The Scaling Obsession: Is Scaling Really Necessary for Business Success?
“If your business isn’t growing, it’s failing” is something we hear a LOT.
But is this obsession good or bad for business? Does a business *really* need to scale in order to be successful? I’m not so sure.
What does scaling a business actually mean?
In short, scaling a business means increasing its size or scope in order to achieve growth. But in order to scale a business, careful planning and execution is required, and even then there's absolutely no guarantee of success.
Scaling your business can be done in a few different ways:
Expanding into new markets – for example, you may look at offering services or products to businesses in addition to consumers. Or perhaps in a different geographical area or to a different demographic/audience/industry.
Adding new products or services – you might ‘add on’ to existing services and products already provided to clients/customers.
Taking on team members - or you could leverage other people’s time so that there are more people available for billable work (or to create more time for you to explore new markets/products/services).
Of course, each business is unique, so the strategies for scaling will vary from one company to the next.
However, the goal is always the same: to achieve sustainable growth that will allow the business to thrive in the long term.
With careful planning and execution, any business can scale its model… but just because you can doesn’t mean you should....
The pros of scaling a business
Entering a phase of business growth is both exciting and challenging. With strategic business growth you can:
Reach new customers/clients
Expand your customer base
Increase revenue and profitability
Become the visionary leader of a business
Take more time off because there’s a team in place to support the business
The downside of scaling a business
Scaling a business is no mean feat that takes time, energy and money:
Investing into the business financially - with no guarantee of success
More time spent working on the business - trying to attract the right talent and cultural fit
Speedy growth often sees a business built around team members whose undefined "all-hands-on-deck" role expands to fit their unique talents and interests. This puts a huge reliance on individual people rather than taking the time to create a clearly defined job description first, then hiring the right talent second.
Feelings of loss of control - letting go can be uncomfortable and difficult
Reduced service levels - unless there’s been considerable time spent creating thorough standard operating procedures
Complexity and bureaucracy - as the business creates a new hierarchy
My experience of scaling a business by building an agency
Back in late 2018 I was full of enthusiasm for growth and scaling after reading The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It (buy via my Amazon link here - I'll get a few pennies if you do - at no cost to you). I had read that with the right operating procedures in place, you didn’t need to hire the most expensive talent - you just needed to hire someone who was keen and eager to follow instructions.
I moved the idea forward quickly and in early 2019 I bought office space for a year, hired two employees around my 9 am - 3 pm working day and ad-hoc contractors, wrote a million and one SOPs (standard operating procedures), and patiently waited for the feeling of success to kick in.
It felt incredibly risky - it was a huge financial investment and commitment, and I knew I’d now be paying myself last from what little profit there was left. BUT that shiny promise of becoming the visionary leader in my business was a golden carrot.
The reality was this:
Scaling requires management - one employee had a steep learning curve and needed more guidance, mentoring and management than I’d ever imagined.
Scaling means working more closely with people - call me an introvert (because it would be true) but I MUCH prefer being in an office on my own - I am no good at idle chit chat about weekends and what people are having for dinner. Harsh, I know. I can put on a face to do it and I totally understand the importance to build relationships.... BUT I find it incredibly draining and I hadn't factored this in.
Everyone has different values - my two highest values are equity and fairness - but not everyone else thinks the same way.
I became the ‘fixer’ - when faced with a problem, there were very few creative solutions offered and little thinking outside the box - just problems for me to fix because the buck stopped with me and it was my reputation on the line.
And, quite honestly, scaling ended up feeling like harder work with reduced profit margins and more stress.
Could that have all been improved if I'd had a huge amount of cash reserves in my business or hired different talent or was more extroverted and energised by being around people? Quite possibly - yes! But the point here is I realised that scaling and growing an agency simply wasn’t what running a successful business meant to me.
“No-one will ever care about your business as much as you do.” << my thoughts right now!
Alternative ways to achieve success without a focus on growth and scaling that are meaningful to YOU
For me, achieving success means doing meaningful work from home. It saves on travel costs (and means I can look after the dog during the day while not having to ask anyone “what are you having for dinner?"). And having flexible hours around my family is far more important to me now than scaling ever would be.
Here’s how you can create more success without scaling:
Reflect on how you feel about your business - when your work lights you up and you feel fulfilled, you’re doing something very right!
Profitability - don’t look at ‘revenue’ as the success factor. You could be turning over 6 figures with less profit than you have right now. Would that still equal success to you?
Work/life blend - do you have the work/life blend you dreamed of. For example I shut the computer down at 3pm and walk to collect my daughter from school. Having that flexibility is total success for me.
Flexible working arrangements - working hours that suit you and taking time off as and when you need it is what counts as success for a lot of people. Having that flexibility is why many people start up on their own in the first place.
Saying no to toxic narcissistic clients who want the moon on a stick for a fiver - feel like an instant success by saying no to the demanding clients who feel like hard work before you've even started.
Do more meaningful work - you didn’t go into business to do work that you don’t enjoy or see the value in. If the tables have started to turn then how can you get that back? Would that be success to you?
Reflect on testimonials and feedback from happy clients/customers - when we will always be our own harshest critic, amazing feedback from clients and customers is a lovely little reminder and measurement of success.
Summary
Scaling and growing a business isn’t the only path to success.
Creating any successful business takes strategic thinking - both in terms of where you want your business to go, but also, and more importantly, what kind of meaning and fulfilment you want to get back from your efforts.
Free masterclass: what is success (and are you closer than you think)?
Success is something we crave and work towards... but rarely define in a meaningful way - like I’ve explained above - the success path I was on turned out to be the wrong one for me.
Even more than that, how many times do we give ourselves time and space to recognise all the amazing things we've already done?
Could it even be that we are already more successful than we give ourselves credit for?
👉 Register here... because I have a funny feeling you might be surprised by what you discover about yourself in around 30 minutes with this free masterclass.
Ready to explore coaching?
If you’re curious about what coaching could help you achieve, why not book a discovery chat with me to see if it’s right for you? No pressure, commitment or obligation. Just a conversation about where you are versus where you want to be and how we can bridge that gap.