Allison Maslan, CEO of Pinnacle Global Network, was recently named one of the “Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs to Watch” by Forbes Magazine. She is the Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author of Scale or Fail, which is endorsed by Daymond John and Barbara Corcoran of Shark Tank. Allison has built 10 successful companies over the last 40 years.
For the past 15 years, she and her team of business mentors have helped over 150,000 Founders scale their businesses, fast-track their success, and create a more meaningful life through her company, Pinnacle Global Network, one of the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies.
Allison has shared the stage with noted business leaders such as Richard Branson and Magic Johnson; and has been featured in Inc., Success, Fortune, Fast Company, and Forbes Magazines, is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine and a featured expert on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox across the US. She is also the host and producer of The SCALEit Method Podcast and the Women Who Own It Podcast brought to you by WBENC.
Company: Pinnacle Global Network
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company
Allison Maslan: I’m Allison Maslan, CEO and founder of Pinnacle Global Network. I was recently named one of the “Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs to Watch” by Forbes Magazine. I am the Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author of ‘Scale or Fail,’ which is endorsed by Daymond John and Barbara Corcoran of Shark Tank. I’ve built 10 successful companies over the last 40 years.
For the past 15 years, myself and my team of business mentors have helped over 150,000 founders scale their businesses, fast-track their success and create a more meaningful life through Pinnacle Global Network, named one of the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies.
I have shared the stage with notorious business leaders such as Richard Branson and Magic Johnson; and have been featured in Inc., Success, Fortune, Fast Company, and Forbes Magazines. I’m a regular contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine, and a featured expert on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox across the US. I am also the host and producer of The SCALEit Method Podcast and the Women Who Own It Podcast brought to you by WBENC.
Pinnacle Global Network is our team of 35+ CEO mentors who have built multi-million dollar team-managed companies using scalable models that multiplied our growth, impact, and profit. We find our greatest fulfillment in mentoring CEOs who are actively paving their success path. Our team of highly accomplished CEO mentors and outstanding support staff help established business owners elevate their strategic vision, maximize their cash flow, develop team-managed companies, become world-class leaders, and execute operations efficiently and effectively.
If you were in an elevator with Warren Buffett, how would you describe your company, your services or products? What makes your company different from others? What is your company’s biggest strength?
Allison Maslan: First of all, I’d love to be in an elevator with Warren Buffett. I would tell him that Pinnacle Global Network is the best of the best in mentoring CEOs who want to scale their businesses. My company is different because we take a tailored approach with seasoned CEO mentors, removing the residue of what doesn’t work and replacing it with systems and strategies that do so you can enjoy more freedom, more reward, and the fulfillment of making a much bigger impact.
A team-managed company is our biggest strength. This gives me the room I need to fully step into my role as a visionary while the rest is in good hands.
Quiet quitting, The Great Resignation, is an ongoing trend causing many businesses to struggle to keep talent engaged and motivated. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued, and misunderstood in the workplace. In your experience, what keeps employees happy? And how are you adapting to the current shift we see?
Allison Maslan: I truly believe that company culture and having your team be on board with the vision of the company are the most important aspects of keeping your employees happy. When people are passionate about what they’re doing and they feel like they’re actually contributing to a larger vision, that their impact matters and they’re making a difference, this inspires them and motivates them like nothing else. If you have a vision that is electric, you will attract people that are in alignment and detract those who are not. So it’s really about how tapped in to your vision you are as a founder, and how visible you are with that vision that will keep your employees happy, motivated, and inspired.
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
Allison Maslan: Every single business needs to have a digital footprint. They will be disrupted if not. If you aren’t continually reinventing yourself as a business owner, and if people aren’t able to access you on different channels or social media, they will find the people that are. You always have to stay on the pulse of digital change – even the way that people are creating youtube videos are different now than they were three years ago. People are expecting more, so you’ve got to constantly stay on top of it.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Allison Maslan: The biggest obstacle is the leader. They have to grow themselves first. They’re going to project every fear, self-doubt, and idea of their own self-worth on every opportunity that’s in front of them. Overcoming this starts with the leader doing their own self work and walking through that fear. Getting out of your own comfort zone as a leader will start to build up trust, and you won’t even question yourself anymore. You’ll take action right away, meet people and open doors that weren’t there before. People will start viewing you as successful and want to do business with you.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Allison Maslan: Your business is going to grow to a point that you will hit a ceiling once you get to that 1-3 million revenue position, and you’re going to need to completely restructure the way you’re running your business and make room for growth. Business owners are creatures of habit and tend to keep doing things the same way they always have, but will only get so far in doing so. You’ve got to expand to a more scalable model and build a team managed company so that the business grows faster. Then you will enjoy the business more, because you can step into more of the visionary CEO role.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Allison Maslan: As business owners, we talk about the four main ‘business superpowers’- Revenue stream, marketing, sales, and operations. All business owners fall into one or two of those. The revenue streams superpower is where a lot of creative entrepreneurs are, who constantly come up with new ideas as a visionary. I definitely fall into that category as I am extremely passionate about my company’s vision.
What does “success” in 2024 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision
Allison Maslan: I feel very proud of my team and I being the catalyst of so many business owners and their transformation around the world. When you transform a company, it trickles down to thousands if not millions of people – employees, employees’ families, your customers, and your community. I’m most proud of my team, because without them, none of this would happen. Their passion to help business owners step up into the highest version of themselves is what life is all about to me. It’s an amazing feeling to be living your purpose every day and I’m so very grateful for our team doing just that.