Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Welcome to the Victory show where seven and eight figure founders, entrepreneurs and executives reveal the real playbook behind scaling past a million dollars in annual revenue. We go beyond the highlight reel into the hard lessons, the cost of mistakes, the key growth inflection points, and the human decisions that shaped the numbers. Here's the twist. Every conversation we have becomes a chapter in our Victory book series so the next generation of builders doesn't have to start from scratch.
Today, I'm sitting down with Seraphina Grace. Serafina helps business owners stop looking scattered and start showing up like a premium brand. She's a certified business coach, licensed educator, and founder of Grace by Design where she teaches entrepreneurs how to turn last minute graphics into cohesive high converting visual brands.
With a background in running and turning around franchise businesses, she combines practical strategy with design psychology to create simple, repeatable branding systems that actually support sales. Go figure. Her approach makes launches look polished, feel organized and perform without a big team, without a big budget, or without any of the crazy tech overwhelm. How applicable is that in today's world where everybody seems to be overwhelmed by AI? Seraphina, thanks so much for being here. I appreciate you taking the time out of your day.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Absolutely, Travis, I'm happy to be here.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: So let's talk a little bit about your background because it's such fascinating then that you started at the very bottom, but you were a global international brand. So talk me through a little bit of how you went from just kind of having a job to becoming a consultant that helps businesses be able to to really sort of scale faster than they think they could.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Well, you know, as a kid my dad taught me in construction to kind of just think about the whole picture and then break it down.
And so I just started applying that philosophy to the job once I got into the market and was old enough. So as I started to see things weren't running optimally and saw places that we could improve and they could make more money, I started to pass those on. And as I did that, I started seeing more success and ended up running a franchise that a franchise owner gave back to corporate and took it from the red to the black within three months.
And we were able to take the developments that I created for my store and corporate actually applied them nationwide to the entire corporation so that they could see increased sales.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: So this is what's fascinating to me about that story in that the franchisee owner is like, I'm in the red, there's nothing I can do. It gives a thing back and yet you were working for him and you turned the store around.
So let's talk a little bit about that. How often do you see that in the consulting that you do, where you've got business owners that actually have all the resources that they need, but something gets in the way from them being able to either see those resources or access those resources?
[00:03:19] Speaker A: Yeah, a lot of the times what it ends up being is people go into business as a small business owner, great at one thing, not great at business as a whole. In every aspect that's involved, there are so many moving parts within a business and nobody's going to be great at all of them. But a lot of people go into it not realizing you need to be great at all of them if you're going to actually scale your business and not just survive or end up having to give it back because you can't survive.
And the best way to do that is either A, learn it from a coach or B, hire out what you're not great at so you can focus on what you are.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: It's really interesting. Back in my direct marketing days, I work with some, some guys that were, this is guys and gals that were phenomenal salespeople, right. Could make it rain money and, and, and you know, in the, in the Internet marketing circles, they're kind of like the who's who guys that, you know, people hire them for help. And so I had a chance to go work for a couple of those companies, think, yeah, this is. I'm getting behind the scenes, right? And I get to see. And what's so interesting is you see the public facing like here they're so good at sales and making tons of money. And then you get behind the scenes.
It was chaos.
And that was my first sort of like, realization of like, oh, like there's being good at sales and then there's also this thing of like being a good business owner running a business. And I'm like from, you know, from, from coming in to sell. You always think, oh, if you're making, you know, 10 million a year, of course you're a successful business person, right? Not necessarily. These guys were good at making the 10 million, but they weren't. And so you end up having these, you know, staffs of 30 or 40 people that are all stressed out and people are sick because there's just so much stress.
And so anyway, I was just saying that, like, that, that realization of like, oh, some.
And then also too, again, from my experience, some of them were able to transcend that by being able to eventually Hire out. And some were like, no, like, I've got to do it my way. And they tried to control everything.
And what I find really interesting in this book project that we're working on here is that I've had a few venture capital owner fund owners on and asked them, like, what's the number one thing that keeps startups from being able to scale what they want to? And 100% of them said the founder not being able to let go of stuff 100%.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: True.
I actually have a client right now that we had to have that very hard conversation. It's one of the hardest parts of my job is going to somebody who's paying me, right? Like, and go to them and be like, listen, you're not so great at this. You know, it's. It's not a fun part of the job, but it is a reality. One of my current clients, I mean, they were making millions each in sales when they were working for corporate. They left corporate, they bought their own franchise and couldn't get past six figures. And they couldn't figure out why because they were so good at sales. And the problem was everything else that went with the sales they weren't great at, and it stopped them. And I'm proud to say that at the end of 2025, they went from 400,000 to 1.7 million after we worked together all year. Wow.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: Yeah, that's pretty. That, that's pretty good. All right, so let's, so walk me through. Let's say that I'm.
I've got a professional services company doing half a million. I've got a team of three, and I. And. And I've been stuck at half a million for, I don't know, let's say three years.
And I come to you and go, okay, like, I'm stuck. How do I get past a million dollars? Walk me through, like, sort of the A to Z of how you would approach a scenario like that.
[00:07:16] Speaker A: So the first thing we're going to do is just evaluate. The first thing of evaluation is going to be looking at the online presence and one, making sure it exists.
Because besides maybe like a corporate website with like, franchises or network marketing, like, they get like a company site, right? And they think, oh, I've got a site. I don't need to do anything.
Okay, well, so do millions of others. And why are they going to pick you? And they don't really realize that. So that's the first thing is you have to get your audience to understand why they should pick you over the Millions of other people selling the same thing.
What makes you special, what makes you different? And if they're not doing that consistently. Right. Because people who see you online, they see about 2% of your posts.
So if you have 200 people on your business page and only 2% see a post, you're not going to make any money, you're not going to get anywhere, and you're not going to be able to grow that audience unless they understand why they should be picking you over somebody else.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: Yeah. So I, I know when we, in our pre chat, you were talking about you work with a lot of doctors. So how, how do you approach that with, you know, let's say just like a family. Family physician. Right. There's, there's a lot of them. Like, I live in Las Vegas and I think we're within a mile and a half of like three hospitals.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: So how does a doc. How do you go about helping a doctor? It's something everybody needs.
So how do you help them become sort of like the visible sort of person in their community?
[00:09:04] Speaker A: So the very first thing I'm going to do is look at how many people are speaking highly of them, and if they're on the right track for that, that's awesome. That makes the steps so much easier. And we're just going to reach out to those people that already think highly of them, and we're going to get testimonials to put online because everybody wants social proof. I myself, if I'm looking for a new doctor, I'm going to go look and see what other people have to say about them before I pick them. Hmm.
So if you've got nothing but bad about you, well, nobody's going to pick you. So if that's the case, we've got to correct it, which a lot of times is not even like the doctor's fault. It's not necessarily that they were bad, but that review is all people are seeing. So they're only thinking about the bad. And sometimes it's not. You just have to unexplain the situation. Right. So you have to make sure you're replying back to the reviews without breaking hipaa, of course, but putting into perspective of why their experience didn't go the way they were hoping, you know, did they just come there seeking a medical, you know, wand cure? And we're done. And I'm sorry, it doesn't work that way with doctors.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:24] Speaker A: And then taking people to look at, not only are they great at medical, but what's their bedside manner? Like who are they as a person person?
People buy from people, they don't buy products, they don't buy services, they purchase people.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: So especially in the health arena.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: Absolutely, absolutely. So one of my chiropractor clients, the very first thing we did with him is we started some networking to get him out there and we brought some of his clients to the event. They got free tickets. It was a paid workshop event.
We invited some special guests for VIP for free.
Got real good community involvement and we just let them speak.
And it worked like gangbusters.
He had like 50 additional signups that day of people that wanted to start with him.
And that was just from the live event. And we of course carried it online and added things beyond that.
And he's doing really well now. He's. He's booked out and now looking to hire a second doctor because he can't keep up.
[00:11:40] Speaker B: Well, that's fantastic.
So let's go back to the. The guys that left corporate were doing a million a year and got stuck. What, what did you do to take them from 400, 000 to 1.7 million for in that particular case? Obviously they were great at sales.
And then, you know, what was sort of the first kind of things you plugged in and then you know, what were sort of the, maybe the internal shifts they had to make as you were helping them make those adjustments to the business.
[00:12:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
So of course the first thing was letting go, letting me have the control to make the changes, which of course is always hard because that's your baby. Right. You've worked so hard for it. You don't want to give up control.
But I don't just shove them aside like I work with them. It's, let's build this together.
Your business is capable of being great. Let me give you the tools to get there.
And so we did. The first thing we did was brought on a CRM. They were still using paper files. So the only people that knew anything was whoever went on the appointment.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: And that meant nobody else could follow up. Nobody else could answer questions if they called in it. It just was a real big stop gap and time was a huge factor.
She would spend all day in the field on appointment selling. He would spend all day in the field installing the products they sold. And that left nobody to do anything else. So there was no networking, there was no marketing.
You know, this is in a window covering industry. For this particular client. You know, they weren't reaching out to designers or builders or real estate agents. And I was like, we gotta we gotta get on that. And so brought, brought some teams in, helped them get, you know, a temporary business loan so that we could quickly backfill to start making the changes. And they paid the loan back in like three months, you know, but they were scared. They were like, we don't want to go into debt. We don't want to do this. You know, we've already taken on this huge investment.
And that actually was hurting them more than helping them. And I'm like, I, I understand, but you're going to stay stuck if we don't make some of these changes. And getting all of that online, making it so other people could follow up, so that other things could be handled while she was in the field.
That closed an additional like 40% of sales that she wasn't closing before simply because she couldn't get back to people fast enough.
[00:14:18] Speaker B: Wow.
Wow. And so do you find that pretty typical in most businesses where the systems is kind of like the first critical infrastructure you got to build?
[00:14:28] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: All right, so let's talk about that then. For, let's say a basic, like small seven figure business. What are the sort of core foundational elements that need to be in place?
[00:14:39] Speaker A: So one, you need to make sure you have a bookkeeping company.
That's the first go. You wouldn't believe how many new business owners have just like receipts in a box.
It's kind of crazy.
So you definitely need that. It's, it's crucial. You need to track everything more. So just because at the end of the year, you really want to offset those taxes and that makes a big difference of your profit at the end of the year. So if you're not tracking everything, and I mean everything, you're missing out on things that you might have been able to claim. And it doesn't seem like a lot, right? Like, oh, well, I just sent this customer a $50 gift. It was only 50 bucks. It doesn't matter.
Okay, but how many times did you do that over the entire year?
Because that's a great tax expense. So that's number one. Start tracking everything.
Then you want to have a CRM. Get everything localized, get it in one place, make sure everybody has access to it, and then start building the systems behind it. So scripts for your employees to follow so that you're keeping your message consistent. Because your branding isn't just making things look pretty. Your branding is all about making sure that you are cohesive and you're putting out what you want to world, and that is in every aspect and section of your business.
So most the time people think, oh, well, I don't need branding. Or I've got branding because corporate has given them a logo. If they're a franchise.
No, I'm sorry, that's not branding.
So we build an entire branding package, put that together, and then I teach them how to use that branding in marketing, in the customer journey, everywhere. We start putting it in email, it goes in every networking event. I have them show up in branded clothing. Everywhere they go, the vans are wrapped so that we can utilize the real estate as walking banners.
So it's, it's getting all of those pieces put together and it's a lot up front, but then on the back end, everything moves through so much smoother.
You're now getting repeatable business from a van you had to spend time wrapping once.
You're now getting repeatable business from an email header you spent time creating once.
So it's a lot of work in the beginning, but you have to realize it's going to save you time in the long run and that's going to allow your business to grow.
[00:17:28] Speaker B: So what are the, like when you come into companies that have been stuck or even you got to turn them around, what are the sort of, the common mistakes that you see them making?
[00:17:40] Speaker A: I would say the biggest mistake I see them making is they think if they just buy ads, that's going to sell their business and it's, it's a common mistake with no matter what size business you are thinking ads are going to do it all for you isn't going to work unless you have billions of dollars to spare. If you have a billion dollars like Russell Brunson and you can just throw ads at everything 24, 7.
Well, great, because he's gonna make it back.
But nobody in the regular size world has that kind of capital, so.
[00:18:20] Speaker B: Well, I think also too has the stomach to realize that, you know, for the first 90 to 120 days, you're going to be losing money because you got to figure out what's working. Right.
At least in the clients that I've worked with. You know, they'll start paid ad campaigns and run them for 30 days and shut them down because they're like, oh, we spent 5,000 and only made a thousand, it's like, yeah, but, you know, you're not optimized yet. We got to keep going. Right. I think that's also the other sort of the struggle.
And it's also exponentially difficult if you're selling services versus something like Russell, who's selling a digital product or a SaaS product, right?
[00:18:53] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: You can monetize it immediately.
[00:18:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Especially for products that are customized and they're going to take longer for the client to get that win. Right. Like, they've paid it, they've paid the money and now they've got to wait and wait and wait for the product to come in.
So you really have to sell it up front and showcase just how amazing this transformation is going to be for whatever the product is, for them to be willing to wait on it.
And ads can't always do that. And that's where ads. I always tell my clients, ads are great, but not if you don't have any organic marketing to go with it.
So we always build up their organic marketing and show different transformations or, you know, if it's a regular product, we show different uses for the product. How can it help them? What's in it for the client? A lot of times they just sell a product. I am selling shampoo, conditioner and body wash.
Okay. I don't care.
No, what you're selling is shiny hair that's nice and strong that leaves you feeling beautiful.
It's all about getting them to change that mindset. That's the biggest mistake I see them make, besides ads, is they don't have the mindset of what's in it for the customer. It's in. Here's what I'm selling.
[00:20:21] Speaker B: I love it.
So what then? Like, let's talk about the, you know, the big one right now, which is how big of an impact is AI having in how you're working with people? How much time and money is it in. In. In the reality? Is it actually saving people?
[00:20:37] Speaker A: It's huge. It's huge. I love AI. It's harder to get some of my older clients on board. They're very much against AI. They're set in their ways. They're like, no, it's not personable. But what I always explain to them as I start working with them is AI is just a tool.
You're the driver, it's your car.
It just helps you get places faster. It helps you utilize your skills. It's not doing the work for you.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: And if they're a business that's using AI to literally do everything for them, it's really easy to tell. And that's why they're not scaling. Scaling.
People buy from people.
They're not going to buy from the AI. Like, I use AI on a daily basis. It definitely speeds up the amount of time it takes me to do a graphic, you know, Maybe this is an off camera day for me or I'm sick and my voice sounds horrible. I'm going to go to AI and say, hey, I'm going to need you to write this for me. And it can, but it's because I built it, customized and put my brain into it so that it can do it properly. And it's not just an AI product.
It's as if I taught an employee how to do the job and they've created it for me.
[00:22:05] Speaker B: Yeah, well, it's just like what you were saying, right? You've got to put the time in front to build what you need.
So what are like, what are the like for you? What are like again? Maybe two or three things that you are like, hey, we need to put AI into these things, like right away. Like, what does that look like?
[00:22:22] Speaker A: So absolutely. Responding to clients. You want to be able to get back with them as soon as possible. Their phone is in their hand and they've requested an appointment with you.
You should be at them in five minutes. And that's not realistic, especially for small business owners that don't have the team yet.
Okay, great, let's get this AI software because we can build a script. We'll give it the parameters, tell it exactly what to do. If the customer says this, reply this, and then they send it. And then customers are like, oh, thanks for getting back with me so quickly. Well, you just gave them a leg up on why they should pick you over somebody else. Because it's not just an autoresponder that's different.
And I want to be really clear about that part because an autoresponder, everybody knows AI just sent this message back to me. This is not a human.
You want your message to be a response, not a respondent.
They're very different. And it's all just in how you present the information.
A lot of softwares will give you an auto, you know, responder that says like, thanks for this, we're not available right now, or thanks for reaching out, we'll be in touch shortly. No, everybody knows that's not a real person. You want to choose a software that has AI capabilities where you can customize what you're going to say back so that you keep your integrity and your business stance intact.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: I love it. So what, what's got you excited for this next few years ahead in terms of all the technology that's coming out for small businesses that you think are really going to be kind again? We're looking at like what you were saying, right? How do how does smaller like half a million to a million and a half businesses compete like they're a billion dollar brand? What are the tools that you see that's coming out that is going to make that a reality for them?
[00:24:23] Speaker A: Well, it's definitely. Cloud coding is a great new one. I also, I know a lot of people have jumped ship from chat GPT but I still love it.
As long as you have built it properly, it's great at what it does.
Hey Jen, great for videos.
I have a lot of clients that either A don't have time to always film or B, they don't want to be on camera because maybe they are self conscious and Heygin is a great way around that that they can take some mind you, some, not all, don't go all AI but some of those videos so that you stay consistent online. Even when you run out of time or you're not comfortable being on camera yourself, you're still getting that content out there so that people don't forget who you are. Because we're at the point now where it takes about 25 touch points before somebody's going to remember who you are.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: It used to take seven.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:25:30] Speaker A: So you have to just constantly be in people's faces or otherwise they're gonna forget who you are and pick somebody else.
[00:25:39] Speaker B: Wow. All right, so what's the sweet spot of companies that you kind of really just crush it for?
[00:25:46] Speaker A: My sweet spot is going to be for the clients who have found some success, whether that's in their job in sales and they've newly bought a business or they've had a business, they've got some good sales but they're stuck at that six figure mark and they just can't break a million.
And my goal is to get them not only past that million, but let's get you to two and then let's get you to three.
The great part about the way I coach is it isn't good for just one area. It's not good just for the beginner or just for the intermediate.
The systems we put in place allow you to keep growing and then as they keep growing, we add more things.
There's a lot in the toolbox and I don't give it to them all at once because that would be really overwhelming.
So as they, you know, master the first things well, then we move and we build on and we just continue to scale up. And I think my favorite thing about that is, you know, my business isn't about me.
I don't matter. My clients matter and watching them either when something clicks that I've taught them or watching them get that first million, they're so excited and so happy, and that just completely lights up my day. And those are the people I love working with the most. I want to just help others.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: I love it. So someone's reading this chapter. They're listening to this episode. Where do they go to find you if they're like, oh, my God, we need Grace by design right now.
[00:27:20] Speaker A: So my website is sarafina grace.com and you can go on there if you need a quick tip on something. I have some free resources for you. I have a shop with templates so that you can get SEO and AEO optimized templates without just like going to Canva and using what everybody does.
So there's. That kind of stuff is available.
And then if you're somebody who wants to learn how to do it for yourself, there's courses you can purchase. And I have complete programs and individual coaching.
[00:27:58] Speaker B: I love it.
Serfina, thank you so much for taking time out of your day. I really appreciate this conversation and yeah, it's been fantastic.
[00:28:07] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Travis, it was a pleasure being here. Sam.
