Growing and Working Through Burnout by Scaling
By Leah Wietholter, MBA, CFE, PI
We’ve been sharing on our podcast and across social media this week about tools we have found helpful as fraud investigators and as a business owner. When I first started Workman Forensics, the trendy MBA buzz-word about entrepreneurship was “scalable.” I hated this term back then, but over the years, it actually saved me, and ultimately my business, from burnout.
A One-Woman Shop
Workman Forensics had just turned three years old when I was invited to present at an entrepreneurship forum. The weekly event gave several entrepreneurs six minutes each to present a new idea or talk about their business. Following the presentation, the audience had 20 minutes to ask questions of the entrepreneur. I wasn’t looking for investments and wasn’t presenting a new idea, but the event needed another business to present, and I was always willing to improve my public speaking skills. At the conclusion of my presentation on fraud investigation consulting, one of the audience members asked in a rather displeased tone, “So what about this business is scalable?” I responded nervously while trying to remain upbeat. “Nothing, currently. It’s just me! I do also own a fraud reporting hotline.” The audience member said, “I would’ve rather heard about that.”
This exchange infuriated me for years. The scalable companies I knew about had investors and venture capital. To be scalable from the birth of a new company required a lot of money. Scalability also seemed to be a prerequisite for legitimacy—as though if I were serious about my business, I would focus on being scalable at all costs. But that didn’t fit my personality. I wasn’t yet 30 years old. I loved doing the work itself—both running the business and investigating fraud. And quite honestly, I didn’t know how to tell others how to do what I was doing because I was solving problems one step at a time. I didn’t know how to do things because I didn’t have experience doing those things. To discover through this exchange that my way of approaching my business was viewed as not as credible or less valuable was frustrating.
Working Through Burnout
Fast forward to Workman Forensics’ seventh birthday. At this point I had worked well over a hundred cases in my ten-year career, and it was beginning to seem as though every new case was like the last one. A client with a huge loss would call and tell me about his problem, and within thirty minutes, I knew what information we needed and how I would work the case. The thrill of discovering the best way to work a case had ended. I had hired several brilliant accountants to help me, but I struggled to communicate the case plan, and that year, we set a record for billing write-offs from being over budget.
I was bored, but I also had more responsibility than ever, so I was constantly overwhelmed and not enjoying it. Quitting wasn’t an option for several reasons. I had at least five employees at that point, and hated to let them go. Even if I had, working cases by myself wasn’t appealing—I was bored with case work. Shutting down the business to work for someone else sounded dreadful. As a child, announcing I was “bored” would quickly result in a chore list being provided by my parents. With years of experience coming up with creative ways to keep busy, I started brainstorming and before long, I announced that we were creating a continuing education game. A friend loved the idea and, conveniently, was in charge of professional training for a non-profit organization. She scheduled an event to beta test the concept, and suddenly I had both an idea and a deadline. Within a couple of months, we had a beta version of The Investigation Game | Case of the Man Cave. Not only did this project get me out of my “funk,” it had a beneficial byproduct—it forced me to start evaluating our operational and case management efficiencies.
Professional Growth
As we began to increase efficiencies on the administrative side of the business, the extra time now available let me shift my focus to the processes I used in cases. I began to identify repeatable patterns within my analyses. With the help of team members that loved processes and procedures, I would ask, “What are the steps, tools, and types of analysis that we use on every case no matter the circumstances?” For example, regardless of whether the case involves a business embezzlement, theft from an estate/trust, or divorce, we always digitize and analyze the bank statements. Having this awareness, I could then create a process around digitizing bank statements because I knew this step would be required the majority of the time.
After the team built out data processing procedures, we continued to improve them while shifting our focus to case management, starting with the intake process and setting client expectations. From there, we identified what types of analyses were most common and created procedures and macros for those steps. Little by little, a forensic accounting and fraud investigation assembly line was created. There were plenty of growing pains and expenses in developing this process, but the incredible benefit today is that cases are being worked with excellence, efficiency and accuracy without me micromanaging each step. While the process is an important ingredient in the creation of valuable work products, it only works with an exceptional, dedicated group of employees who constantly strive to grow as professionals, to improve the process itself, and to work seamlessly together as a team.
Things I’ve Learned about Scaling
My opinion today about scaling is drastically different from those early years. I have always needed to understand how things work before making changes to improve efficiency or quality. Those early years allowed me to dive in and personally handle everything from operations to case management so that eventually, I could create an environment where processes are developed that truly improve the quality of our work. It may not be the path for everyone, but I’m thankful that I didn’t jump over those steps to create what I thought others would consider a “legitimate” business.
Now that The Investigation Game™ (and its multiple versions), the Data Sleuth™ process, and Find Money in Divorce™ exist and we are constantly working to improve, expand, and communicate about each product, I thought I’d share a few of my thoughts on scaling.
Scaling for me made sense when I used my niche experience as the foundation for serving more people. I didn’t set out to do something outside of my experience just because it was “scalable.”
Creating a scalable business model requires investment of time and resources. I don’t think there’s any getting around that. I have reminded myself throughout the process that everything doesn’t have to happen today.
Scalable businesses still have to communicate how they solve human problems and build relationships with customers. I think there’s often a misconception that if we can create technology to solve a problem, make a website, and buy a lot of Google or social media ads that we will have a successful business. Even if a tool can replace something or make an area more efficient, there’s still a human deciding whether or not to purchase the tool, and that person has to connect with the product on a human relationship level. There’s still a level of trust that must be earned even if the product is the coolest or most advanced.
Scalable doesn’t mean cheap or low-cost. It means more accessible. I don’t need to have the cheapest service offerings or product (see this great Seth Godin blog post). I just need to make my high quality service or product available to more people. If I can get my services and products to expand beyond my city or state, my business will grow, and I don’t need to do that by being the lowest cost provider.
Changing my thinking about scaling my business allowed me to find the next step I needed as a professional and business owner. One day I’ll have a meeting on a case, and the next, I’m meeting to discuss game design. It’s a mix that works very well for me.
I’m so thankful for the team that has joined me on the adventure that is Workman Forensics. Each day brings new challenges and opportunities for growth.
Have you looked into scaling your business? What are some of the challenges and successes you’ve experienced? I’d love to hear about them! Connect with me on LinkedIn so we can chat about it.