How to Be More Strategic in Your Business With Alex Brueckmann

A hard truth here, friends... Just because you're amazing in your field (health coaching, relationship coaching, etc.) doesn't mean you know how to actually build your business. Let me ask you...

🤔 Do you know where you want your business to be in the future?

🤔 Can you truly define where you want it to be? Or are you winging it day by day?

🤔 Are you able to be super clear with your priorities so you can execute your vision and be successful?

In today's episode, I'm chatting with Alex Brueckmann all about strategy and why building your business skill set is so important. This is a must-listen episode!

Alex is a strategy entrepreneur, author, executive coach. He built and scaled companies in Europe and Canada, and led client projects across the world, helping brands and firms transform their businesses. His areas of expertise are strategy development, leadership development, and entrepreneurship. His passion lies in helping clients built profitable businesses rooted in purpose, i.e., doing well while doing good. Based in Vancouver, Canada, he speaks on the topics of intentional strategy and entrepreneurship. In his upcoming book he presents a new framework called "The Nine Elements of Organizational Identity", together with a step-by-step process to bring it to life. He's a storyteller with an academic background is in General Management, with degrees from EBS University (Germany) and Universidad ORT (Uruguay), as well as certificates from INSEAD (France) and Harvard Business School (USA).

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Social Handles

www.brueckmann.ca/toolkit

www.instagram.com/alexbrueckmann

www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderbrueckmann

https://twitter.com/BrueckmannA

Episode Transcript:

[00:00:00] Lindsay: Hey everyone will come back to the book your dream clients podcast. We have Alex with us today and he is all about strategy. In fact, he's going to talk to us about why it's important to have strategic vision for your business from the beginning and how that affects your longterm vision. So you can create the impact and growth that your business deserves.

[00:00:36] So sit back, relax and enjoy. Alex. Thank you so much for being on the book, your dream clients podcast. I'm really excited to have you on today 

[00:00:46] Alex: for having me Lindsay say it's actually really cool to talk to you. I'm really looking forward to the episode. Yeah, 

[00:00:51] Lindsay: well, we started out the interview or pre-chat talking about growing trees and Alex already gave me some education on when to plant trees.

[00:00:59] So I'm excited about the next half hour. I think it's going to be really informational. Why don't you go ahead and let us know about what you do and we'll take it from. Awesome. 

[00:01:08] Alex: Sure. I'm an executive coach and strategy consultant. So I mainly work for large corporations on the one hand. So global brands that I consult on Designing and implementing business strategies.

[00:01:22] And on the other hand, I work a lot with new businesses, startup founders, entrepreneurs, and the first year or so of building and scaling their businesses. And obviously people like myself. 

[00:01:35] Lindsay: I, I think it's really important to note that you are, I think probably the second male we've had on the podcast, and I think it's important to have a balance and while I don't have, that's not a good balance at all, because we have almost 200 episodes out.

[00:01:53] You guys have a different way of looking at things. And I know that just from talking to my husband, he'll say, do you have a strategy behind that? And I'll say, well, no, I'm just going to do it and see what happens. And when I look at what you're kind of known for your toolkit that says right off the bat, discover the exact process you can use to create a long-term strategy that actually helps you grow.

[00:02:16] So what does that mean? That actually helps you grow. Do you think. Entrepreneurs coaches and specifics are just trying way too many things like what's the pain point. 

[00:02:25] Alex: Yeah. That's exactly the point. There is, there are so many coaches out there so everyone can call themselves a coach, right? Whether you have a proper education in that or not, everyone can call themselves a coach.

[00:02:40] And if you take a look around there are. Coaches everywhere in, in all kinds of businesses industries and with all kinds of definition and the same is true for the term strategy. So the two things meet here that can become more than just the sum of the single parts, or we are, we're setting ourselves up for a major disaster.

[00:03:02] If you take a coach that actually doesn't know what coaching means. And talk with that person about strategy without understanding what strategy actually is. It will get you nowhere. Whereas if you take a coach that really understands their value that they add to the client and then help that person to take an intentional strategic approach about building their business, you are creating kind of a superstar.

[00:03:30] That helps that person speed up that th the, the building and the scaling process of their business. And especially when we talk about the term strategy it's used in all kinds of ways, very often, even just wrongly. As a synonym for tactics or as a synonym for vision or as a synonym, even for purpose.

[00:03:54] So when we talk about strategy as coaches, we really need to understand what that term is. And very often when you build a business as a startup, the term strategy refers to your go-to market strategy, what is it actually that you deliver? What's the value behind your offering and how do you get it into the market?

[00:04:16] Another definition of the term strategy would be building a proper business strategy. Defining where you want your business to be. How do you want it to look like, to feel like in, let's say two years down the road and how does your plan look like your prioritization in order to get to that? Stayed in the future.

[00:04:39] And that is what I call a business strategy, defining where you want to be, and then being super clear on your priorities, how to execute them, how to link them, that the magic happens so that you are success. 

[00:04:54] Lindsay: Defining where you want to be. That can be really hard for people. I just had that conversation with a student this morning of, you know, she was asking about what kind of software should I use to do my webinars?

[00:05:06] Should I use the free one or the paid one? And I always say, well, what are you going to be using in five years? And they always say, well, I'm going to be doing this. And I think that. Yeah, that's kind of an easy yes or no, of course. I'm going to be doing that then, but this is now I'm just starting and I have zero clue.

[00:05:23] What I'm doing. All I know is that I want to help people. What do you mean I have to put myself in the future and then be intentional with the results I'm getting. How can, how can we walk people in, give them some baby steps to get to that point? 

[00:05:38] Alex: That's a good question. Because the underlying assumption behind that question is, I don't know what, I don't know.

[00:05:44] And that is super important to accept. When you build a business, when you start out as a coach, you just don't know a lot about how to build a business. Most likely you are probably really good in your area of expertise. In a subject matter. You are maybe a health coach really, really skilled and knowledgeable in that area.

[00:06:05] You might be a coach in a completely different, yeah. Again, super skilled in what you do. Long trainings, long years of practice and the value that you can add and how you can actually help people. It's probably outstanding. That does not mean, you know, how to build a business and how to monetize your skills.

[00:06:26] That is a completely different skillset. So my background is business administration. I studied business administration. I've been in the strategy field for over 15 years now. And. That, that is my expertise. I know how to do that. I know how to build businesses and how to monetize them. So in my case, the subject matter expertise is the one that I can bring to help other people scale their business and build it.

[00:06:54] I don't have a particular expertise in, in health coaching and nutrition and sports. You name it, right? So I'm kind of like. That my expertise is the expertise of building a business. That's why I'm, that's probably the number one reason why it works out for me. And I, I struggled in the beginning as well, because just because you theoretically know how to build a business and how to scale, it doesn't necessarily mean, you know, how to, how to create those steps in a sequence that they actually help you get there.

[00:07:26] I made mistakes. No matter what so, and if people like me make mistakes that have studied that the, the, the, the hefty expertise, theoretically, and through 15 years of working in that area, guess what it looks like for people that do not have that knowledge for them. This is just, I don't know where I want to be, because I have no idea how to formulate it.

[00:07:55] What are the factors? What are the elements that I should take? And that's exactly why I created this toolkit that you mentioned Lindsey that helps people, not just, Hey, can you tell me how it should look like in the future, but it actually asks very concrete questions and gives examples so that people start understanding.

[00:08:14] Wait a minute, there are certain aspects that I can take a look at very concrete. And I can take those little elements and start formulating them, start creating them one step at a time. And then there are moments in the toolkit where you connect those elements together. And all of a sudden you see how a cohesive picture emerges.

[00:08:38] And the reason why I do that. Is it helps people to cut through all the clutter. It helps them to see what they really need to build a business to successfully scale a business because let's be Frank. There is so much information help out there to build a business that it actually creates the opposite of.

[00:09:03] You don't know where to start, what to take in? Is it the series of podcasts that you listen to? Is it I don't know what the, the courses that you visit, the conferences that you attend, you can, you can take in tons of information and still don't know where to start, because the information, most of the time, it's not specific to your situation.

[00:09:23] And that's also the issue with strategy books, for example, and, and every, every self-help book out there. The ideas are great, but very often they are not necessarily applicable to the situation you are specifically in. And that's what the toolkit is. Therefore helping you take those strategic concepts that out there and applying them to your real world.

[00:09:46] And all of a sudden you see that picture emerge that helps you prioritize and know where to focus on. If that makes. Yeah, and it 

[00:09:53] Lindsay: makes total sense because we can take in as much information and feel as inspired as the next person. But when it comes down to grabbing your notebook and sitting in front of your computer and putting it into taking action, we sometimes feel like I don't even know where to start.

[00:10:09] And so we venture out and look for more information and then we digest that and it's like a hamster wheel that we continue to go on. 'cause just, just because you have a website and social media and an email service provider, it doesn't mean that the clients are going to come rolling in and you have to have this.

[00:10:27] You have to have that strategy behind it. What is the point of you doing this? How are you going to help people? You also mentioned in your toolkit, the four things you need to focus on when crafting your vision and creating your strategy are, can you dig into those a little bit? 

[00:10:42] Alex: I mean, there are, there are elements that you need to consider when you craft your vision.

[00:10:47] And when we use the term vision in the toolkit, what we actually say or mean. Defining the ideal picture of your business some years down the road. And that is more than just a fancy claim or one sentence that is probably an entire page for the text. You beating yourself into the future and take a look at your business.

[00:11:09] How does it feel? How does it look like what do your clients say about you? You make it as graspable as possible feeling into that moment. In some years down the road and you formulate it. And what do you need to balance is on the one hand purpose and measurability. So you can be very purpose-driven and very grand and idealistic at the same time, you should be clear on how you measure that you actually getting.

[00:11:38] The next pair that you, that you should be clear about is this hard and brain. So when you read that vision and it touches you only rationally kind of, yeah, that makes sense. That's not enough. You also need to feel it. You need to, when you read your vision, it needs to be. Oh my God, this is awesome.

[00:12:00] It's actually scares the hell out of me. I really want to do that. That is so cool. I don't know how yet, but I want to achieve that. I want to be part of that. So those are probably the four most important elements that you should balance purpose and measurability and harden. 

[00:12:16] Lindsay: I like that you include measurability because I don't think that many people do that after they set their intentions or look into the future of what they want it to be.

[00:12:26] They kind of just set it and forget it and hope for the best. And then you kind of, again, have a strategy implemented to make sure that this actually works. Is this something that you do personally? I'm assuming you, don't just, you didn't do it one time and you're done. How often do you kind of revisit.

[00:12:42] This vision for you and your business. 

[00:12:45] Alex: Take a look at my own strategy fairly regularly, sometimes every second month, sometimes every third month, it actually depends a bit on where I am in the business cycle. It is something that I ask my clients depending on where they are in the process to review regularly.

[00:13:01] So the larger organizations I work with, they have feely strategy review cycles, and maybe some shorter touch points here and there throughout the year. Maybe once every, every second quarter kind of for an entrepreneur. That is not enough. And the reason is the biggest value of having a clear strategy and a written down intentional strategy in place is that it tells you where you want to be, and it shows you how you get there.

[00:13:33] And as a small company, you really need to make sure that you benchmark. Your opportunities, your business opportunities, your decisions that you make on a daily basis against this strategic framework that you created. Why? Because it's all you have. The only asset that you have, the only valuable asset is your time.

[00:13:55] If you start to invest two or three weeks into a shiny object, that comes your way without benchmarking at first against your strategic framework that you created, you might lose three weeks for nothing. You can't turn to turn back time. Those three weeks are gone. If you are intentional about. Those shiny objects coming your way, benchmarking thing against your priorities and asking yourself, does that fit into my strategic plan?

[00:14:25] How does it fit in and how does it help? Get to my wish to get to my vision faster. Only if there is a clear answer to that you should actually pursue that opportunity. Otherwise, it's not an opportunity. It's just a distraction. So I personally review it every second or third month. And at the beginning it was even, even more often It's something that helped me allocate money and time.

[00:14:52] Especially in the startup phase of my own business. 

[00:14:56] Lindsay: I really like that you touched on time and because we know that we cannot buy that. That's the one thing we can't buy and that's it, time is so very precious. It could be, you know, yes. It could be time that you could be working on something else in your business, but it could also be time that you're spending with your family or just taking some me-time.

[00:15:13] So we really have to be mindful about that. This episode is going out at the end of the year, which is a very scary time for shiny object syndrome, because everyone's feeling like I need to refresh something in my business. I need to enroll in a course. I need to do this and this. I need to learn a bunch of new things and that, that can be really dangerous because you could be sidetracking yourself from where you need to be.

[00:15:38] What is your advice? I think, I think the shiny objects are so prominent right now, online. There's so many quick wins and you know, do this one real and you'll go viral and everyone's trying this. And I mean, there's just squirrels everywhere. I like the people who I see just, you know what, I know what I want and I'm going to keep moving and everything else is noise to the sides, but there are people who put so much stock into all these really random strategies.

[00:16:06] And programs or whatever it is. What can you say to that person to kind of make sure they make, not make sure they make the right decision, but just kind of talk them through that. 

[00:16:13] Alex: It might sound a bit harsh what I'm about to say now, but if you fall for those six and seven, figure B S promises out there, I can't help you.

[00:16:22] You need to help yourself first. I don't think 

[00:16:25] Lindsay: they're listening to this podcast, but exactly it going 

[00:16:29] Alex: so. Even those other squirrels that you mentioned, there, there are no fast tracks to success. Success needs to be earned. And the only thing that you can do is to stop working on tactics every day and spending busy time and instead upskill yourself.

[00:16:51] And that means. First and foremost, you got to have strategic acumen, the ability to act and think strategically, this is the most important skill, whether you are in a large organization or whether you are a solopreneur without the ability to think an extra TJ teasingly, how do you make an informed decision about where you allocate your time and your money?

[00:17:16] It's just based on tactics and tactics. Don't bring you to your. And you to understand that first and foremost, everything is secondary. Strategy comes. First business follows a very clear step that is strategy, and then putting strategy into action. If you're only in the action mode day in and day out.

[00:17:40] And I have many clients that suffer from that. They are so busy, but busy is, I mean, Warren buffet once allegedly said busiest the new stupid, I wouldn't go that far, even if I liked that term because it reminds myself day in and day out that I need to be intentional about where I spend my time. If I am not strategically savvy to a certain degree.

[00:18:03] And I'm not saying you need to be a strategy expert, but you need to understand that there's a difference between. Acting and thinking strategically and being busy all day. I think this is the most important thing. So look out for opportunities, for articles, for podcasts, for courses that help you make more informed strategic decisions for your business, rather than chasing tactical squirrels.

[00:18:32] I don't know the five best tips to scale your social media, things like that. This is awesome stuff. It's great, but it doesn't help you design and scale a successful business as a. 

[00:18:47] Lindsay: It might help you today, but in the long-term, which no one talks about. I mean, why doesn't anybody talk about that because it's not as fun and it's not as glamorous or it doesn't even, it feels like we're, we're aging ourselves by talking about the future.

[00:19:03] Why, why, why, why would we worry about that? And I am worried about that. So I want to make sure that my business. Strong and has that backbone of strategy and has the ability to implement what I need to happen in my business, your business. Isn't just a tool for a to-do list. Like you shouldn't just like come into your office, check off all the little tasks and then walk out or try to find other things to do this.

[00:19:29] This is, this is a business. I think that this podcast is much needed to shift your focus into how are you going to perceive your business for the next. Is this going to be this little, the to-do list that never ends, or could it be something else? So tell me some mistakes that your clients come to you and they're like I am totally overwhelmed.

[00:19:50] I can't do this anymore. I don't even know what I want. What are some other struggles that your clients are coming to you that are very calm? 

[00:19:59] Alex: One is for that. They run out of runway. They are, they saved money. They had a corporate career. Now 10 years in, they see that they want to do things differently and they want to shift focus.

[00:20:14] They build a business, they become coach. They invest significant time and money into something and they just don't get there their knowledge and energy on the road. Right. So, and, and they see that their savings are going down and down and down. And on the other hand, they're not scoring the clients that they want and need.

[00:20:35] So they see that they need to shift gears in order to. To make this work in order to provide for the family, for example. So the issues that we find in that context, that there are so many that range from. They actually have no idea who they are. Ideal client is they don't know whom they want to target with their offering to they, they know theoretically where they would find their ideal client and how to talk to.

[00:21:08] But they are not really skilled in in pricing, for example, how do you price and monetize your offering? So they're giving away too much for free. So there are hustling day in and day out. But at the end of the day, when they draw the line, there is not enough money left. So the it's a broad range. Of not knowing how to scale a business, to struggling with the day-to-day operations of a business.

[00:21:41] Lindsay: I think the not knowing how to scale a business is a big pain point too, because you can get your first client, your first 10 clients and everything's going well. And then when. Are asked to the question, where do you see yourself in five years, 10 years, 20 years, you're totally thrown off guard. Am I going to be working with clients for $5,000 or am I going to be raising my prices or what is this?

[00:22:06] This business model even makes sense for the future? That's a huge problem. Do you. 

[00:22:11] Alex: Absolutely. So when, when I started out two years ago with my first well, not the first, but with an own business. When, after I transitioned from Germany to Canada, I realized that the tactics and operations modes that I had set up in my previous company over many years in Germany, they would not help me at that new stage.

[00:22:34] So. I needed to find a modus operandi that helped me as a solo printer to build an ecosystem around me where I could focus on my core competence and outsource. Work that I realized needed to be done, but were not my core competence to other people. So I established a network around me that helped me with certain marketing efforts, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:23:05] That was something I didn't have to do before, but in that stage of my new business, it was. Now two years in, we're talking about a completely different company. So the ecosystem is there. All the tech stare, you need to understand what you want to build product design, the solution and service to sign phase is over.

[00:23:25] So now you're asking yourself how to actually scale up. How do I go from, I don't know a hundred thousand turnover to 200 doubling doesn't sound too difficult when you are at a hundred thousand, but once you've reached like maybe 500,000, going to 1 million might require different systems, again, different management systems, however you want to call them.

[00:23:50] And the further you grow, the more you realize that you always hit those, that you have those growing pains and that. Overcome those growing pains by adjusting how you operate your business. And that is something that needs to have a place in your strategy. You need to know at a certain point, when you need to scale and pluck in new types of management systems or a new tech or new automation that helps you run your business.

[00:24:21] As smoothly as before, if you double your number of your clients, for example, will your operations just collapsed because your operations is you and no one else is there that can help you with, with it from designing a program for a client to sending the invoice afterwards. So. It becomes more and more important for you to combine the strategic side of business and how you actually lead the business.

[00:24:53] And when those two pieces come together you redefine your role as you go and as you grow your business. And that is, that is as important as having a strategy without understanding your role and the core value that you provide as a person, as a company, or as a founder, as a coach It's the same issue with not, not knowing where you want to go.

[00:25:11] So you need to grow your skills around strategy on the one hand, but also when it comes to self-leadership recognize. When it's time to let go of something. When it's time to focus on a different topic, every stage in the business has different challenges and you need to, you need to show up as a company owner.

[00:25:32] It's your job. No one else would do that for you. 

[00:25:34] Lindsay: Yes. Yes, exactly. I'm definitely going to download it. This tool kit. We're going to put the tool kit in the show notes. Alex, is there anything else where can people find you I'm on Instagram, Twitter, or wherever else you shown me? 

[00:25:50] Alex: Basically. Yeah. And the worldwide web social media, wherever you want to at wherever you are, you would probably find me.

[00:25:57] But the easiest way is to go to my website, Alex, the strategist.com and they're right there on the landing page. But at the very bottom, you would have the social links where you can connect. You can just sign up to my, to my email list, to my newsletter. Where I provide every second week, just an overview of useful tips and tricks and articles that I wrote that other people wrote.

[00:26:25] It's basically a bunch of free resources on my website. That helps people be more strategic and to understand how to build and scale a business based on an intentional strategy. So Alex, the strategists.com is probably the best way to connect with. 

[00:26:41] Lindsay: Okay, perfect. We'll put that in the show notes as well.

[00:26:44] How can people work with you? One-on-one or how can you coach them through. 

[00:26:49] Alex: I actually do offer free calls. So there's not necessarily cost associated to working with me at least on the beginning. So if, if, if you want to book a free call with me, just go to my website and there's, there's an opportunity to do that.

[00:27:03] Also when, when you want to learn more. About how to be more strategic, how to build and scale your business as a coach. Again, there is a lot of free resources on my website once you've digested those, and you feel ready to be real about what you want to do. We can always design a coaching package.

[00:27:23] So I help people with one-on-one coaching to build and scale their business depending on where they are. But I think the biggest value that people will will have in the near future. Working with me as I'm checking out my new master class, that will be a eight week strategy course online. That helps people that do not have a business background, basically, who do not have a strategic background.

[00:27:45] Like I asked to take the most important strategic tools and translate them into their world. So this is not a course that is theoretic. It's not kind of an MBA on strategy or something like that. It's really about it's hands on it's. I give you the tools. You apply them to your business in between the sessions we hop on one-on-one calls.

[00:28:10] I help you get down to where you want to be and go deeper and deeper and create the value that you want to create for your business. That course will start in Q1 20. So next year, basically in just two or three months, and I think this is probably the best way to To, to, to help you understand what it is that will make it successful.

[00:28:34] Again, talking about strategic acumen and self-leadership 

[00:28:37] Lindsay: fantastic. And just as a final, I'm just going to say as a final warning, what will it mean for your business when you do not implement strategy whatsoever? What is that going to mean for you? 

[00:28:52] Alex: Honestly in the best case, if you don't have a strategy, you don't, you don't even feel it.

[00:28:57] There are people in this world that are just, they are running through the forest with blindfolds on and both hands tied on their back and they never hit a tree. But imagine how rare that is. You can try it, just go to the next forest and try it. And when, when you hit that tree, that is basically what you will experience.

[00:29:16] And your business. If you don't have a strategy, there are so many trees. Not only one. Every time you get up and you start running in another direction, there will be a tree that will stop you. And strategy is about knowing your way through those trees without without being completely bruised. When you get out of the forest on the other end.

[00:29:37] Think having an intentional strategy in place creates incredible focus and clarity. It creates the space for you to stop working your brains out and spending quality time with your family instead, because you've got a covered. And that is probably for me personally, this is the biggest. Advantage in having a strategy in place.

[00:30:05] It means I have the time that I want with my family, with my son to play soccer with him, whatever it is. I D I would not have that time. I would always have a bad conscious about like, oh my God, I shouldn't be sitting on my desk. I should be working, but with an intentional strategy in place, I know what to focus on.

[00:30:23] And I know. When I did my work, I can focus on other things in my life, like friends, family, hobbies, and that is for me the biggest event. 

[00:30:35] Lindsay: I think that is a great way to wrap it up because it's not all about business. And like you said, you can tell yourself I got it covered and what an amazing feeling that will be.

[00:30:44] Alex, thank you so much for being on the podcast. This was a great episode. We'll be sure to link everything here. And I'm really grateful for all of the things you've shared with us, and I hope everyone's feeling inspired to go check out. Alex's a free toolkit and go follow him on social media to stay connect.