663 Meghan Lynch:

Today we dig deep into scaling past the plateau stage – that moment in your company when you realize you’re stuck at the same annual revenue and you don’t know how to get to the next level.

Meghan Lynch is the Founder and CEO of Six-Point Creative, a brand strategy agency that helps what she calls “second-stage” companies break through their growth plateaus. As part of her mission to help small businesses challenge the goliaths, Meghan has served as an expert advisor to second-stage clients in a wide range of industries, from fast-casual restaurants to industrial manufacturers.

So maybe you’ve been at it for years, grown your business into the high 6 figures, 7 figures or beyond. But it feels like you’re running in place getting nowhere, because what got you where you are… won’t likely get you to where you’re going.

Meghan Lynch and her team at Six-Point Creative provide business clients with the experience and expertise to make smarter, faster, better positioning decisions that drive growth. Their flagship program is Solve for Y, which combines branding and marketing best practices with the guidance, education, and change management that second-stage companies need. Six-Point further supports their clients with CMO-level strategic oversight, budget management, and marketing plan execution to help companies punch above their weight. Meghan is also an in-demand speaker and was named an Enterprising Women of the Year in 2019 and enjoys testing her limits as an endurance runner.

Meghan has advice on scaling you won’t want to miss – from operational systems and hiring to new revenue streams and marketing channels. She’ll also be on hand to answer your questions and give advice on the Podopolo interactive app. Download it now, and let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Meghan Lynch.

Melinda Wittstock:

Megan, thanks so much for joining us on Wings.

Meghan Lynch:

Thanks so much for having me, Melinda. I’m so happy to be here.

Melinda Wittstock:

I’m intrigued by the Second Stage, because often it is a company that’s been growing, they’ve been doing everything, it’s been going great, but then there’s a little bit of a plateau, and it’s like, “Well, oh, my goodness, what next?” Or, “What tricks are we missing or whatever?” Give us some examples of some second stage companies and the things that they’re going through?

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. Sure. So I think one of the big symptoms that people will feel most often is our revenue plateau. For example, one of our clients is a family-owned company. They’re in a second generation, and they were right around the $3-million mark in revenue just like year after year. And they had this initial spur of growth that was like, “Yeah, we have more demand out there and this is great.” And then all of a sudden that hockey-stick growth just stopped. And they were just stuck there. And they were doing all the same things and working as hard as they could. And it just, nothing was working and getting them passed there and it wasn’t until they sat back and said, “Okay. We really need to start doing things differently. We’re never going to get there if we just are going after the same types of sales. Maybe we need to look at a new market that has more scalability to it, more volume.”

So it wasn’t until they stepped back and took a strategic look that they could really do that. Other companies that should shows up as the CEO. Again, we work from a branding and marketing perspective. So it might be one, another example is our multi-location restaurant brand where the CEO and president basically was the brand, they were doing all the market. They were writing content. They were out looking for locations. They were overseeing store buildouts. And it just got to the point where they couldn’t do all of those things consistently, but anytime they handed it off to somebody, it just wasn’t what they needed it to be. It wasn’t as powerful as when they did it.

Melinda Wittstock:

Particularly women get stuck there as well, because-

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

… I see so many women coming into this thinking that, “You have to do everything yourself,” and that’s a recipe for disaster ultimately, or certainly, for lack of growth or plateau, because there’s a limit on anyone on time, but does require a really big psychological shift.

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

I mean, how much of your work is getting people to see beyond what they’ve done, just even on a psychological level.

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. I mean, there is a huge piece of the work that we do that really is that mind, almost mindset, coaching or showing them different ways to think about it. And also, showing them what another way looks like. Because I think one of the things that keeps people stuck at this second stage plateau for so long is that they don’t know any different, right? And what made them successful now is all of a sudden stopping them. But instead they just keep trying harder at what they used to do, instead of being able to see what a new path might look like.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s being stuck on a treadmill of running fast, but going nowhere.

Meghan Lynch:

And it tires you out, right? I mean, there’s no better way to go tired or go broke than to keep doing that. But for a lot of them, it’s not that they don’t want to change, it’s just that they don’t know what a different model could or should look like that would still make them feel proud and happy about the brand, and the company, and the direction. And so a lot of our work is just showing them what that process looks like, showing them what success would look like, and getting them excited about functioning in a new way and using their skills in a different way to help the business have another hockey-stick of growth, if that’s what they’re looking for.

Melinda Wittstock:

So there’s an external component to this and an internal. And when I think of external, I think of, “Okay. There are other revenue opportunities or other ways to make money.” So give me some examples of that? I mean, there’s so many different types of businesses. They’re doing one thing, it was either their first vertical, and maybe they could expand into other verticals or they’re selling it in a certain way that could maybe be more scalable if it was digital or an app. There’s so many different ways. And so take me through the process of you helping them identify other revenue streams potentially, and what that looks like?

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. So, I mean, again, oftentimes the companies that we’re working with, the leaders of them are very entrepreneurial and they don’t lack for ideas of who needs their product or service. The big issue that they have is, for example, if a food company who’s always sold into food service, and has never sold at retail or has always sold via E-commerce and has never sold to a retail buyer, or it is a manufacturing company who has a really deep history in one particular market vertical, and they’ve never sold into any others, they don’t have any relationships in any others.

Another good example is we worked with distributors who, now, all of a sudden see opportunity in selling private label products. So it’s just getting into areas that they see the opportunity, but it takes relationships or skillsets or knowhow that they just don’t have, because it’s not historically how they’ve grown. And I think that, again, when you’re so inside it, that you can’t see the how. And so one of the signs and symptoms that we often will hear is that companies are like, “Oh, yeah. We’ve been talking about that for three years. And we know it’s an opportunity, but we just never do anything about it.” And-

Melinda Wittstock:

Sometimes it just happens to people, though. I was thinking of Kara Goldin, the founder and CEO of Hint Water, now a $2 billion company on this podcast not so long ago. And she was talking about how there was one day they were selling all their Hint into Starbucks, and one day Starbucks just said, “Hey, as of next week, we’re not carrying you anymore.”

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah, yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right? And so you’re bounced into a solution which led her to, “Okay. So we’ll sell through Amazon.” But then there was a certain point, “Oh, geez. We can’t get ahold of the data around our customers. So we’ve got to sell direct.” So sometimes it happens for you if you’re not-

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. Well, I think the pandemic is such a good example of that, where there were so many companies who were like, “Oh, should we do E-commerce, should we not do E-commerce? Should we be on Amazon or not be on Amazon?” And all of a sudden, when the pandemic hit, it was like, “Hey, do or die, we’re going to make this happen.” And they were able to see tremendous growth by just jumping into that deep end and figuring out how to make it work. And so we saw a lot of companies just accelerate those pivots, because they had that sense of urgency that you’re talking about. But I think what a lot of companies lack is like, “Well, we’re okay. We’re at a plateau, but we don’t want to lose the business. There’s no compelling urgency to make us move.”

And instead what I see often there is that there’s a huge opportunity cost. And in waiting those three years or five years, or having those circular conversations, and the market’s going to keep moving, some other competitor’s going to move in. And so I think for a lot of our customers, they’ve gotten to the point where it’s like, “Hey, the clocks ticking. I’m feeling that sense of urgency and we need to do it.” So whether it’s some force, like you’re talking about, about a major customer drops you, and you’ve got to figure out what to do or whether it’s some other outside force, pandemic, supply chain, or whatever is that.

Meghan Lynch:

But I think that it’s important to be able to turn those urgent moments into opportunities. And a big piece of that is focus and then, also, surrounding yourself with people who know how to do that, so that you don’t make those big leaps with a trial-and-error mindset. Because that that can really cause companies to lose something big, there’s often a lot to lose with these companies that are established. They’re not startups anymore. They’ve got employees who depend on them. They’ve got families who depend on them. So you-

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, that’s an interesting psychological difference between that, the startup that’s got nothing to lose everything to gain and there’s just an in invariably more of a risk-taking willingness to fail, try, iterate, all of that. But once something is successful yeah, there is a change where there’s all of a sudden something to lose. And yet at the same time, something you also said, “The world is changing around you at all times,” right? We could see the market’s changing, there are new competitors and all this sort of stuff, so you got to be on your toes. So how do people, from a mindset perspective, I guess, how do you advise them to walk through that?

Melinda Wittstock:

How to innovate in that sense while mitigating the risk of that innovation?

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. I mean, I think one of the biggest things that we put a huge emphasis on is listening, right? Not that you have to listen to your customers, if you’re going to be entering a new market, or a new vertical, or take some big leap, you need to go out and talk to that market before you just decide to go do it.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. Yeah.

Meghan Lynch:

You need to internally to your employees about it and help understand what their fears are, because sometimes, they are fearful of things that you might not see from up above the dance floor. You’re looking at certain things, when you’re down there you’re going to be seeing different things. And so as one of my clients said the other day, one of the things that that does is that it tells you how not to burn the house down while you’re building it.

And I thought that was such a great metaphor, because that’s the fear, right? Is that we’re going to take this big risk and we’re going to somehow lose everything that we’ve built. And I’m a firm believer that that doesn’t have to be the case. It’s certainly a risk, but the easiest way to avoid that is to take the time to stop and do some listening. And for whatever reason, companies just don’t seem to do that enough, to actually get out and talk to their market that they might look at data, but oftentimes they’re very gut-driven, and that can be a really, really scary place to be. So we’re huge proponents of having conversations.

Melinda Wittstock:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah. It’s so true. So I mean, something that you mentioned earlier though, too, is seeking out the right expertise. I mean, there’s always someone who’s done whatever you’re doing before you. And I find the people who are the best at it have the least ego and/or tend to be the most generous. And ask or create-

Meghan Lynch:

True.

Melinda Wittstock:

… an advisory board or you’ve got to be able to hire the expertise that you don’t have and be willing to sort of admit that you don’t know everything.

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. And I think it’s one of the huge opportunities right now. We’re wrapping up the end of a crazy 2021. We’re in the middle of this great resignation. There’s tons of people who have grown and scaled businesses in various industries and various roles who are out there deciding to do something different, do consulting, take gig opportunities, who love their industry, who are passionate about it, and who have a lot of knowledge and expertise, but aren’t necessarily looking for a full-time 9:00 to 5:00 job. And I think for a lot of second stage family businesses, companies that are right in that messy middle where you can’t afford to hire huge, big-name talent, but you need their expertise. This is such a cool opportunity to be able to have some of those folks. Yeah. On an advisory board doing some contract work for you, serving as a consultant or in some part-time role. And I think that that companies should really be on the lookout for some of those less obvious arrangements that maybe wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago, but now, I think are pretty plentiful.

Melinda Wittstock:

So we were talking about the growth side of it, the internal side of it. And so, I guess, I’m talking here system scalability for the founder who has grown, and they’re still doing everything, and they’re burning out, and they’re having a hard time delegating or when they do delegate, it doesn’t work out. How do you help with that? Because that is so common, especially, in small businesses, family businesses and whatnot, that weren’t built from the outset to scale.

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. So, again, I mean, there’s lots of companies that work on that from the more operation’s standpoint, because we’re approaching it more from the branding standpoint, the marketing standpoint, the reputation standpoint, what we’re really trying to help companies build out is a clear and consistent articulation of what we call their brand DNA, right? Their Do Not Alter, the things that if you mess with these value, voice, things that make them who they are, it’s going to set the company backwards. It’s not going to catapult them forwards. And those are often things that live in the brain, or the guts, or the aesthetics of an owner/founder, or a couple of key people within the company.

And that’s a really dangerous place to be if you want to grow. You really need to get some of those intangibles out of people’s heads and figure out a way to articulate them so that they do become scalable. Anytime you’re looking at a big successful brand, the two things that they have are clarity and consistency. And so it’s one of the most difficult things for second stage companies to get, but it will be the difference between a successful, scalable, impactful brand, and a brand that is just stuck on that treadmill, not able to grow in any meaningful, sustainable way.

Melinda Wittstock:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Absolutely. And so I’m curious, Megan, what, I don’t know, inspired you to work with companies at this particular stuck stage, I guess, you call it second stage. I’d call it maybe “stuck stage”.

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

What got you excited about working in that area?

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. So, I mean, I think a lot of it is just my own personal experience with my own company. I founded the company with two partners, both of them were towards the end of their careers and looking to do one big thing before they retired and I was more on the outset of my career. And so when they started looking at retirement, we really in that stuck stage. And so, for me, I was just like, “Oh, my gosh. What are we doing? They’re going to leave. We’ve got terrible customer concentration problems. I’ve got no sense of how to get out of this mode. We gain an employee, we lose an employee, we gain a customer, we lose a customer. What is going on when we’re doing all the things that we’ve always done? Why am I so terrible at this?”

And I started joining peer groups like CEO roundtables, the women’s president’s organization, a family business center. And the more time I spent in those environments, the more I realized like, “Oh, I am not terrible at this or at least we’re all equally terrible at this, because everyone has the same six problems.” And that was when I also looked around and realized that while there was a lot of programs and content around how to read your financials and how to scale your operations, the marketing and branding piece of it was always create a customer persona, create a value proposition, but it didn’t really tell you what to do next, how to create a marketing plan, there was no support after that. It was just some very high-level stuff, that wasn’t wrong, but it just wasn’t what I saw everybody needing.

And so I felt like, “Oh, I know exactly what these people are going through and feeling.” And I see them need looking for resources that aren’t there, being very confused about like, “Do I need SEO? Or do I need social media marketing? Or what do I do with digital? What are trade shows? Should I be going to trade shows? How much should I be spending?” Just tons of questions and no ones to look to to trust and get in the weeds with them and help them find answers that were really customized to their unique situation. And so that’s really when I focus six-point and that’s really all we’ve done since, and it’s been a really fun thing. I feel I really working with my people, which is always an awesome place to be.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, we’ve started around this and touched on it a little bit, but the power of peer learning and mentorship across all the different areas that a CEO, a founding CEO, or hired CEO, or any member of the executive team has to have at their fingertips to be able to grow as the company grows. And so one of the things I’ve found in my own entrepreneurial journey, with this being my fifth business as an adult, is that who I’m being at the different stages of the company and what’s required of me is it changes over time. They’re just different, it’s just slightly different rules. So you not only need people who’ve been on that path before, but different people who can help you through that. So tell me a little bit more in terms of how that works, what kind of networks should people have around them, especially to get through these different phases, I mean, these different plateaus that happen at different phases of your business?

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. I mean, I’m just such a huge proponent of peer learning. I think it’s such an important piece, because the role that owner/founders play is so unique, and also, so lonely. And so having people who you don’t have to explain anything to it, they get it, they have lots of experience and stories to share. You can share your experience and stories and get some credit for all that hard work you’ve been putting in. To me, that’s huge. And there’s all kinds of different versions of those peer programs, whether it’s Masterminds or more structured formal organizations like the Women’s President’s Organization, or Vistage, or the Entrepreneur’s Organization or whatever it is. But I think finding the one that feels right to you is really important. And then, also, I found just a huge benefit from… I find that that there’s a great group of CEOs or business leaders who are towards the end of their career are either retired or approaching retirement.

They’ve got free time. They’re not in it to prove anything to anybody anymore. And they have a wealth of knowledge and experience that maybe isn’t worth a whole lot to anybody, but you, and a few other people. And so I’ve found mentors that way of just talking to people that I’ve admired, that I’ve admired their agencies or their work, and I’ve just reached out to them. And they’ve been more than happy to share their experience and mentor me. I had one mentor who said that exact thing to me of like, “Hey, I’ve put a ton of blood, and sweat, and tears into everything that I’ve done and learned. And if now, I can share it with even one person, and it’s valuable to them, then it helps me feel like all that hard work was, was worth it.”

And so to your point, I feel like there’s people who know so much who you would think like, “Oh, my gosh, I would never, they would never pay attention to me,” or, “I’d never be able to afford work with them.” And instead they’re some of the most generous, giving, open people who you could ever imagine. So I think to not be afraid to reach out to people who you admire and see if they would be willing to help in some way. And I would say nine times out of 10, they will be.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh, gosh. 100%. It’s so true. And it’s a little counterintuitive for people because you think someone who’s just at the height of their success or they have had done all these amazing things. It can be intimidating for people to reach out, and yet, those are the very people that actually do really want to give back and it makes them feel good.

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. Yeah. And oftentimes, again, they’ve got time, they have expertise, they’re not really looking for money or for recognition or anything, they’ve done all those things. And so now, it’s really more about that personal connection and being a part of something that they believe in and feel good about. And so when you can find those relationships, those are just so worthwhile on every aspect. And-

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. It gives meaning, it gives meaning.

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

It gives meaning to their work and all the times that they’ve failed and recovered. I mean, so failure is something that’s so part of this process, right? At any stage of business. And what’s interesting, I was listening to a podcast not so long ago about how Airbnb just almost died during the pandemic. I mean, and was facing laying off most of their employees or it was just a nightmare after all the success, right? So those kinds of things can happen at any time in your business growth, whether you’re a million-dollar company, a hundred-million dollar company, you see Fortune 500s disappearing. Like my daughter asked, “What’s Kodak?” So-

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right? So that can happen anytime. So what’s your advice about dealing with failure? Actually, I like to embrace failure in a way as feedback, but what’s your perspective on it?

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. I think, I mean, our team definitely has an embrace failure mindset. I do think it’s so important to be curious about failure and to look at it with that open mind of like, “What is this trying to teach me and what do I need to learn?” Because nobody wants to have to learn the same thing over and over again. That’s really both emotionally painful and-

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah.

Meghan Lynch:

… expensive, and all those things. So there’s definitely that. And I think also, again, when you look at failure with curiosity, and instead of just that it’s not a standpoint of like, “Oh, I failed. Yay. That was great.” But more, asking questions of like, “Why did this fail?” Like, “What assumptions was I making that weren’t correct? Where was I complacent where I shouldn’t have been?” And I think that that can really been up new ideas and new opportunities. I think it’s one of the things that entrepreneurs are so good at is turning failures into opportunities. And so knowing that that is likely much of the people listening, it’s much of your skillset, you need to use that and leverage at every point you get, because it’s something that not everybody has, that resilience, and that curiosity, and that optimism that can help you take things that might frustrate and stop other people and turn it into something that’s a positive. So-

Melinda Wittstock:

And so what are your ideal? There’s a big market, I think for probably plateaued companies. What are your ideal companies? If someone’s listening to this and they’re… oh, man. Sorry. My phone, it rings on my computer. So if someone’s listening to this, Megan, and they’re saying, “Oh, gosh, I really need help. I’m stuck or whatever, what kind of folks do you work with?”

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. So our ideal companies are usually, again, companies with longevity, they’re often family-owned businesses, many times second or third generation family-owned businesses who are seeing opportunity out in the market, but that’s going to take something widely different to get there. And we worked a lot in the food industry and food and beverage manufacturing, and also, in industrial manufacturing. But I think the principles of what we do are applicable to almost any company who relates to that stuck feeling. But I think our approach and our style doesn’t tend to work well for companies who are looking for super-fast growth or have major internal operational problems or are venture capital-funded or anything like that.

That’s not really where our sweet spot is, because we’re really looking more for sustainable longterm-legacy type growth, not how quickly can we scale this up and sell it or exit that for our customers, they’re often much more risk averse, and they are trying to figure out like, “How do I grow without nesting this up?” “How do I grow?” And also make sure that the business is intact for the next generation and the generation after that, “How do I grow and keep my family reputation intact?” All of those types of concerns are really where we’ve built out processes that really speak to that. And I think that it’s a group that’s often overlooked in the market, because it’s not as flashy or sexy as the venture capital-funded tech companies. But for me it’s much more rewarding work, because it’s often people who are really committed to their communities, they’re really committed to their industry, they have a real passion for what they do, that’s just so fun to be around.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. And it’s really the motor force in actual fact of the economy as well. I love that. So I just want to invite anybody who’s listening to this, if you have any questions for Megan or for me on this, if you haven’t already downloaded Podopolo, use the comments feature. Megan, it’s so exciting. We’re just ruling out time code. People can time code sections of a podcast episode that they want to comment on and interact with the guest of a podcast. So for example, you on the Podopolo App.

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

So I just want to invite everybody if you have any questions for Megan or for me, or just any comments about this topic, or insights, or whatever were to go there and follow Wings. And let’s have a great conversation about this, because this is a really, really important work that you do, Megan. And I want to thank you so much for putting on your Wings and flying with us today.

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. Yeah. No. Thank you so much for having me. And I love the idea of turning this into a conversation. So yeah, if any of this resonates with you, I’d love to hear what it looks like in your life. One of my big joys is hearing from second stage business owners and what they’re dealing with and how we can help. So it’s really been so awesome.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh, that’s fantastic. Well, it’s especially a good timing now, as everybody’s looking ahead to 2022. So what opportunities are on the horizon.

Meghan Lynch:

Absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock:

How can anyone who’s in a plateau get out of it. So thank you again, Megan. It was a joy to talk to you.

Meghan Lynch:

Yeah. Great to speak with you, Melinda. Thanks so much for having me on.