Tips for Scaling Up Your Business From Top Entrepreneurs and Investors
You have a business and you’re ready to scale, congratulations! It’s now time to take on the next challenge, scaling!
If you wish to expand your business and drive more revenue, then scaling up is the way to go.
Scalability is about systems, capacity and your capability – which is something our members at Home Grown are experts in!
We asked them to share their knowledge with us, and they did not disappoint.
Read on to learn how to scale your business in 2022
Scaling is different to growing.
- Growing is improving what you’ve already got.
- Scaling is duplicating it and expanding into new markets.
“Very few companies successfully scale.
Out of the six million businesses in the UK, there’s only a very small percentage, something like 1 in 300 that are growing by 20% on revenue and 20% on employees.”
So, it’s rare that companies scale. And, if you are scaling, you should give yourself a bit of a pat on the back for scaling successfully.
One of the key things to keep in mind is the role of digital assets [in the scaling process]. So, digital assets are naturally built to scale. They transcend time, space and wear & tear.
- So, any digital asset you create today will be available in the years to come. [time]
- It will be available anywhere in the world [space]
- Whether people watch it a million or a billion times, it loses no quality [wear & tear].
“The more digital assets you put into your business, the more your business can scale.”
And the best part is that you can implement digital assets in all areas of your business. You can use digital assets to:
- Enhance your brand
- Collect data
- Team building
- Company culture
- Raising investment & funding
Always think five steps ahead.
“…being successful starts with providing a service or product that people need or want.”
So far, so good. But that’s just business 101, right?
Well, yes … and no!
Laura points out that it’s not just about what your business does, but about how it does it. Or, in other words,
“… without a crystal clear view of where you’re heading and where you want to go, it’s incredibly hard to scale up and thrive over the longer term.”
This is where the concept of brand vision comes in. It’s the key ingredient – the thing that will ensure your continued success and enable you to leave the competition in the dust.
But brand vision is much more than that!
Knowing where you’re going and how you’re going to get there is extraordinarily important, both the long-term planning process and the entire marketing side of your business. The real winners here are the businesses that can leverage their brand vision to engage with their target audience, create stories to captivate potential customers and solidify their presence in the landscape.
It’s always awkward before it’s elegant.
Nicola Wilkes, ICF Accredited Business Coach
“As a coach, one of the most common obstacles I witness daily in conversations with my clients when it comes to ‘seriously scaling’ is perfection paralysis.
Growing and expanding is not nearly as elegant as people like to believe. You rarely have a precise roadmap for every little detail, and even if you do, things will not always go according to plan.
Growing and scaling are messy. It’s awkward. It’s confusing and uncomfortable.
And that’s okay!
Don’t fear the unknown. Instead, embrace it.
Many business leaders get caught up in “perfection paralysis”. They think that it will spell disaster if things aren’t always 100% following the plan. Which, granted, can be true in some cases. But if you let this feeling overwhelm you, if you give in to the fear, you’re all but guaranteed to hamper your progress.
This is precisely why Nicola Wilkes likes to remind business leaders that “it’s always awkward before it’s elegant”.
IPs can (and will) give you the edge.
“Your brand and your technology are important assets of your company.”
Protecting intellectual properties around launch dates is vital. IPs will give you an edge over your competitors and “give you a hook to hang future investments”.
Keep your focus
Never say, “I can sell my solution to everyone.”
“Elon Musk didn’t start Tesla saying, “I’m going to compete with every car company and get 10% of the market from nothing” – he picked one particular area: high-performance electric cars; then he expanded – luxury electric cars, Electric SUVs, mass-market electric cars…”
Narrowing down your target market is vital. It’s something that needs to be done during the very inception of the product or service, and the entire process should be tailored around that. What are your ideal customer’s needs and wants? What problems are you solving? What pains are you helping them avoid?
Knowing the answers to these questions before your launch differentiates good products from brilliant products. This enables you to tailor your marketing campaigns and customer journey to match the specific needs of your ideal customers.
Furthermore, laser-focusing your solutions allows you to appear as an expert in the field and get engagement from fellow professionals to organically boost your visibility.
“Expand the geography of particular customers, the job roles, the industries… or expand bit by bit the services that you provide to that initial audience… How to decide exactly where? Your customers or potential customers will guide you.”
Work on the business, not for the business.
“Life (and, of course, work) is a team sport.”
A leader looking to grow and scale should focus their attention on the business as a whole. Understanding the intricacies of the various positions is excellent (and can often give you unexpected advantages throughout your business journey), but for someone in a leadership position, your goal should be to scale, grow and improve the business.
It’s about getting great people around us and using our skills to go on an exciting journey.
Don’t get caught up in the nitty-gritty details of daily work. That’s your employee’s job. Instead, focus on your job – bringing the company to the next level.
Home Grown, as part of the Home House Collection, offers a space for exclusive and unrivalled access to the brightest minds in London’s thriving business community.
A space for unusual introductions, meetings, and conversations, all designed around growing unique business ambitions.
© Home Grown
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