On Instagram Stories, I’ve been doing a series called Adventures In Scaling. And I’ve been showing people behind the scenes of what it’s like to start scaling your business. I’m very transparent with you, so I love to share the behind the scenes.
Plus, I want to help you avoid the mistakes that I’ve made. So, I’m just going to share stuff as I go. I’ve documented everything up until now, why not this, right?
What does scaling your business mean?
First of all, let’s define scaling. Scaling is when you start building a company. So I’ve noticed that people start scaling when they hit the $100,000 mark, right? Before you’re at the $100,000 mark, you’re doing a lot by yourself. Maybe you’ve got a contractor or two here or there and you’re probably trading time for money at that point as well.
So, for example, a non-scalable thing would be freelance writing. I did that for eight years. And a lot of my coaching clients are now transitioning out of that because they’ve ridden that train as far as they can take it. And now they want to go do something else. So, I helped them through that transition, because I’ve been through the same thing. And that’s not scalable. And the reason that’s not scalable is because you would need to trade time for money.
Now, you could make it scalable by hiring people under you and turning into more of an agency, but I don’t know a single freelance writer who actually wants to do that. If you are one of them, and you’ve done it successfully, comment below and let me know because I haven’t met one of you yet. Everybody tells me the opposite. So, that would be an example of something that’s not scalable.
Why people start scaling
But what starts to happen in your mind, is, “Whoa, okay, well, I’m doing a ton of work to get to $100K.” Or maybe you’re almost there at the six-figure mark and you’re like, “I’m doing a ton of work. I’m making good money and I’m very thankful for it but I’m doing a lot and it’s starting to get a little annoying.”
And not only that, but you start realizing there are other ways of doing this. There are other ways of building this out. I think one of the things I’ve noticed among people who are very entrepreneurial is that we don’t settle. We just don’t. It is not in our DNA. We’re like, “Oh, what’s this new challenge we can go find?” or, “How can I live up to my potential even more?” or, “How can I go make more money?” That’s usually the one, “How can I make more money?”
But then, you start asking “How can I continue making money without having to be so freaking involved in everything?”
You start thinking “I’m at a point where I want my company making money every day, whether I’m working or not.” So, how do you do that? How do you build that?
My experience with scaling my business
Let me start with the good stuff. So, the good stuff has been, it feels really good to have full-time help and be supported in that way. A lot of it was because I didn’t realize how much I was actually doing myself. And my accountant had been telling me for a while that I needed a full-time person. Hiring a full-time assistant was a life changer.
And I’m really big on acknowledging small steps of progress. Because sometimes it can really feel like no progress is being made at all when that’s not true. Building out a sales process so that if we keep growing and bringing people in over time has also been awesome. Building out a process for marketing has also been awesome. Basically, I’m starting to feel less weight on my shoulders because there’s been a lot going on in my own head for 10+ years.
Another thing that’s been awesome is knowing that the company’s bringing in enough money that I’ve got my salary and I’m paying someone else’s salary, too. I’m paying two salaries right now with the revenue coming in from the company. That’s a really good feeling.
I am now learning how to step into being a leader for people within my own company and it’s kind of different. And it’s kind of awkward for me. I think it’s just like the typical business setbacks. “This thing worked,” “That thing didn’t,” you gotta go figure it out as you go. But the good news is that for me, I actually kind of enjoy the process.
A lot of you people have asked me, like, “How are you so confident?” I have fixed a lot of damn problems, that’s how I’ve gotten so confident. I built something from nothing. And I’ve learned to embrace that as a part of the process. I’ve learned to embrace the process of entrepreneurship and not everybody is built for that. Not everybody can handle that and that’s okay.
Scaling your business takes work, but it’s worth it
You might not be at a stage yet where you’re starting to scale your company, but you might be at a stage where you’re saying, “I’d like to get there someday, I would like to have those kinds of problems.” If you resonate with, “I can’t be at this fucking day job for the next 30 years” you’re probably an entrepreneur at heart. You probably like growth and you like being challenged. Some of us are wired that way, and we’re built that way. Embrace it. And follow that.