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BUSINESS
WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU, THE ENTREPRENEUR, AS YOU’RE SCALING YOUR BUSINESS?
By Gry Tømte
You start out as a dreamer. An entrepreneur. Maybe like me; a technician. You start a business because you’re good at what you do and you think “I can build a business out of this”. And of course you can. I believe in you. But make no mistake, it’s a WHOLE new job. Or more like it, it’s about 20 new jobs! As you tackle leading a bigger team, social media, marketing, the odd building job, plumbing, HR, fixing phone lines and so on and so forth, you realise that this is more than you maybe signed up for. But, an entrepreneurial mindset means through grit and determination - and a good dose of improvising - you adapt, learn, grow and rise to the challenge. And so you build your business and your team. You learn to be comfortable in your new role. And then. Boom! You hit 7 figures, and now all of a sudden you can’t improvise anymore. It’s simply too big to float through without more processes, sharper leadership skills and a better und hiring roles you might not have thought of before. So now you need to adapt again - and figure it 74
Beauty Biz Year 14 Issue 6
out again. People often think that building a business is just one linear journey. Once you’ve made it through the set up and started making money its just a matter of “keep going”. But as I found out, once you hit 7 figures you need a lot more stringent systems. You need to embrace strategy and structure. And let’s just say, that was never my strong suit... ehmmmm. The way I found that out was in a way that literally smacked me in the face. We had just built an extra 3 rooms and so we doubled our team in 3 months. And I had very little policies and procedures in place (I mean, they were there but never adhered to), no HR protocols, no systems around performance check ins and team meetings and least of all how I would structure my own workflow or the time with my manager.
It was a bit of a “oh we’ll figure it out as we go along”. And it was a bit of a disaster if I’m going to be completely honest. As the visionary of the business, I had always been great at the “visionary stuff”. You know, the stuff that’s fun for those of us who are creatives! The rest was becoming a bit of a mess. Reflecting back there were a number of things I’ve learnt - and here are the 5 most important.
HIRE A MANAGER So, as we’d grown and I needed help, and one of my therapists needed a 457 visa to stay in the country, I promoted her to manager. She’d done the job before - so it seemed like the right thing to do. As the business grew though it became very obvious that she wasn’t equipped for the role.
