that offer?

Who This Scaling Help Fits

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 14:51

So most of the founders that I'm working with are in businesses that have grown through relationships or through referrals. so those are-- oftentimes I refer to them as community-rooted businesses. So these are businesses that, that rely very much on, on word-of-mouth referral, maybe in a local, area. They're expanding beyond, designers, architects, wellness providers, y- niche creatives, those types of businesses. Generally, they are, they might have a small team. That team could be employees, contractors. They are expanding. they, they know where they wanna go. they know that they want to scale, and they're just not clear on the operational structure and foundation that they need to help them scale in a way that really aligns with who they are as a founder. they may be, a, a parent with young kids. Maybe it's a founder who knows that they want to exit in three to five years and, y- retire and sail off into the sunset. maybe it's someone who has enjoyed a business that has just had passive income for a while, and now they're really ready to put some more muscle into it and see where it can go.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 16:06

Yeah, I've never heard of anybody with passive income say, "You know what? I wanna work more."

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 16:11

Yeah. Maybe

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 16:13

it sounds like they are like small relationship-led businesses that are gain that growth through the relationships that already exist, and now they're like, "What do I do? What now?"

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 16:29

Exactly. I was joking with someone the other day that I often re- describe my business as a, a rapidly growing teenage boy. I have all boys, all teenage boys, and so I, this is the world that I live in. But they're growing so fast that they don't even realize that they've outgrown, their own clothing,

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 16:48

My kids are going through that too right now. My 13-year-old, he was like, "None of my pants fit anymore." And literally he was at the doctor last month, and he was an inch and a half shorter than me, and now he's two inches taller than me. That's how much he grew in 30 days.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 17:08

and that's often the business owner or the type of business that I'm working with, where they're growing so fast and they just assume, I guess I'll just wear the same pair of pants. I'll just use the same model of operating my business that I've always done because it's worked, even though I'm, rapidly burning out or I'm touching all the things or making all the decisions and whatnot." And so they just don't really know a better way of going about running their business, managing their business, growing the business. and a lot of that really comes down to systems, right? Because the systems run the business and you... and the people manage the systems.

Simple Systems That Actually Work

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 17:48

So before we wrap up, can you walk me through an example of a system that you, maybe it's the most common system that you have to implement within a business as they're rapidly growing. Where's the biggest bottleneck that you need to fix?

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 18:05

it's, it really is no one size fit all, fits all. Every client that I work with has different needs depending on what they're doing, and I really try to meet clients where they are. I, I believe wholeheartedly that, we all want to be heard and seen and, not just dropped a frame- or, have somebody drop a framework onto you and say, "Follow my framework," and, figure out how to mold inside of that. So I've had clients where, a- an ideal system for them might be, a, a custom CRM specific to their industry. I helped a client on, install that and really, acclimate their business w- to, to the CRM and it's really helped how they have all their touchpoints with clients and how they, manage their scheduling and whatnot. another client that I worked with was outsourcing a lot of her design work and needed a system of standardization so that she knew what that turnaround time would be, right? And so that was the, a, a simplified system of just documentation and timelines and whatnot. So systems don't have to be, a, a sophisticated, complex, SaaS tool. it... Sometimes they are, but sometimes it can just be as simple as, designing a, a workflow between you and m- maybe your VA so that y- the, the sales calls that you don't like to have now have a filter on them, and your VA is screening out those, you know, those calls, for example. So it really just depends.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 19:33

Yeah, those are good examples. That reminded me, I had a big old CRM, and I was like, "God, this is just too big for me." I don't need all of these features, and I'm not using it. So I ended up building one between Claude and Airtable that's so much easier 'cause it'll read my emails for me, it'll update my CRM in my Airtable for me, and just changing that workflow made life so much easier

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 20:04

Exactly. And everyone learns different. everyone's brain works differently, and that's a, an essential component of growing your business in a way that feels aligned with you, right? it's, it... What, what may work for you, that, that system of Cloud and Airtable, might not work for someone else. But if it works for you and it's efficient, then that's all that matters, right? and oftentimes a lot of the tools that are out there, like HubSpot is a great ex- example of a CRM, which is super robust, has so many features, but it's giving a Ferrari to a 16-year-old, right? It's a lot more

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 20:40

Yeah, most businesses don't need all that

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 20:43

Most businesses don't need all that. And, could you scale to that quickly and need all that? Perhaps. But it also can be very overwhelming and very, mentally taxing to try to figure out what you need and what you don't need. So I think, starting simple and then, developing your system and adjusting your system. systems are meant to be dynamic. You don't just set it once and then it works forever. It's constantly refined, and you can tweak it and, and adjust it as you need.

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 21:11

Yeah. Yeah. That makes complete sense.

Where To Find Christine Online

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Sarah_Noel_Block-webcam-00h_00m_01s_396ms-StreamYard 21:15

Now, if anybody wants to work with you or find you online, how do they do that?

Christine_Lavin___Learning_from_my_Past_Busines___-Christine_Lavin-webcam-00h_00m_00s_302ms-StreamYard 21:21

lavinadvisorygroup.com is my website. I'm also on LinkedIn pretty much every day, Christine Lavin, Lavin Advisory Group, and then on Instagram @lavinadvisorygroup.