We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Patrick Kenger a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Patrick, thanks for joining us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

When I first started, I was focused only on doing good work and making my guys happy with their results. I had no business acumen and I figured the work would speak for itself. The truth is, you need to learn so many skills as you continue to scale and if you’re not learning to master the skills at the next level, you’re likely stuck.

I started by mastering my skillset- my product offering of helping men look incredible through style. This wasn’t enough. I had to then learn the skill of marketing and sales, which can be scary for anyone new to it. The truth is, no one comes knocking on your door, you need to put yourself out there and communicate your offering in a coherent, appealing way.

(If you’re someone who is scared of marketing or sales, there’s an easy cure for this – do good work. Believe in your product/service so much that you would be doing someone a DISSERVICE not selling it to them. If you can believe with true confidence that your product or service changes lives, marketing and sales become a lot easier. You need to learn to master these other areas, not just the product/service delivery (although this is the most important part)).

Becoming a business owner means you’re now staking multiple skills on top of each other. You need to know the product/service inside and out, but you also need to know how to manage people, manage your cash flow, your marketing and sales, everything. This was the tough, but fun part for me was starting to learn these other areas of business. Once I did, scaling up just naturally happened.

Now, as I’m starting to do more hiring, I’m learning that skill. The skill of managing people, hiring the right people, and building a team – is something I have little experience with.

Scaling is all about stacking skill on top of another. If you’re trying to reach the next level, it’s more than likely you lack a skill that will take you there. Look at what skill is next on the ladder for you to master and learn it well. Then, scaling comes naturally as you climb that ladder.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

The quick fancy stuff: I’m a certified menswear stylist and owner of Pivot Image Consulting. I do personal styling exclusively for men, working with guys in-person around the country and around the world virtually. Clients include WSJ and NYT best-selling authors, multiple TED speakers, Fortune 100 execs, and TV personalities, with work being featured in Ask Men, Men’s Health, Bloomberg, Insider, Men’s Journal, and more.

In short, I help guys look good – Everyone from celebs to normal successful guys who want to look their best. I work with men 1-on-1 to make shopping and creating outfits easy, breaking it down into a digestible science for them.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Because I work 1-on-1 with clients, things end up being very personal. This service is one that most guys are a little intimidated about at first, so it helps to foster a caring relationship. I regularly check in on my clients, making sure they feel great about what they’re wearing and answering questions. I will also send handwritten cards out after I work with a client and around the holidays. It’s a lot of work, but I know I would appreciate it on the other end. It also helps keep the business top of mind for clients.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Posting content/SEO. I’ve been writing for my own blog and writing other pieces for other online publications. This helps with SEO, but also helps introduce people to my work beforehand. We’ve started to dabble in Facebook and Instagram ads as well, but only for re-targeting clients.

Truthfully, nothing beats word of mouth. Truly, if you do good work, believe in the product, get people results, and make sure you put all of that out there for people to find, you’ll do well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pivotimage.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pivotimage
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pivot-image-consulting-scottsdale