Success School

Join Steph and Tim Frey on the Success School Podcast, where we share the exact systems we use to help service businesses get new clients every week and stay fully booked. Each week you'll get: System Deep Dives – How to install a simple marketing system that brings new clients in consistently, without relying on referrals or social media. Real Results – Behind-the-scenes stories from service businesses we've worked with who went from unpredictable referrals to fully booked calendars. Listener Q&A – Raw answers to the questions service business owners are asking as they build predictable demand and scale their teams. Proven Frameworks – The exact strategies, systems, and processes that keep calendars full weeks in advance and build real business momentum. Expect practical tactics, honest advice, and real conversations about what actually works for service businesses ready to stop relying on referrals and start building sustainable growth. Hit subscribe and tune in every Monday to join 250+ service business owners building fully booked, in-demand businesses.

  1. hace 2 días

    4 Marketing Hacks From $15M In Online Sales (Steal These Now)

    Most businesses don’t need more leads. They need better marketing. We’ve generated over $15M in online sales, and some of our biggest improvements haven’t come from complicated funnels, new tactics or chasing cheaper leads. They’ve come from getting the basics right. In this episode, we break down 4 simple marketing lessons we’re using right now: • Why direct beats clever • Why you should nail ONE funnel before building another • Why cheap leads can actually cost you more money • Why ROAS matters more than CPL • Why AI-written copy can hurt your conversions • Why simpler landing pages are winning for us • How we’re getting around 50% of our leads to book calls • What we learned from spending $700,000 testing webinars One of our landing pages converted at 28%. We “improved” it using AI. It dropped to 14%. That taught us a pretty simple lesson. Clear beats clever. Human beats polished. And more marketing doesn’t fix bad marketing. Our philosophy is becoming pretty simple: MORE ADS. BETTER ADS. But those ads need to lead somewhere that actually converts. If you run a service business and want more of what we’re testing with paid ads, funnels and marketing each week, follow us on Instagram: Tim: @timxfrey Steph: @stephgorton__ Want us to look at your business? Book a free Scale Session with the Success School team. We’ll look at your: • Lead generation • Marketing • Funnel • Sales process • Numbers Then we’ll show you where the biggest gaps are and what we’d focus on next to help you build a more predictable pipeline. Book your free business growth call at www.startsuccessschool.com And if you got something from this episode, follow the show. Every week, we share what we’re actually testing, what’s working, what isn’t, and the lessons we’re learning from marketing and scaling service businesses.

    4 Marketing Hacks From $15M In Online Sales (Steal These Now)
  2. 20 sep

    How To Destroy Your Competition In Business (3 Principles)

    You've got competition. They're undercutting you on price. They're posting more content. And you're wondering how the hell you're supposed to stand out. That's not a competition problem. That's a strategy problem. Today we're breaking down the three principles that will help you absolutely destroy your competition in business. And if you're not doing these three things, you're letting weaker competitors steal clients that should be yours. We're talking about upgrading your offer so it solves better problems than anyone else in your market, outmarketing your competition with ads and content that actually converts, and staying in the game long enough to watch everyone else quit. We get into why 50 million new businesses are created every year and most of them fail in the first 12 months, the accountant who added a mortgage broking wing to her business and doubled her revenue, and why making pithy opinion posts about politics or what you watched on Netflix is killing your brand. We also talk about why Amazon didn't turn a profit for nine years and Airbnb lived on credit cards for five years before they cracked it, the client who compared herself to Amy Porterfield and why that was setting her up for disappointment, and why if you're constantly changing your niche or offer every 12 months, no one will ever trust you. If you're a service business owner and you're tired of watching your competition win, this episode is for you. You'll hear: Why 50 million new businesses are created every year and why most of them don't last The brutal truth about upgrading your offer and why competing on price will destroy your margins How we changed our offer from group coaching to one to one with a build and release model Why you need to ask your best clients what they love about your offer and what they would change The accountant who added mortgage broking to her business and doubled her revenue in 12 months Why most people don't upgrade their offer because they don't believe they can charge more How to outmarket your competition by marketing more and marketing better Why we recommend Facebook ads over organic content for most service businesses The difference between making noise and actually marketing your business Why posting pithy opinion takes about politics or what you're watching on Netflix is a waste of time How to stay in the game long enough to watch your competition quit Why Amazon didn't turn a profit for nine years and Airbnb lived on credit cards for five years The client who kept comparing herself to Amy Porterfield and why that was setting her up to fail Why you need to turn the blinkers off and stop comparing yourself to the goats in your industry How to avoid the wobbles and why getting depleted will make you change direction too soon If you're a service business owner and you're tired of relying on referrals to keep your calendar full, go to https://startsuccessschool.com/ and book a free Scale Session with our team. We'll look at your business, show you exactly where the gaps are, and map out what a fully booked pipeline looks like for you specifically. No fluff, no pitch fest. Just a real conversation about what's actually holding you back. We'd love to help you build something that actually works. And if you got value from today's episode, make sure you hit follow wherever you're listening. It means the world to us and it helps more service business owners find the show. You can also follow Tim and Steph over on Instagram at @timfrey__ (https://www.instagram.com/timfrey__/) and @stephgorton__ (https://www.instagram.com/stephgorton__/) for more content every week. See you next week.

    How To Destroy Your Competition In Business (3 Principles)
  3. 13 sep

    We Scaled Past $1M Three Times - Here's What Actually Works

    You want to scale past a million dollars. You've got the offer. You've got the clients. But you're still stuck. That's not a strategy problem. That's an execution problem. Today we're breaking down six brutally simple rules that will take you past the million dollar mark. And if you're not doing these six things, you're leaving money on the table every single day. We're talking about the uncomfortable truth about going all in, why charging more will attract better clients and grow your business faster, and the one thing that separates people who hit a million from people who stay stuck at 200K. We get into why being on Instagram all day is killing your focus, the story of how we ran a webinar the day Steph's dad passed away because we said we would, and why our business coach replied with 40% of the goal when we hit our first 400K month. We also talk about why you need to burn the boats and remove your safety net, the client who paid 30 grand and moved faster than anyone we've ever worked with, and why if you're blaming the algorithm or Meta ads or anything else, the answer is always more effort. If you're a service business owner and you're ready to scale past a million, this episode is for you. You'll hear: Why you need to go all in and burn the boats if you want to scale past a million The brutal truth about charging more and why it attracts better clients who refer better clients How we went from criminal underchargers to on track for 400 to 500K months by raising our prices Why doing what you say you're going to do builds self trust and moves your business forward faster The story of how we ran a webinar the night Steph's dad passed away because we committed to it Why you need to get off Instagram and stop wasting time on bullshit that doesn't drive you towards your goal How being tunnel vision on a million dollars a month means we don't give a fuck about what anyone else is doing Why you need to put in more effort and stop blaming the algorithm when your ads aren't working How we built a new webinar in 12 hours because that's what it takes to feed the team Why you need to listen to the people you're paying and implement their advice immediately The difference between hiring a pusher and hiring someone you want to be friends with Why our business grew four times in 18 months after we hired a coach who pushed us harder The story of our coach replying 40% of the goal when we hit our first $400K month If you're a service business owner and you're tired of relying on referrals to keep your calendar full, go to https://startsuccessschool.com/ and book a free Scale Session with our team. We'll look at your business, show you exactly where the gaps are, and map out what a fully booked pipeline looks like for you specifically. No fluff, no pitch fest. Just a real conversation about what's actually holding you back. We'd love to help you build something that actually works. And if you got value from today's episode, make sure you hit follow wherever you're listening. It means the world to us and it helps more service business owners find the show. You can also follow Tim and Steph over on Instagram at @timfrey__ (https://www.instagram.com/timfrey__/) and @stephgorton__ (https://www.instagram.com/stephgorton__/) for more content every week. See you next week.

    We Scaled Past $1M Three Times - Here's What Actually Works
  4. 10 sep

    The Psychology Trick Behind Our Follow-Up Emails

    You booked a sales call. They didn't show up. And now you're wondering how to get them back without looking desperate. That's not a no show problem. That's a follow up problem. Today we're breaking down the Ghost Protocol, the exact strategy our sales team uses to turn no shows into paying clients. And it's got nothing to do with better reminder emails, better sales scripts, or chasing people down on social media. It's about using psychology and email deliverability to get straight back to the top of their inbox. If you're a service business owner and you're tired of no shows killing your close rate, this episode is for you. If you're a service business owner and you're tired of relying on referrals to keep your calendar full, go to https://startsuccessschool.com/ and book a free Scale Session with our team. We'll look at your business, show you exactly where the gaps are, and map out what a fully booked pipeline looks like for you specifically. No fluff, no pitch fest. Just a real conversation about what's actually holding you back. We'd love to help you build something that actually works. And if you got value from today's S*it that works!, make sure you hit follow wherever you're listening. It means the world to us and it helps more service business owners find the show. You can also follow Tim and Steph over on Instagram at @timfrey__ (https://www.instagram.com/timfrey__/) and @stephgorton__ (https://www.instagram.com/stephgorton__/) for more content every week. See you next Thursday for S*it that works!

    The Psychology Trick Behind Our Follow-Up Emails
  5. 6 sep

    Business & Pregnancy - Our 3.5 Year Journey

    You're building a business. You're planning for a family. And you're wondering how the hell you're supposed to do both without everything falling apart. Today we're pulling back the curtain on the 3.5 year journey it took us to get pregnant, the brutal reality of IVF, and exactly how we've removed Steph from the business so it can scale to a million dollars a month without her. We're talking about the moment we realized our entire business relied on Steph being the face of everything, why we had to kill our group coaching model and move to one to one, and the three key hires we made in two weeks to prepare for this. We also get into why Tim's sperm count was zero for 18 months, the choice we had between scaling down or building a real business, and why waiting until you're six months pregnant to prep for maternity leave is way too late. We also answer your questions about why we wanted kids, how we knew it was the right time, whether we're having the baby in Thailand, and why Steph's not reading a single parenting book. If you're a business owner planning for a baby or any extended time away from your business, this episode is for you. You'll hear: Why it took us 3.5 years to get pregnant and the IVF journey that got us here The moment we realized our entire business relied on Steph and why that was a problem How we changed the business model from group coaching to one to one so we could scale without Steph The three key hires we made in two weeks (ops manager, sales manager, and content manager) Why if Steph got taken out of the company tomorrow, nothing would change The brutal truth about waiting until month six of pregnancy to prep for mat leave How we mapped out what it takes to hit a million dollars a month and built the team around that Why we're having the baby in Thailand and the hospital experience that changed our minds How we knew it was the right time to have a baby (and why we're glad we waited) The advice we'd give to anyone planning for a baby while running a business Why Tim's not reading a single parenting book and Steph doesn't have a birth plan The Snoo versus Cradle Wise debate and why we're about to start a war in the comments If you're a service business owner and you're tired of relying on referrals to keep your calendar full, go to https://startsuccessschool.com/ and book a free Scale Session with our team. We'll look at your business, show you exactly where the gaps are, and map out what a fully booked pipeline looks like for you specifically. No fluff, no pitch fest. Just a real conversation about what's actually holding you back. We'd love to help you build something that actually works. And if you got value from today's episode, make sure you hit follow wherever you're listening. It means the world to us and it helps more service business owners find the show. You can also follow Tim and Steph over on Instagram at @timfrey__ (https://www.instagram.com/timfrey__/) and @stephgorton__ (https://www.instagram.com/stephgorton__/) for more content every week. See you next week.

    Business & Pregnancy - Our 3.5 Year Journey
  6. 30 ago

    We Studied 1,600 Offers, Here's What Scales Past $1M

    You've got an offer. You're running ads. You're posting on social. And you're still stuck under a million dollars. That's not a marketing problem. That's an offer problem. Today we're breaking down exactly what it takes to build an offer that scales past the million dollar mark. We've studied over 1,600 offers from businesses we've worked with, and we've found a specific formula that separates the offers that scale from the ones that don't. And by the end of this episode, you'll know exactly what's missing from your offer and how to fix it. We're talking about the 5P framework, pain, promise, person, process, and profit, and why most offers fail because they don't solve a painful enough problem. We get into why being scared to make promises is killing your close rate, how to know if you're targeting the wrong customer, and why your offer needs to be designed for the client, not for your lifestyle. We also talk about the photographer who pivoted from real estate agents to financial services and turned her business around in two months, the beauty clinic owner who was marketing massages when she should have been marketing skin treatments, and why high ticket beats low ticket every single time if you actually want to scale. If you're a service business owner and you're stuck under a million dollars, this episode is for you. You'll hear: What an offer actually is and why most people get it wrong The biggest mistake people make when building offers (hint: they build it for themselves, not the client) The 5P framework: pain, promise, person, process, and profit How big does the problem need to be for your offer to scale? The beauty clinic owner who was marketing massages instead of skin treatments (and why that was a mistake) Why businesses are terrified of making promises and how to fix that How to know if you've chosen the wrong customer (and what to do about it) The photographer who pivoted from real estate to financial services and turned it around in two months Why you need to start as you mean to go on (and what we learned from Shelby Sapp) How to scale your offer without burning yourself out Is high ticket better for scale? (The answer is yes, and here's why) Why you should never read client feedback as a founder Why founders feel the need to create multiple offers (and why that's a mistake) The one thing that will scale your offer past a million dollars If you're a service business owner and you're tired of relying on referrals to keep your calendar full, go to https://startsuccessschool.com/ and book a free Scale Session with our team. We'll look at your business, show you exactly where the gaps are, and map out what a fully booked pipeline looks like for you specifically. No fluff, no pitch fest. Just a real conversation about what's actually holding you back. We'd love to help you build something that actually works. And if you got value from today's episode, make sure you hit follow wherever you're listening. It means the world to us and it helps more service business owners find the show. You can also follow Tim and Steph over on Instagram at @timfrey__ (https://www.instagram.com/timfrey__/) and @stephgorton__ (https://www.instagram.com/stephgorton__/) for more content every week. See you next week.

    We Studied 1,600 Offers, Here's What Scales Past $1M
  7. 27 ago

    This AI Trick Boosted Our Close Rate By 20% 🤯 | STWs

    You're following up with leads. You're sending generic emails. And you're wondering why they're not converting. That's not a follow up problem. That's a personalization problem. Today we're breaking down the one AI tactic that boosted our close rate by 20%, and it's got nothing to do with better scripts, better objection handling, or better sales training. It's about mining your sales calls with AI and using that data to create personalized follow ups that actually convert. We're talking about how to use Fathom to record every single call in your business, how to take those transcripts and feed them into Claude or ChatGPT to extract pain points and objections, and how to turn that into personalized email outreach, social media content, and follow up sequences that feel like you're speaking directly to the person. We also get into how this works for sales calls specifically, why generic follow ups are killing your close rate, and how we implemented this exact process in our own sales team and saw an immediate 20% jump in conversions. If you're a service business owner and you're not recording your calls and using AI to personalize your follow ups, this episode is for you. If you're a service business owner and you're tired of relying on referrals to keep your calendar full, go to https://startsuccessschool.com/ and book a free Scale Session with our team. We'll look at your business, show you exactly where the gaps are, and map out what a fully booked pipeline looks like for you specifically. No fluff, no pitch fest. Just a real conversation about what's actually holding you back. We'd love to help you build something that actually works. And if you got value from today's S*it that works!, make sure you hit follow wherever you're listening. It means the world to us and it helps more service business owners find the show. You can also follow Tim and Steph over on Instagram at @timfrey__ (https://www.instagram.com/timfrey__/) and @stephgorton__ (https://www.instagram.com/stephgorton__/) for more content every week. See you next Thursday for S*it that works!

    This AI Trick Boosted Our Close Rate By 20% 🤯 | STWs

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Join Steph and Tim Frey on the Success School Podcast, where we share the exact systems we use to help service businesses get new clients every week and stay fully booked. Each week you'll get: System Deep Dives – How to install a simple marketing system that brings new clients in consistently, without relying on referrals or social media. Real Results – Behind-the-scenes stories from service businesses we've worked with who went from unpredictable referrals to fully booked calendars. Listener Q&A – Raw answers to the questions service business owners are asking as they build predictable demand and scale their teams. Proven Frameworks – The exact strategies, systems, and processes that keep calendars full weeks in advance and build real business momentum. Expect practical tactics, honest advice, and real conversations about what actually works for service businesses ready to stop relying on referrals and start building sustainable growth. Hit subscribe and tune in every Monday to join 250+ service business owners building fully booked, in-demand businesses.

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