During the pandemic most businesses were trying to keep alive and those with large overhead may be wondering what their next step is going to be. For smaller businesses the thought process may be more about pivoting services or even scaling up for the future.

I know when the pandemic hit that was my thinking once I got through the shock of how will we survive and at that time we thought this would only be for a month or two. A year later we have managed to survive by taking advantage of any programs we could and looking at our business to ensure we were diversified for the future. Those people that have told me I was working in too many directions aren’t harping so loud anymore. In fact some are now asking, “How can I do that?”

Now that we are down the road a little and possibly seeing a light on the other side of the tunnel so to speak our mindset has moved to scaling in the future. Scaling your business takes on a serious thought process as it is not for everyone. Over the years I have avoided the idea of scaling because with scaling comes the hassle of employees and subcontractors which can be good and bad based on who you find. I know in the future I will need someone as our business grows but how that will work is yet to be determined. So how do you scale up if that is what you want to do?

This month I interviewed a number of people that have done well in this area. Like everything your ideas and processes start with you. You have to know what you want and you have to know where you want to go. That’s why this month’s book is so critical because it is about being good enough now and being happy where you are and the type of person you are inside.

Once you are happy with yourself it is time to start getting down to the business of scaling the business. I had a chat with Andrea Freeman who is a business coach for service based businesses on how to scale because a service based business is challenging to scale for anyone, but can be done. Andrea gives some great points in the interview so listen to the full podcast episode (CC238) but I have included a tip for you below.

I also talk with Chris Kenney who teaches serviced based businesses how to scale from a financial base and how he created his seven figure business by helping clients understand their worth and money for the future. Listen to episode CC239 when it goes live in mid March.

Finally I want to inspire you and show you that it can be done. Renbert Mortimer is a fellow caricature artist from the Bahamas. We met back in 2009 at a convention for caricature artists and over the years I have seen him scale his business from being an event artist to leadership speaker and marketing guru. Ren is very inspirational and has put together a great business as he helps the people on the island succeed. Learn about his story on the podcast later this month.

There you have it, some information to help you scale or at least think about scaling your business. Start with yourself, learn where you can start to scale, create a vision for scaling, and then find someone that has done it and get inspired. I wish you luck.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a creative / media entrepreneur. He is a professional cartoonist, podcast producer, radio station producer, and television host producer. You can learn more about Bruce and his work at www.bruceoutridge.com