How To Scale Your Online Business - Tips From A Marketing Agency

Every season I write myself a letter.  This is a practice I started doing many years ago, beginning first by writing a “Letter as my future self” every morning on my birthday.  Then, it shifted into writing “Letters as my future self” during every season shift, New Year, and on my birthday. I guess you could say that I write myself a lot of letters!

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are (finally) experiencing the Spring Equinox.  This past weekend I sat down, pulled out the letter I wrote to myself on last year's Spring Equinox, and came to realize that it was on last year's welcoming of Spring that I founded the DoGoodBiz Studio!  I had spent the first three months of 2022 envisioning the idea, planning it, and then by the Equinox I was ready to begin birthing the idea. 

Here we are, a year passed, and I could have never predicted what would occur from that moment onward.  To say it's been a wild year is an understatement.

I've been working for myself for almost a decade now.  Starting with life coaching and business coaching…then moving into business consulting and creative direction.  I built a solid coaching and consulting business that I was really proud of, but it wasn't where I wanted to stay. When the idea to launch a Micro Agency came in, it was a full body Yes.  I didn't know how I was going to do it or what the idea required of me, but I had full willingness to figure it out and see it through.

By September of last year we had 2 people on our team as well as freelancers we were outsourcing projects to.  By the end of last year we had 3 team members.  Today as I write this, we just completed an interviewing phase and are preparing to bring on two more team members, making us a Studio of 5 team members plus our awesome freelancers that support project-specific things.  This is WILD to me as I never envisioned that I would be running a team of this size.

In this article, i'm going to run down my biggest lessons and tips that I've gathered over our first year as a marketing studio.  These tips will be helpful for anyone who is considering scaling their business or growing a team.  Let's get into it!

Scaling Your Business Is Not Easy

I just gotta get that out of the way right off the bat.  The last year has been FULL of growing pains, not having a clue what i'm doing, and figuring things out as I go.  One of the biggest things I believe is essential if you want to operate your own business and experience success doing so is that you JUST SHOW UP.  You have to get out of your own way time and time again. You have to be willing to show up messy and imperfectly…

You have to be willing to say “I don't know but i'll figure it out”…

And you have to be OK with the fact that youre going to look & feel CRINGE.

That's all a part of the the process!

To be honest I don't think I fully understood what it meant to “Scale Your Business” until the last year.  In case it's a confusing concept for you, too, let me break it down…

What does it mean to “Scale Your Business”?

To scale your business means to grow the operational capacity of your business.  It means being able to take on more work and provide more services without disrupting operational flow.  It requires automating and systematizing your processes and workflows.  It usually involves growing a team to support the above.  

When you scale your business, you set up an environment that supports the growth you want to see.  Scaling is not the same AS growing your business. Scaling is what you do SO THAT YOU CAN GROW!

What I've Learned From Scaling My Business For The Last Year…

All the work is 100% worth it - If you want to put in the work.  I think it's incredibly important to note that, when you outsource, start hiring, or look into scaling your business… it is still going to require you to work. Sometimes, even more than you want to at times.  

I've had to personally toss out any internal guilt or shame I've felt around working as much as I have over the last year because I know it's what is required in this current season i'm in if I want to see my vision through.

Being someone who takes my business boundaries VERY seriously, this has actually been a tough one for me.  I work really hard to NOT overwork, in spite of that being my default setting.  Yet, this past year i've had to just allow that to be what is needed right now so that I can cut back my hours later.

I think a lot of folks get the assumption that when you begin hiring support or building a team that you get to sort of just check out.  Yet, we have to remember that in spite of having people supporting us, your business is still YOUR BABY and requires YOUR love, care, attention, and lead.  You're still the parent and that requires you to be present!

Here are some of the things that i've found to be the most impactful and important for me to focus on as we continue in our season of scaling…

Prepare and try to project what's coming:  One thing I've been doing a lot lately is future tripping (in a healthy way!).  I try to gauge what's coming in terms of growth, leads, income, projects, etc.  This helps me then prepare for what we need to do internally as a Studio so that we can handle all of that. Example: I start hiring before we even technically need it if my growth projections show that we ARE going to need it in a month or so.

You are the torch bearer:  You have to hold and protect your vision, mission and values as you scale.  This is a REALLY important one, ya'll.  As you bring more folks into your organization…. it's going to be easy to lose sight of your vision or push your values aside.  This is where you want to make sure you are constantly checking in with how your decisions and actions align with your vision, mission and values.  I purposely try to take a slow decision making approach for this very reason.

Be picky about who you partner with:  This one piggy backs off the above…but relates more to who you decide to bring on board your team or partner with as a business.  Right now our Studio has a few really awesome partnerships we've established with other agencies that I am SO stoked about… but I had to really think about them before saying Yes.  As well, when it comes to who you choose to hire, it's important that you choose folks that align with the mission, vision and values of your business.  This, in turn, helps you cultivate the type of culture you want within your organization.

Make sure your systems can handle your desired growth:  This has been the most crucial thing I've had to continually focus on for the last year.  As we keep growing as a Studio, i've had to continually go back to our systems, workflows and operational processes and update them.  I am doing this again right now as we prepare to bring on new clients as well as new team members.  We can only grow to the degree to which our systems support us!

Speaking of systems… here are some of the most important one's to put into place:

• A strong CRM

• SOPS

• Automated workflows

• A strong onboarding and off-boarding process (for clients + team members)

• A clear budget plan

• A strong project management system

I really hope this week's newsletter is helpful for you in spite of it not being the typical format of information sharing!  The last things I want to say about Scaling Your Business pertains to emphasizing how important it is to embrace learning new skills you will need in order to scale.  

There are so many things that go into scaling that you may not even have considered, but a big part of it comes down to leadership skills.  You have to be able to lead yourself and other people…and you have to WANT to do this.  I do not believe that scaling is for everyone - nor does it need to be for everyone.  

There were MANY years that I had 0 desire to scale in the way we currently are as a Studio.  If that's the case for you, there are many other avenues you can take to still have an enormously incredible business!  I want to be as transparent as possible with my own experiences because, well, scaling your business is painted as this glamorous, easy going thing when in reality (though it is an AMAZING experience) it is also a heck of a lot of work.

I wouldn't change a thing when it comes to my decision to move my business into a micro agency model.  It has been the most fulfilling experience of my career to date and I am SO excited to see where we head as a Studio.  Thank you to everyone who has supported the DoGoodBiz by being here!

If you have any questions, thoughts, or input about this topic, reach out. Learn more about the DoGoodBiz Studio here.

Until next time…

Natalie Brite - DoGoodBiz Studio