10 minute read
Growth and scaling in a
Brain Drippings Growth and scaling in a Business of One
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your field – awesome! If its to get paid well to practice your skill, passion or whatever while living comfortably, that’s cool too. The point is you need to have that goal and idea, so you know how to grow properly to achieve those goals.
Mindset
By Donald Dodson Jr.
How do you scale when there is only you? Can you even do it? I am writing this from the viewpoint of a sole proprietor who makes a custom hand-crafted product which typically doesn’t allow for much room for scaling. But there IS still room to grow.
And, while I don’t expect that many of you are exactly in my situation, enough of you are similar enough (solopreneur, sole producer, hard to scale easily) that you can draw some ideas and benefit
Ok at this point in your business, you are likely wrestling with mindset. You are bouncing between employee, employer, and entrepreneur mindset. One minute you are in the trenches “earning” revenue producing products or services, the next moment you are attending a webcast on marketing, and the next you are looking over the bookkeeping or sales numbers and trying to decide a strategy. If you are like me, you are very content to do ONE of those things most of the time, maybe two. Me, I could make cool leather stuff all day. This is great for production, not so good for things like sales, marketing, or any of the bazillion other things that need done. You have the Swiss Army Knife mindset. If you have used a Swiss Army knife, you know that some of the tools work well, some are ok, and almost You have the Swiss Army Knife mindset. If you have used a Swiss Army knife, you know none of them can be used at the same time. that some of the tools work well, some are Instead, you from what I am implementing, albeit slowly. The fact of the matter ok, and almost none of them can be used at the same time. Instead, you need to be a more task-specific tool. need to be a more taskspecific tool. Identify what is we all typically your core start off as a competencies ONE! One person starting the business and trying are (and those of your business) -- your strengths to make it all work. How do we successfully get and your weaknesses. What are you good at and passed that point? How do we scale one person enjoy doing and what do you suck at or dislike without cloning ourselves? doing? Make a chart. We’ll use it later. Goals and Mindset Remember that chart we made? Now we are going to put that to use. Strengths, which are likely Goals the things you also enjoy doing on one side and What is your goal? Don’t just say I want to scale. weaknesses -- things you don’t like to do and are That’s what business culture says you are to do. not that great at on the other. We also need to What does success look like for you? Hopefully make yet another distinction on our chart. Are you’ve already got this in your mind, otherwise those tasks revenue producing or not? Business the rest is pointless. If its world domination in development tasks, though “administrative”
ARE revenue producing. They result in sales. Bookkeeping, property maintenance, inventory, etc not so much if at all. This distinction will help us prioritize tasks for the next steps. Put a check mark or circle the revenue producing tasks
I’m sure by this point you have figured out what we are going to do. If it’s a weakness, someone else is gonna do that and if it’s a strength I’m gonna do it. Basically, yes? But its not really that simple is it? Maybe some tasks we suck at because we haven’t learned them well enough to do them well, but we should be doing them. Like the higher-level stuff like strategy, determining what products and services are best, etc. They are intrinsic to our business and will still need our attention. Other stuff, like bookkeeping, marketing, sales, anything that is not directly in the sphere of the core of your business needs to be done by someone else with your supervision and input. Furthermore, we prioritize the tasks that are related to production or revenue.
Delegate!
Contractors, Gig Workers and VAs Oh My!
The first most obvious answer is to pay someone else to do it. We are not likely able to really hire a person full time to do any one task nor is it easy to find a partner with someone who does what we suck at. Virtual Assistants, subcontractors and gig workers are a common solution to these problems. You pay a bookkeeper to maintain your finances, you contract with an IT guy to handle computer stuff, you might hire a designer off Fiverr, Upwork for a one-time design. You pay the neighbor kid to ship your stuff out on Fridays after school. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know here. And they all have strengths and weaknesses. It really comes down to budget, effectiveness, and proficiency. There is plenty of information out there on best practices.
Interns, Apprentices and Barter
This is a free or less cash dependent method. I had an apprentice who wanted to learn what I did. His pay was knowledge and he deferred any kind of wages I offered, because he wanted to learn leatherwork. Interns are also a variation of this. In either of these cases you need to have this as a strength or at reasonable knowledge to guide them. Maybe they need to learn to how to be a social media manager and are hungry enough to want the experience and will work for free. Internships through schools and colleges are decent sources but be warned, there might be some specific requirements to that arrangement. You also need to have appropriate expectations and to realize that you will have to train and provide guidance and it will initially cut into your time. However, the rewards in any of the above situations can pay off more so in later gained efficiency, productivity or services that you’d otherwise have to do yourself. Barter is the “straightforward” exchange of a products and services for products or services you can provide. For example, I made a bag for the person doing my website. Or I occasionally do some design work for a coaching session or whatever. In many ways, this is more “expensive” than the other options because you are still putting in the same effort as if someone had outright paid you and then you used that money to purchase the service. The “casual” nature of the agreement also often means the work might proceed slower and less attention is paid to the costs. In my case, I could “hire” an “A game professional” to do work that I basically just delegated and had to only apply as much input as I needed. Its an important consideration. The better the provider the less work it is for you even beyond the service they are providing. They know their shit better than you ever did and require less input for greater results. This applies to whom anyone you delegate.
Automate!
Automation can apply to either processes or production (I.e. machinery and tools). The point is to streamline and save labor and time and if possible, create or increase revenue.
Processes.
There are a bunch processes to a business. Customer/client onboarding, sales, CRM, emails, shipping, are all examples. There is a tendency to grab the low-hanging fruit of the thing that is
cheapest and or easiest for us to understand and automate. In part, this might be because we can do it ourselves. Its not wrong, but it’s not the best strategy, either. Ideally you need to automate the most time-intensive, cost, or labor-saving process you can identify from your chart of weaknesses. Additionally, you could consider what process, if more effective, would also increase revenue, such as sales or marketing. Automating that process would increase sales (theoretically) giving you more resources to further delegate and automate. For me, “client onboarding” takes a chunk of time. I do custom leather stuff, so its not a simple couple of buttons -clicking e-commerce order. BUT, if I at least had the basics of what they wanted, it would save me some time and they would have better figured out what they may want (Size, function, color, style, budget). You would be surprised how many clients contact me and haven’t though beyond, “I want a cool bag.” The point is this would be an ideal area to automate to some degree. Maybe it’s a for, a messenger bot or something.
Machinery and Tools.
If you make a physical product or interact with the physical space, then machinery of some kind may help you automate. This could be anything from better hand tools, another or better computer, to a label printer (as opposed to taping it on…it saves time, believe me), to a professional machine of some sort. Anything that saves time, labor, produces a more quality and consistent product, or just is less physically demanding is a good candidate. (Muscle fatigue is a real thing when hand-stitching for hours). If it helps with revenue even better.
Of course, there is a cost-benefit analysis, because these generally require money to obtain. In my case, I opted to purchase a professional leather sewing machine. I still make hand stitched products too, but not all aspects of my market care about that. I can now produce some items faster and in greater quantities which allows me to enter other markets that I couldn’t before. The customer is an important component that we cannot forget, too.
Does it better serve your customer?
This is a critical question. At this point you should KNOW your ideal customers well enough to understand what is important to them. Does faster shipping, create a better customer experience? Yes, likely. Does a machine-made product attract them as much as one crafted entirely by hand and are they benefitting from that difference? Does a messenger bot AI asking onboarding questions lessen the personal buying experience or is it making it better? Or, does paying your sales tax on time impact the client experience – probably not! These are all valid questions you should consider when looking at what and HOW you delegate or automate.
For me, the decision to buy a leather sewing machine helped me to serve my clients better. Even the ones that preferred totally handcrafted items. The machine gave me the efficiency to offer other products more quickly and affordably. Increasing my revenue in other product lines allow me to use that revenue to delegate and automate and allow me to focus on creating better designs or being able to take the time needed to craft a hand-made item sustainably. Growth and scaling can be accomplished through any combination of the above-mentioned methods. Some will work better for you now, and as you grow will not be as effective. For now, “something” is better than nothing gets it done for you. Time commitment, skills, specialization, and professional assistance will only increase as you grow. Soon, the neighbor kid doing your website won’t cut it anymore. This is the part of the growth of any business regardless of size. The sooner you can invest in professionals the better your results will likely be long-term.
So define your goals, focus on the what makes you a more effective business owner with increased revenue and employ the best solution you can manage with your clients best interest in mind. Donald Dodson, owner of Dodson Designs, has been involved in artistic pursuits for as long as he can remember. Starting at age 16 as a sign painter assistant, and after
high school, he pursued a career in graphic arts, finding his home in graphic design and web design. After an eightyear stint as a teacher, Dodson, a combat veteran, longed to return to his passion for the arts and, at 49, started a full-time leather working business. He crafts handmade, creative custom leather goods and accessories near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
