Picture this, you at a networking event and someone asks so how big is your team and you apply. It’s just me right now. But then you get this awkward pause, you see an eyebrow raise and there’s this not so subtle shift in tone like you just admitted your business is some sort of side hustle or something.

And then you get their reply. That’s cute. Cute. You’re pocketing 6 figures in profit with no payroll, no office politics, and the freedom to work from anywhere. But yet somehow your business is cute.

And then the next question. So any plans for growth? Because despite trying to hide it, it’s still just not OK that you’re just one person to them. And they’re clearly not worth their time if you are just one person.

And so when you apply with I’m actually really enjoying Beaver solar partner. So I don’t actually plan plan to grow no. And their response? Oh cool, I’m just going to go grab a drink. And then they make their quick exit looking for someone who’s equally obsessed with vanity metrics and just wants to grow and grow until they can sell.

So they go off and they find someone that can chat tactics and you go with and you’re just left feeling a little bit embarrassed about your solo business.

So this week’s episode is all about smashing that myth that bigger means better in business and showing you that actually you can be more profitable, less stressed, and way happier when staying small.

Hello and welcome to Sniffing Out the Bullshit, a podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs who want help wading their way through the bullshit jungle of entrepreneurship and then the tools, skills and mindset that are actually required for success. I’m your host, Sabrina Chevannes, the no bullshit entrepreneur.

So apparently if you don’t have a team of 20, a court office in Shoreditch and daily standups, you’re not really running a business, right? I mean, that’s exactly how I felt a couple of years ago. And that was literally my life.

And pretty much everyone around me considered me to be smashing it. And I will tell you the, like, reality about situation in a minute. But let me just start off with talking about this obsession with growth first. Because let’s face it, growth is sexy.

You know, more staff, bigger offices, funding lands team faces on LinkedIn with matching mugs and branded hoodies. I mean, that’s what the online entrepreneur crowd wanted to believe at least, right? There’s just a constant narrative that scaling equal success.

You see everywhere 7 bigger businesses now hiring a full time head of vibes or whatever, but let’s just close a 2 million investment round. Oh my God, there’s constant things like this going on, and each one of these updates our company with a crowd of people congratulating them on how well they’re doing and usually just wanted to get them to know them a bit more so they can have a taste of that same success.

The thing is, these guys don’t actually paint the full picture. The founders bragging about growth are not actually also telling you about the shrinking margins, the mounting stress, the broken workflows, and the fact that they now spend their life managing people instead of actually doing what they love.

And this mindset is everywhere, even in the books we’re told to read, right? Blitz scaling, the 10X will think bigger. These books are always recommended by the Hustle Bros as unlocking the keys to success, and they all just have the same narrative.

Grow, grow, grow.

So the thing is, I really just don’t think that everyone should scale because you know what, not everyone wants to scale. And for those who’ve been recommended those books I just mentioned, then I think you should actually also try to read Company of One by Paul Jarvis.

So he’s this guy that left his corporate life to set up his own small business and now he’s like so much happier. And he sums it up perfectly in his book. I think he says staying small can be a form of luxury and control.

So I’m just going to let that sink in for a moment with you. And I’m talking about this a lot at the moment because I’m going through a bit of a business transition myself. In fact, when this podcast gets released, I will also be releasing my new website at sabrinachevannes.com where I showcase all the freelance work I’m doing.

And I’ve been so nervous about that because it should have been up months ago, but you know how it is. Your stuff is always the one that gets delayed. Clients come first and all that stuff. But also just because it’s just me, usually I can hide behind my company brand, but I’ve stepped back from running the busy start up that is N0BS.

And I’ve scaled down my agency massively and I’ve decided to focus on more freelance work. And you’re probably wondering why, right? Well, to be honest, it’s because it’s way more profitable and I want to start putting myself first for once.

I’m I’m looking to start a family soon and I want to ensure that I am best placed to do so.
And like, I still plan to fulfill the version of N0BS, my entrepreneur members club, but I actually want to earn a stable base bus and then dedicate my time to raising capital for the business without the pressure of trying to be profitable in a high risk business from get go.

And This is why I think all the people going quit your job straight away and go all in. It’s just, you know, not what you’re supposed to do. I actually would love to have a full time job to be able to work on the side and not have that financial stress. And I shared a video on my YouTube the other day about like the worst business advice that I’d ever received.

I’m going to drop a link to the to the show notes so you can watch it in your own time. But basically, I paid some agency gurus for advising my business and they was essentially just as scale as quick as possible. And I did everything he asked me to. And our team did actually double in size.

And then it kept on growing still. And you know, he was bragging about how I was a hugely successful client client showing off my results and stuff, but I did not feel successful. So sure, our team was bigger, we had more clients, our revenue grew, but guess what didn’t grow?

Our profit and my happiness. And guess what grew instead?
My stress levels, quite honestly. And I’m going to leave you there because I feel like you can watch the video for like more details on what actually happened during that growth stage.

But just let me tell you now that I was so unhappy that I even resented coming into the office to my own company. And that is not a good place to be. So having less freedom and more stress all in the name of looking legit because bigger is apparently better.
Well, that’s just not for me.

And, you know, it’s not just me because I know that like there’s been lots of studies on this and there’s a Harvard Business Review study that found that businesses that scale too fast without systems are actually more likely to fail within five years.

And there’s always stats about, you know, starting to fail, but ones of how don’t have systems are way more likely to fail within five years. Meanwhile, those companies that say lean, especially with those with like strong retention strategies, they are able to like weather those storms far better and zero that accounting software that like lots of people use that we use.

According to a study by them, 70% of small business owners actually experience more stress when expanding their team because as you as you know, no money equals no problems, right? And yeah, OK, that’s a butcher biggie lyric, but actually it’s a genuine business reality.

So let me just ask you a question first. Do you ever feel embarrassed saying it’s just me, like when someone asks you about your business? Because I feel like there seems to be this unspoken shame around being a solo printer, as if it means that you haven’t made it yet.

People look at you like are still dabbling. And I speak to my clients about this and they tell me that they absolutely dread that question at networking events.
How big is your team? One. And they’ve even asked me whether they think it’s worth lying about just to come across bigger.

So, you know, some some are worried about that. And then some tell me that they do tell the truth. But then when they do, they feel like they immediately have to explain themselves saying things like, oh, but I use freelancers or it’s my choice. I swear. Like honestly, or I am, I’m I’m working on growing though, as if like staying small is something to be embarrassed about.

So my question is, where does that come from and does size really matter in the business sense of it? Well, let me think about it. We live in a culture that worships scale.

Capitalism measures success in size, whether it’s more staff, more square footage, more followers and more revenue. Even if you’re haemorrhaging cash. We somehow celebrate this bigness. Not efficiency, not profit, not freedom, this giant size of something because size is easy to see, but profit Peace of Mind.

You can’t post it on Instagram, so no one’s bragging about it and social media has made it even worse, right. You see someone post like this team photo and they’re like grateful for this incredible crew or they share like a CEO day in the life blog where they’re bouncing between team meetings.

They’re on best, of course, and they’ve having a Soho smoothie by the pool. Like it’s some kind of flex. And suddenly you’re one person office, AKA your kitchen table feels like the complete failure in comparison, right?
Because this is the performative business world that we’ve created.

We’re appearing big is more important than actually doing well. And don’t even get me started on the startup bro culture. Because with them, it’s like, if you’re not hiring, scaling or raising capital, then what have you even doing with your life? Hey bro. So yeah, no, let’s just ignore those.

I want to focus on the things that most people just are not realizing, right? The fact that there’s a huge difference between being busy and being effective and there’s a huge difference between sounding successful and actually being profitable.

And there’s a huge difference between looking like ACEO and actually feeling in control. Because most of the people I know posting about their massive growth are actually in debt. They’re burnt out and they’re stuck managing a beast of a business that they actually secretly resent.

And meanwhile, the just me solo founder with no team might be pulling in 70% profit margins, working just 25 hours a week and taking Fridays off to play tennis or or paddle most likely these days, right. So The thing is, these banners don’t go viral because sustainable profitability is not exactly glamorous, is it?

It’s not aspirational. And so, you know, especially, like, for anyone outside this dominant banner stereotype, there’s just this immense pressure just to look bigger, just to be taken seriously. And if you’re one of those, you get what that feels like.

You’re not just fighting imposter syndrome. You’re fighting this external disbelief. The thing is, I know, But the truth is some of the happiest, wealthiest, calmest entrepreneurs I know are actually running small, streamlined and ridiculously profitable one person businesses.

They’re just not shouting about it online because they’re too busy actually living their lives. Their lives that they are enjoying. And you know what? I’d much rather do that. I would take a happy life with tons of freedom over any online fame any day and if I could I’d get off social media completely and just enjoy the real moments.

But I feel like I am brought into this whole you’ve got to show up online to win business thing and it does work for me to an extent but I would love to have less of it. Do you know why? It’s funny because I think like in the last few months I maybe have posted on Instagram like 5 times and I’ve really forced myself to post on Instagram and I’ve had the best few months of my life.

In the last few months. I got married, one of my honeymoon, been catching up with friends, traveling, playing poker and actually winning money etcetera. I’ve been having like the best time and living such a great life that I haven’t even thought about posting about it because what’s the point?

I mean, I guess it depends on whether you’re in this for the external validation or to build something real for your future. Because do you know what? You could be making more money than those scaling as everything people like, whether you’re their friends or foes, but with less risk and far more freedom.

So I’m going to quote to Mike Mcelwick’s books right now because I think he’s always been really good on focusing on the right things of business. And I’m going to pop a link to both of them in the show notes. You can check them out now. First of all, he wrote this incredible book called Prophet 1st and reading that genuinely helped me transform my business.

It’s nothing groundbreaking or whatever. And in fact, everything you need to know is really kind of title, hey, but the Prophet 1st and I actually did a few of the things in the book already for my personal life. But somehow reading the book just gave me this light and I helped me find structure for my business finances.

I just looked at things in a whole different way and focused on the only number that really mattered, which was profit. So I highly recommend it. And then his other book was not his other book, but in another book that he wrote, Clockwork, he says something I really like.

He says your business should be able to run without you. And if it can, what? No, he says, what does he say?
He says your business should be able to run without you. That’s a whole clockwork bit. Run without clockwork. And he says, and it can build, run without you.

I think if you build lean from the start, that was it. So like, yeah, you it basically is saying if you build, build lean from the start, your business can run without you. The idea is that exactly what I’m trying to talk about because we need to ensure we have systems in our place for our business to run properly before we even hire.

So I might have butchered the quote, but the essence of the quote is still there. It’s all about building lean from the start. It’s not saying grow super quickly, it’s the opposite. If we have systems then we do much better. And I think hiring too fast is 1 of the biggest mistakes I see founders do.

And they do it because I think they’re supposed to grow fast, right? But this is all because they don’t have systems in place first. They actually tried to hire people to deal with the mess that they created instead of sorting it out first and then having people work around their systems.

So actually, if I had to pick five steps that you should do right now to help you stay small but be as profitable as possible, I’d say the following. I’d say #1 is systemize first and then delegate, which is what we just spoke about. But then that leads nicely on to #2 for me, it’s who you hire.

So many people basically hire juniors because they’re cheaper, right? But The thing is, if you genuinely want the profitable business, you need to hire seniors. And yes, they’re way more expensive and you probably can’t afford them full time, but you don’t need to hire them full time. My advice is go fractional.

Get someone senior with years of experience who could do just one day per week rather than junior who’s struggling five days a week and paying them the same amount of money. Because that fractional person will probably find solutions and opportunities in your business that that junior never ever would.

And the hiring cheap always ends up coming back to bite you in the arse anyway because of the millions of mistakes they make and all the hand holding that you have to do instead of actually working on stuff that makes you money. So those are the fancy things I’d say #3 is to simplify your office suite.

There’s so such a common thing that I think banners all suffer from is shiny object syndrome, right? It’s so common because of everything that’s going on on social media, you see other people doing like a billion things and you should think you should be doing that too.

But The thing is, every new offer you add adds operational weight as well. So if you’re juggling 4 different services, 3 different audiences, and two different pricing models, you’re likely to burn out.
So I’d recommend pick one thing that delivers the best results, one that’s easiest to sell and has the strongest profit margins, and then double down on that because your brain, your marketing, and your bank account will all thank you in the end.

On that note, my #4 would be to choose high margin offers. Forget selling cheap shit to the masses, right? If you want to stay small, your business model has to support it. So that means premium services, productized offers, digital products, and strategy over delivery.

Because you can’t be charging fiver rates and expect freedom because it just doesn’t work. You’re going to be working yourself to the bone and, and the leanest, most profitable businesses I know focus on value dense offers that solve painful problems and fast.

So when you’re looking at your pricing models, I’d ask yourself, can I charge more for this and still deliver massive value with less effort? And I think then that comes back to my starting point, which is the last thing I do is to track profit and not revenue.

It all comes down to profit fee. And it sounds obvious, but most banners don’t actually know their margins. They’re celebrating 6 figure launches that cost 5 figures to run. And do you know what? Like I’m just saying that I’m hearing myself and you’re probably thinking, wait, that sounds reasonable, right?

If you’re making six figures and it costs five figures to run, you’re still making a profit. Well, not always is that, let me break down some numbers for you because I’ve been working with a client lately on a marketing strategy and I’d seen under the hood at their last launch figures and it’s really interesting.

And you know, I, I did a lot because obviously I help clients develop marketing funnels and I’m consistently working on launch strategy. I see it all the time and the launches are just not what you think so.

Miss Client was all over social media about their 100K launch. And do you know what? They did make 100K on that launch and they actually did make a profit as well. But let me show your numbers first and you can tell me what you think. So Miss Client, she launched her new course and do you know what she’s legit at what she does.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t one of those courses. It was a legitimate cohort where she’s delivering top class training for 12 weeks. I don’t want to give away too many details and I don’t want you to know who she is, but let me break down her figures for you.

So first of all, it cost her 10K to build out the funnel, the designer to build the landing pages. Like to design the landing pages, first the developer to build those landing pages and build out the funnel and the processes and then the copywriter to write all the copy.

Plus she had another 5K for the people creating the lead magnets associated with that funnel. So the design and all that stuff and packaging all up. I thought it was pretty standard 15K for a full funnel with everything in it. Please understand, I run a creative agency sort of thing that you know, people charge fine.

So she then had to pay 2K for all the software and all the tools required for her launch platforms, all that sort of stuff. And then 8K in like salary costs for the team who are all helping her with the launch, the strategist, the VAS, etcetera, etcetera, came to 8K.

And you know, as with any launch, a lot of it depends on ad spend because how do you get your product in front of P the right people?So she actually spent 40K on ads and obviously that sounds like a lot of money, but you know, if you’re getting a positive ROI, that’s what you’re, that’s, that’s kind of normal.

She spent 40K on ads across Meta, Google and even YouTube. And then she’d also put her like banners and like worked with partners to put like push her course across their platforms and stuff and had to pay affiliate Commission to that.

So she paid that 12K in Commission to the affiliate sites and she even dropped 5K on people she considered to be influencers because they had a big following. So they did post about her course, but guess how much money they brought in?

Yeah OK, she learned her lesson that way. But lastly, she spent 5K on bonuses and delivery costs. And what I mean by that, that’s like the added value bit at the end of the offer. You know when they say like oh and the bonus is included, well she had to spend like 5K bringing in guest speakers and and delivery for all the bonuses and stuff like that.

So if you think keeping up in the maths, that is 87 grand in expenses for the 100K launch.
SO13K in profit. Not bad right? The thing is, she’d been working on this for nearly five months, enduring so much stress along the way and even in UK that does not sound good.

But OK, it wasn’t full time. So for Discover, she wasn’t doing that full time, that wasn’t her only income. She was still running her business, right So it’s only a part time thing. So again, it doesn’t sound too bad because it’s a part time thing. 13 K five months she was still running her business and earning money from that.

But let’s say she dedicated about 15 hours a week because that’s roughly what she thought she did 15 hours a week during that five months. So when you break that down to hourly rage, that is £45 per hour roughly again, not too bad. You know, if you’re launching, you’re getting £45 an hour to to kind of run your business.

That’s OK. Still didn’t. OK. But upon this, you’re missing a big, big, big factor in all this. Now that she’s launched and she’s got all those people who’ve bought her course, she now has 12 weeks of delivery of the course now.

So that 13 K is also supposed to cover that time. So in her delivery plan, she sees herself as doing about 160 hours of work. Now, as you know, Hofstad as well is probably more than that, but this is what she’s budgeted for.

So 160 hours of her time, plus she needs about 60 hours of additional support to pay out. So all that taken as consideration, hourly rate has now gone down to 24 lbs per hour. And again, not that bad considering everything. 24 lbs per hour.

You could absolutely live with that as a freelancer or as a business owner. I know that I work less than minimum wage on some stuff and that’s just how it is sometimes. But here’s the real kicker that no one ever announces when they talk about their launches.

So she made 100K in that launch in revenue, absolutely. But she then ended up having to process 28K in refunds from people who changed their mind, got through the onboarding and and like just realized it wasn’t for them and for those who had a change in circumstance.

So now she’s actually 15K in the hole and has 12 weeks of delivery today. And she has to do this like trying to put on this positive attitude, like during this 12 weeks of delivery, pretending that this launch didn’t just nearly break her mentally, right?

And five months and a loss. Unfortunately this is the reality of how these 100K launches go and it’s what people don’t tell you. This is the same scenario as those people bragging about making 20K months but they’re secretly spending 19 1/2 K to get there.

You see it all the time. So I’m telling you please, please do track all your numbers and not just revenue. I mean, track everything, cost per client, the time spent per offer, your profit per product line, tools, subscription adds all of it.

Because the goal isn’t growth. The goal should be more money in your pocket because everything else is just vanity.

And now I want to talk to the founders who have already scaled, those who’ve got the team, got the office, does all the meetings, has the millions of SLAP channels, and they’re now wondering how the hell did I end up here?

I don’t actually want this. Because if that’s you, let me be clear, you’re not a failure for wanting to unscale.

You’re not weak. You’re not giving up. In fact, I think reclaiming your business to what you want it to be takes way more coverage and scaling in the first place.

I always refer back to a McKinsey study that found that 45% of founders with teams of 10 or more feel trapped in the business that they built. So that’s not the freedom of these influencers. Scribe when they were founder, right? That’s a cage.

And one of the books that really helped me when I was feeling stressed was his book by Gregory Keiran called Essentialism. I’ve definitely spoken about it a few times. It helped me focus like on doing less while trying to achieve more.

And he has this great quote that he says, he says that success can be a catalyst for failure if it leads to the undisciplined pursuit of more because you are allowed to choose less, Less stress and less chaos because why not instead go for more clarity.

But I’ve been there, right? I’ve scaled up, then I’ve scaled back and now my profits are up more than ever. My time is my own. I actually enjoy my work again. And you know what? There’s no shame in wanting that to.

So if you’re resonating with this at all, then it might be time to start designing a business that works for you. Not your investors, not your LinkedIn followers, and not the guy at the networking event wants to know how many employees you have. Just you.
Because success isn’t A1 size fits all. If your business pays you well, gives you freedom, let’s you sleep at night, and aligns with your values, then you’ve already won. Screw the vanity metrics, screw the startup porn, and screw the 10X or die mentality.

Because I think Derek’s ever said it best business is not about money. It’s about making dreams come true for others and for yourself. Because sometimes I think a small team makes those dreams a whole lot easier to manage.

So I’d like to hope that today you’ve learned that bigger isn’t always better. Lean doesn’t mean successful and staying small can actually lead to bigger profits, carbon days, and a business that actually serves you. Because to me, this is the power of intentional entrepreneurship.

Not chasing growth because everyone says you should, but building with clarity, control, and purpose. So I want you to take a look at your own Business Today. Where have you added more just because you thought you were supposed to? And what would it look like to do less but make more?

So I’d say even take a look at an area of your business and ask yourself a few questions. Ask yourself, could I simplify this? Could I systemize it instead of hiring for it? Could I shrink it and actually be happier? Because these questions can really help you stay leaner and more profitable.

And if you’re a readier solopreneur or a tiny team and be proud and own it because you’re not small time, you’re lean and you’re profitable and you’re powerful. So please do drop me a dm or tag me on socials because I want to know when did you realize that actually bigger wasn’t better?

That’s it for me now, and until next week, please do keep sniffing at the bullshit.