Out of 300 episodes of the Serve Scale Soar podcast, the number one most downloaded episode of all time has nothing to do with running ads. It has nothing to do with landing clients.

And honestly, y’all, when I pulled the numbers, it surprised me a little.

This is episode 300. Holy bananas. Seven years, 300 episodes, and one very emotional host. To celebrate, Janessa pulled the 10 most downloaded episodes of all time, and I went back through every one of them to find the biggest lessons on how to scale a service-based business without hustling yourself into the ground.

Some of these I recorded five or six years ago, so a lot has changed. But even more surprisingly, a lot hasn’t. When I laid all 10 side by side, they’re really teaching the same four lessons over and over again.

So think of this as the greatest hits. I’ll count them down from 10 to 1, tell you what still holds up, what’s changed, and then break down the four lessons that show up in every single one. Every episode is linked, so go deeper wherever you need to.

Let’s do the dang thing.

The Most Downloaded Serve Scale Soar Episodes: 10 Through 6

#10: Attract High-Paying Clients on LinkedIn (Episode 106)

One of the OG episodes, and the first thing I had to address wasn’t strategy. It was mindset. So many of you look at LinkedIn and think, “There are CEOs and presidents on there, and that’s not me.”

But you are the CEO of your business. You belong in that room.

I recorded that episode about five years ago, when LinkedIn had around 500 million active members. Today it’s over a billion. So if you’re wondering whether it’s still relevant, the answer is heck freaking yeah.

Three steps from that episode still hold true:

• Optimize your profile with your name and your face, not a logo. People connect with people.
• Connect with your ideal clients by searching their titles. One update: I used to say get to 500 connections as fast as you can. LinkedIn has significantly lowered the limits, so check the current number, divide it by your working days that month, and that’s your daily goal for your marketing minutes.
• Publish content weekly. Even with a billion people on the platform, hardly anyone shows up consistently. Post one to two times a week and you’re ahead of most people over there.

The real lesson isn’t about LinkedIn at all. We don’t pick a platform based on where we want to hang out. We pick it based on where our ideal clients are hanging out.

#9: From Bankruptcy to Building Our Dream Home (Episode 135)

One of the hardest episodes I have ever recorded. When I hit record, only a handful of people on the planet knew Austin and I had filed for bankruptcy.

The short version: at 22 I was top 1% in Mary Kay, earning free cars and making $10,000 to $15,000 a month. Everyone told me to spend money to make money. Nobody taught me how to manage it. So when my income dropped, I put inventory on credit cards to keep my title and my car, because my whole identity was wrapped up in it.

Fast forward to a five-month-old who never slept, $60,000 in credit card debt, medical bills, and student loans on top. I was leaving the sticker on our debit card so when it got declined buying diapers, I could say, “Oops, I forgot to activate it.” I ran a yard sale selling my Mary Kay purses just to pay the bankruptcy attorney. And two people we loved told us we were ruining our lives.

It did the exact opposite. The same season we filed is the season I started my VA business. Since I recorded that episode, we’ve paid off over $150,000 in student loans, bought two dream houses, sold one, moved to Georgia, traveled to eight countries, and we are living a debt-free life. All of it started from rock bottom.

I don’t share that to say “look at me.” I share it because we all have our bottoms and nobody talks about them. If you’re in a hard place right now, there is another side. You just have to make the choices to get yourself there.

• Your bank account has nothing to do with your character. It’s a situation, not your future.
• If you built it once, you can build it again.

It’s also why I will never stop talking about profit over revenue. Mary Kay taught me how not to run a business. My online business is where I learned how.

#8: Hiring Success with Julie Calcote (Episode 140)

Julie has been in my world since the very beginning: our old Serve Scale Soar membership, then Beta to Biggie, then Conversions for Clients, and now Strategist Society.

This episode is all about hiring, which is funny, because everyone thinks I’m against it. I’m not. Janessa has been with me seven years. I’m against hiring at the wrong time because somebody told you that you had to.

Julie’s three things to have in place before you hire:

1. Consistent revenue. Not $10,000 one month, $5,000 the next. For me, it’s consistent when you’ve hit it three months in a row.
2. A time study. Inside Strategist Society we do two-week time studies with Toggl. LaShall did one, hired a VA, and handed off 30 hours a month because she knew exactly what to delegate.
3. A way to track tasks. A spreadsheet, a yellow notepad, Asana, ClickUp. But if it doesn’t have a date, it doesn’t get done.

And can we talk about how everyone thinks their first hire should be a social media manager? The year we hit our first million, I posted 24 times. Your first hire might be someone cleaning your house or a meal delivery service.

My favorite thing Julie said: there’s no wall between your life and your business. If you can’t fully release something at home, you won’t release it at work either. And real talk, you will get hiring wrong at some point. So start with a project, let people grow with you, and remember that Janessa started out transcribing my YouTube videos.

#7: What’s Your Pricing Persona? (Episode 129)

After working with thousands of service providers, I’ve noticed most of us fall into one of five categories. I’ve been every one of them. Which one are you?

• Wondering Wanda. She wants a business, but she’s still Googling how to make money from home.
• Hourly Hustler. She’s making money, but there are only so many hours in a day. And the better you get at your craft, the less you make, because you do it quicker.
• Customizing Chelsea. She’s on retainer, but every client picks and chooses. Think about Sephora. If you hate two colors in the eyeshadow palette, you don’t get a discount. Same with your packages. If they don’t want something in it, the price doesn’t change.
• Underpriced Uma. She prices on how long it takes her. I do not care how long it takes you. If a plumber fixes your toilet in 10 minutes, you’re paying for his years of expertise, not the 10 minutes.
• Just Right Justine. She prices on transformation and value. And value isn’t only dollars. It’s speed, revenue, and time, the one thing that’s not renewable.

You can’t fix what you’re not aware of. So figure out which one you are. And my Underpriced Umas? Raise your prices today, even if it’s by $100.

#6: Steal My 3 Phase Onboarding Process (Episode 71)

When I started my business, I was trying to be as cheap as possible. Free scheduler, free invoicing, Google folders on Google folders, proposals built in Google Docs. It was a hot mess express. When I finally streamlined it, clients started flooding in and I got a whole lot of time back.

Piecemealing free tools is not saving you money, especially when HoneyBook costs less than $35 a month. In the original episode I used Dubsado. For the last several years we’ve used HoneyBook and I highly recommend it. The tool changed, the process didn’t. Our discount is at brandimowles.com/honeybook.

The big idea: onboarding doesn’t start when you land a client. It starts the moment they land on your scheduling page. It breaks down into know, like, and trust.

1. Know. Your scheduler, an intake form attached to it, and automated reminders. The intake form tells them this isn’t a 15-minute coffee chat.
2. Like. Your discovery call and your proposal. If you say it’ll be there in an hour, it better be there in an hour. That shows them exactly what you’re like to work with.
3. Trust. The first 24 hours after they pay, because that’s when panic sets in. Get them the contract, invoice, questionnaire, and first-call link right away. Automate it so it happens even on the weekend.

Do those three things and you become a referral machine. You wake up with discovery calls already on your books.

The Top 5 Episodes on Landing Clients, Managing Time, and Scaling

#5: The Local Advantage: Finding High-Paying Clients in Your Own Backyard (Episode 245)

Two objections every time. “Brandi, I live in a really small town.” Oh, so there are no plumbers? No dentists? And then, “Okay, but they can’t afford me.” Are you their accountant? Are you in their books?

Your job is not to assume what’s in someone’s bank account. It’s to offer the opportunity and let them make a business decision.

• Step one: list 100 local businesses, and don’t prejudge any of them. Start with everywhere you already go. Then use my Four B’s: buses, benches, brochures, and billboards. Those ads aren’t cheap, so anyone on one already has a marketing budget. Star everyone who’s already paying to market themselves.
• Step two: pick your method. Cold email, cold calls, local networking, referrals, or local Facebook groups. Cold outreach takes the most follow-up. In person takes the least.
• Step three: five touchpoints a day.

And local clients tend to stay longer. My very first client was a local HVAC company. He took a shot on me, stayed three years, and I got to watch my work help my own community.

There are businesses in your backyard that want to work with you. They just don’t know who you are yet. If you want me to walk you through exactly how to land them, come to the Confident Ad Manager Bootcamp, October 5th through 8th.

#4: Finding Time To Do It All (Episode 133)

Fair warning, I got on my soapbox. I said it with love then and I’ll say it with love now.

Time is the one resource we all have the exact same amount of. Different amounts of money, same 24 hours. When we say, “I don’t have time because I have kids,” we’re putting the blame on them. That is not the story I want my daughter to know.

And overwhelm is a choice. Your to-do list is so full you can’t finish it, and you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. At any point, you can wipe the plate clean and decide what goes back on it.

1. Do a time audit. Track everything for about two weeks, then mark each task transfer, treasure, trash, or trim. Transfer doesn’t have to mean hiring. Meal planning was eating three hours of my week, so I delegated it, and a lot of this can now go to AI. Treasure means don’t delegate what you love. Trash the reels nobody’s booking calls from. And trim your meetings.
2. Sit down to get it done, not to work on it. You’re not working on a sales page. You’re finishing the bio and the guarantee. Check.
3. Find the planning that works for your brain. Time blocking never worked for me. Theme days did. Either way, work from a project management tool, because if it doesn’t have a date, it doesn’t get done.
4. Win every day. Three to five tasks. That’s it.

Since that episode, I’ve added a second kid and homeschooling, and these four tips are still how I get it done. Stop trying to conquer the world in 24 hours. We have years to conquer the world.

#3: 10 Lessons I Learned Scaling to $1 Million (Episode 122)

Before you tune out because a million isn’t on your radar, stay with me. Every one of these applies whether you’re going for your first $5,000 month or multiple six figures.

1. You don’t need fancy bells and whistles. The year we did $1.2 million, I didn’t have a website. It was a coming soon page.
2. Vanity metrics don’t mean poop emoji. That same year I posted on Instagram 24 times, had under 3,000 followers, and fewer than 6,000 people on my email list. Go deep, not wide.
3. Love your people hard.
4. Know your numbers, because a number you don’t know can’t grow.
5. Don’t be afraid to shout your goals from the rooftop.
6. Don’t get hung up in the how. I had a whole plan to go from $250,000 to a million. Then I launched Conversions for Clients, which wasn’t even an idea two months earlier, and it brought in over half a million that year.
7. Community is everything.
8. Listen to your gut. It knows more than your head.
9. Do more of what lights you up.
10. Don’t be afraid to show up as you are. I’ve shown up to coaching calls in a bathrobe with my hair a hot mess. The people who relate to you will come.

Not one of those ten is about hustling harder. And if lesson seven hit home, if you’re already past $10K months and tired of figuring out the next level alone, that’s exactly what we do inside Strategist Society. It’s the room I wish I’d had when I was where you are.

#2: Consistent Client Flow with Social Selling (Episode 246)

This aired the week after number five, and y’all downloaded both like crazy. So I hear you. You want clients.

This one is about sliding into DMs to book sales calls without being spammy or gross. Y’all know the “hey girl” messages. I’ll raise my hand. Back in my direct sales days, I sent them, and now I get a major ick.

You already know how to have a conversation. You do it at the grocery store. The DMs are no different.

• Four days of pre-work. Confirm your ideal client is on Instagram. List 100 accounts. Get six to nine posts up that speak to their pain points. Optimize your bio.
• Five touchpoints a day. A real comment, a follow, and track who follows back. Message those people first.
• Ask questions, don’t make statements. People love talking about themselves. When it’s time for the call, say, “That’s exactly what I help my clients with. If you’re open to it, I’d love to chat.” Don’t send your scheduler. Give them two days to pick from and send the invite yourself.
• Follow up. If they ghost you, a question mark bumps you back to the top. Then three, seven, and fourteen days.

So many of you reach out to 15 people and tell me it doesn’t work. You haven’t worked the numbers. It’s 100 touchpoints a month, and hopefully 30 to 40 real conversations from that, because relationships equal revenue.

Want more help in the DMs? Grab the Predictable Clients workshop. Katie went from $2,000 to $12,000 months in a few months using it.

#1: Building Wealth as a Service Provider with Mel Abraham (Episode 115)

The number one most downloaded episode of all time is not about ads. It’s about money. It’s my conversation with my dear friend Mel Abraham on building wealth, and this one is personal.

Remember number nine? A single conversation with Mel turned into the plan that paid off our student loans and got us into our home.

As a service provider, you’re probably not building something you can sell one day. There’s no pot at the end of the rainbow, so you have to build it. Mel calls it your business machine and your money machine, and the business funds the money machine. He’s since turned it into a book, Building Your Money Machine. Go grab it.

• It doesn’t take a lot to make a lot. Mel told a room of hairstylists to put away the first service of every week, out of sight, out of mind. By his math, $50 a week turns into over $350,000 in 30 years. Automate it. Less friction in your investing, more friction in your buying.
• Wealthy people flip the order. Most people earn, spend, and invest what’s left. Wealthy people invest first and live on the rest.
• There’s no such thing as passive income. If you got passive about your marriage, it would wither and die. It’s leveraged income, built one level at a time.
• Money is a tool. It doesn’t change you. It amplifies who you already are. So make big girl money and go do good with it.

Since that episode, I have two retirement accounts and we’re investing. It’s scary and I’m not great at it. Sometimes I think, “Dang, I could be traveling with that.” But we still travel, and when I’m 65, Austin and I will have enough to live off of comfortably. Use this business to create wealth for later. It’s never too late.

The 4 Lessons Every Top Episode Teaches About Scaling a Service-Based Business

I’ve been teaching the same four lessons for 300 episodes. I just keep finding new ways to say them.

1. Go where your clients already are

LinkedIn at number 10. Your backyard at number five. The DMs at number two. It’s why I posted 24 times the year we made a million. It’s about being in the right rooms and going deep, not wide. Stop trying to be everywhere.

2. Build a business that actually pays you

The bankruptcy taught me profit over revenue. Julie taught us consistent revenue before you hire. The pricing personas are about charging for value. And Mel took it all the way to wealth. Y’all, your most downloaded episodes are about money. I see you, and more of that is coming.

3. Your time is the real asset

Time audits showed up in two of the top 10. Time is the one thing that’s not renewable, and if it doesn’t have a date, it doesn’t get done. Take your time seriously and more of it ends up in your white space instead of your busy space.

4. Keep it simple, sweetie, and work the numbers

No website. Know, like, and trust. Five touchpoints a day. A hundred conversations a month. Three to five tasks a day. None of this is complicated. It works when you do it consistently.

That’s the whole podcast, my friends. It’s not about hustling harder. It’s about putting in the reps, keeping it simple, and building a business that serves the heck out of your family.

Here’s to the Next 300

Three hundred episodes doesn’t happen without you hitting play, leaving reviews, and telling me when something I said changed something for you. I read every single one.

So I want to know: which episode has impacted your business or life the most? Come tell me on Instagram at @brandimowles. I might just share it.

And if today lit a fire under you, you’ve got two places to go:

• Just getting started or want to become an ad manager? Head to conversionsforclients.com and get signed up for the Confident Ad Manager Bootcamp so you can see what it actually looks like to find clients and what the heck ad managers do.
• Already past $3,000 to $5,000 months and looking for $10K, $15K, $20K, even $40K months working less than 25 hours a week? Go to thestrategistsociety.com and apply for a call. We’ll talk through your business and where you want to go heading into 2027.

Now go out, do the dang thing, serve your clients, scale your business, and soar into the success you deserve.

This post is based on episode 300 of the Serve Scale Soar podcast. Listen to the full countdown at brandimowles.com/300 or wherever you get your podcasts, and if the show has been worth your time, a star rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts helps more service providers find it.

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** This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you use one of the links to purchase. This helps keep the podcast going and I only share products I have used, tested, and love.”

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Meet Brandi

Brandi Mowles is the host of the Serve Scale Soar® podcast which is a podcast dedicated to helping service-based entrepreneurs scale their online business to five-figure months so they can soar into six-figure years. Brandi is a wife, mom and in less than one year, created a six-figure business. Now she is spilling all her secrets so you can too.