Scale for Success summary

If anyone knows that scaling your business requires large sums of cash, it’s Ben Revell. When he first launched Winebuyers, an online wine store, back in 2015, he did it on a shoestring budget of just £3,700. But when the time came for an expansion, Revell didn’t look for a bank loan or venture capital investment: instead, he opted to crowdfund his company’s growth.

Crowdfunding is often used to raise money for charity, but it’s also an option for small businesses trying to raise funds. In crowdfunding, a large number of investors provide a firm with the capital it needs in exchange for shares in the company, or interest on the loan, or even a discount on the firm’s products. [Pause] But is it a good idea?

Scaling brings plenty of opportunities, including bigger clients, complex projects, and new employees. It also brings us closer to the holy grail of the business world – higher profits. But it’s not all fun and games. Scaling can also involve significant risks, not all of which are financial.

One such risk is that a company’s original culture could be sacrificed as it grows, being gradually replaced by a toxic culture that makes employees feel both unwelcome and undervalued. That’s where someone like Natalie Lewis, the owner of Dynamic HR Services comes in.

When you’re running a small business, marketing is usually pretty straightforward. Rather than elaborate strategies and complex campaigns, most small firms begin with little more than a website and a social media page or two.

But when it’s time to scale, all of that changes. The marketing strategies you relied on in the early days won’t propel your expansion as you grow – and all of a sudden, marketing seems to require a whole lot more time, effort, and thought.

Salespeople are vital to the success of any business – but it’s fair to say that in the mind of the general public, the profession’s reputation isn’t ideal.

You see, lots of people think of sales as an area dominated by smooth-talking, charming, but ultimately dishonest hucksters – and according to Andrew Milbourn, a sales expert and CEO of Kiss The Fish, they’re not that far from the truth.

Mike Lander, a serial entrepreneur, has heard all the excuses people have for their firm’s failure to scale up. Some say the market was too competitive. Others claim they suffered bad luck. And others even say they never really wanted to grow to begin with.

In Lander’s eyes, this is all evidence of something he already knew – that succeeding in the business world can be hard. After all, everyone would be wealthy if it were easy. But Lander’s spent enough time building businesses to have picked up a few nuggets of wisdom – some key insights that can make the difficult journey to the first one-million-pound profit just a little less daunting.