So, you have decided that scaling your business is what you want – you want the growth, the additional revenue, the dynamism of it – and, ultimately, the freedom that scaling up can offer you, if you do it right.

Why Scale?

Because scaling your business up – done properly – can allow you to enjoy the fruits of your labor, because ultimately you can either:

• Work on your business, rather than in it – i.e., up to your eyeballs in day-to-day, hands-on involvement in the daily tasks. Instead, you can take a bird’s eye view – see the big picture, and evaluate strategic opportunities for further growth as the day-to-day tasks are handled by your crackerjack team.
• Sell your business – either to retire or start a new venture. Because a profitable self-running business, not needing an owner’s involvement in the daily operations, is a very attractive proposition to buyers.

Why Scaling is Hard

Scaling won’t be easy – and for some entrepreneurs, it goes against what made them entrepreneurs in the first place – the control being an owner affords.

That can be a two-edged sword, though. It’s true that the can-do, rugged individualist mindset is part of what makes an entrepreneur who s/he is, what empowers them to strike out on new paths, to seek new ideas, new solutions, new methods.

But it’s also true that believing you, and only you, can get things done the way you want them done can get in the way of growth. It can keep your head down, your nose to the grindstone, when what you might need is to look up, look ahead, and get yourself to a vantage point where you can look down at your business as a whole, and from that view, scan your horizon for opportunities.

And, really, how much do you need to control directly?

For example, as a business owner, you likely delegate at least a few tasks to others. These might most typically include, among other tasks, delegating or outsourcing:

• Bookkeeping/accounting. Even if you are a CPA yourself, do you really need to keep your own books, run your own monthly, quarterly, and annual reports?
• Payroll. It’s so cost-effective to have a payroll processor to generate your payrolls and reports, make direct deposits to your team’s bank accounts, create your tax forms (e.g., W-2s, 1099s), file payroll tax returns for you, that even the smallest companies often find this a huge benefit.
• Billing. There are so many solutions available – software packages, cloud-based platforms which incorporate methods for more seamless receipt of customers’ payments, that this is another way to streamline your operations effectively at less cost than doing it yourself, or in-house, would demand.

So, yes, you can still maintain overall control while delegating responsibilities to others.

And, if you’re serious about scaling your business, it’s time to think about delegating more of them.

Dan Sullivan has a great book on how accelerating teamwork can help you grow your business, Who Not How, which I highly recommend.

It’s also time to think about evaluating the skills you’ve developed over the years, and fine-tuning them so that they will serve as tools for growing your business.

What Management Skills Will Help You Successfully Scale Your Business?

Vision, Purpose, Strategy, Implementation

• You need to have a vision – a coherent, fully-formed vision – of what scaling your business up will mean, what it will look like, what it will feel like. What it will mean for your team, what it will mean for your clients. How it can be made to benefit everyone connected with your business – and that includes your family, and, of course, yourself.
• You also need to have a clear purpose – not only for scaling your business, but for the business itself. because, when it comes down to the basics, most businesses exist at all because they can solve problems other people have. That holds true whether you manufacture hard goods, distribute grocery products to supermarkets, or provide needed services.
• You need a strategic plan to help get you where you want to be. One that lays out clearly every step you need to take to get your business and your team to the next level, and one that can be revamped, once you reach that level, to incorporate the steps necessary to take things to the next level, and the next, and the next, until you reach your ultimate goal.
• And you need to know what to do to implement your plan – how those strategic steps will be implemented, who will be responsible for implementing each specific step, and a deadline for getting each step accomplished.

Persuasive Communication

• Once you have fully formulated your vision, your purpose, your strategy, and how to implement that strategy, you need to be able to communicate them to others in a manner that compels their enthusiastic participation. This may not be the case with every single person on your team, in which case you will need to re-evaluate that team member, your own communication style, and proceed to next steps only when you’ve fully weighed your options.
• Clients need hand-holding sometimes, and to be talked through issues and problems toward solutions. Sometimes you’ll encounter resistance. Never take a hard line unless absolutely necessary – persuasion, combined with explicit empathy for what your clients are feeling, even if it’s not necessarily the most sensible approach, is the best way to gain trust. Which, in turn, leads to more business – you’ll continue serving that client’s needs because they trust you, not just to solve, but to care, and they’ll be likelier to refer others to you due to the level of trust you’ve built.
• You will also have to be able to generate the same sort of enthusiasm in partners, whether they are your business partners, or strategic partners and centers of influence. These are the people who can steer the right people to you – those whose problems need your and your team’s skillsets, those who will appreciate the value you can add to their business and personal lives, and are willing to pay for that value.
• If your plans to scale require it, you will also need to present a compelling case to potential lenders and/or investors. Buy-in matters, whether it’s lenders/investors, strategic partners, clients, or team members.
• And you need to be able to listen, too. To your clients’ needs, their concerns, their own visions and goals. To team members’ and strategic partners’ concerns – and also to their ideas. You never know who might have the precise solution to what you are finding a thorny path. And if you don’t listen, you may never know.

Team Building

This is one of the most crucial elements of business scaling. You need to build the right team – made up of individuals who can not only enter into your vision and purpose, but bring expertise to the table which can attract more business for your organization.

Some ways to attract (and keep!) top talent:

• Making a competitive offer with regard to salary and benefits is a given. Do your homework – what are others in your field – and in your area – offering? What can you offer that they don’t?
• But today’s workers increasingly see their job, not just as a way to earn their living, but also to truly make a difference in the world. You need to convince potential hires that your business is a great place to do that.
• Your business needs to have a culture which promotes and encourages this view – as noted above, business is all about problem solving on behalf of others. And that does help make a better world, especially if you can assemble a team of those who enthusiastically buy into your culture, your vision, and give them opportunities for personal and professional growth as part of that vision and culture.
• If it’s at all feasible for your business, offer team members the freedom to work remotely at least part of the time. This is a growing concern for workers, and most of them would welcome that option. Some employees would seriously consider job-switching, if the new job would offer them that option, and their current employer does not.
• Ensure that your team members have clear paths to development and growth, and that there are no dead-end jobs. If you have some jobs you don’t feel have promotability within your business, be prepared for turnover in those positions. Or mix positions’ job duties up to offer promotability to everyone, if you find it feasible.

The High-Vantage View

• You need to position yourself above the day-to-day minutiae of your business’ operations.
• You don’t need to involve yourself in scheduling details, you don’t need to drop everything to answer an email, you don’t need to answer every phone call in the moment, you don’t need to reconcile bank accounts and credit cards.
• You do need to draw back enough so that you have a bird’s eye view of your business overall, in order to develop effective strategic plans for your business’ growth.
• You also need to keep an eye on the horizon for opportunities for growth, expansion, branching out, whichever serves you best, in whatever form your vision takes you toward.

Adaptability and Flexibility

This is also vital to scaling. Because the road to growth is always rocky, and all of us being human, we will make mistakes.

• “If at first you don’t succeed . . .” we all know how that ends. But I’d like to rewrite the end a little – if at first you don’t succeed, consider trying a different approach toward your goal. Trial and error may not look like the most efficient means of transport toward making your vision a reality, but there’s a reason it’s used by scientists all the time, all over the globe. Because there’s nothing like the reality of a mistake to help you find a better way – if you let it.
• Be flexible, adaptable, to attract top talent. If it’s at all possible, allow team members to work remotely, at least some of the time. Some of the best workers want to work fewer than 40 hours a week, and will consider taking less in salary to have that benefit – can you take this in stride? For the right team member, it may well be worth it.
• And we all know how important it is to be adaptable when dealing with clients. Their needs will change, their moods may change, and their situations will definitely change over the course of your relationships with them. It’s crucial for business growth that you grow along with your clients’ needs. You can’t expect to serve them optimally if you’re stuck in some past version/vision of their lives.

Trust and Confidence

• In yourself, first and foremost, of course, in your vision, your purpose and culture, and in your plans to implement your business strategy.
• In your team – trust them to do the work you delegate to them. You chose them for good reason. Avoid micromanaging them. Correct errors, by all means (better still, have supervisors/managers do that and report to you if – and only if – necessary), but in ways which keep you all a team. Maintain collegial relationships, and don’t get trapped by circumstances or feelings into an adversarial mode. That leads to poor communication, and it’s toxic to team trust.
• But – and this is important – have a trusted advisor in your corner you can go to, who will tell you up front, “I don’t think abc will work best for you and your business – and here’s why. You might consider trying xyz instead.” And, at least, seriously consider their counsel – especially if you can’t coherently explain why your idea is likelier than theirs to succeed – in your own unique, individual business. Maybe that’s true – but it won’t help you if you can’t articulate it even to yourself.

Final Thoughts

Scaling a business takes work, focus, effort and energy. And it’s not easy. But, if you get it right, the benefits and the freedoms can be worth everything you dedicate to the process, and more.

It’s important to keep in mind that it will take about the same amount of work to double your business as to multiply it by a factor of 10 – so, why not aim high?

Are you ready to plan, seriously, to scale your business? We invite you to let RFG’s team be your trusted advisors – and help you to grow your business toward your unique vision and goals. We understand the challenges – and the rewards.

Please click here to email us directly – how can we help? We are here for you – helping you, after all, is our purpose and our mission!

Until next time –

Peace,

Eric