Scaling? You might say that this is a term associated with a lizard or a fish and nothing to do with beauty at all, but no, scaling is in actual fact a very valuable term and concept used by many entrepreneurs and business owners to grow their business. There isn’t a business out there that hasn’t thought of ways to grow their business and growth is necessary to realising that big vision. But growing is not just about getting more clients. The key is to grow exponentially, and that can only be done through scaling.
- WHAT IS SCALING EXACTLY?
Scaling your business means giving your business life of its own and to let your business grow with or without you working on it every day. Scaling means how fast your business can grow and what earning potential it has. Scaling also indicates how your business is evolving and not just merely growing. In order to scale your business, you need to understand whether your business has scalability potential.
- HOW DOES SCALING DIFFER FROM GROWING?
Business growth means increasing your revenue, which ultimately increases your costs as you would require funds to be able to support the growth you obtained
Scaling means increasing your revenue, without increasing your costs. This means that you need to look at how things can be done better and smarter to ensure costs does not increase. This balance can only be achieved through effectiveness and efficiencies within the business.
- 5 Steps to Scaling:
- Think Big!
Thinking big is knowing what you want to be, where you want to be and how you need to get there, not what and where you are right now. Look at the future. Where do you want to see yourself and your business in the future? You need to anticipate the next big thing and you need to ensure and trust that your products will get you there.
- Be ready for growth
Often doing well too quickly has a negative impact on business. Celebrations for that one large sale goes on far too long, and businesses end up scaling less. Prepare for growing, prepare for celebrations and landing that big client, and be prepared to be able to move on from there. Do not tie up all your funds and resources on the one big account you landed, or the one big client you gained. Be ready to grow more with another client.
- Know when to IN and ON
When you have your business, you tend to do it all, all the time. From working on your business to working in your business, and you end up working 100% of the time on both. At the start of your business, you will work more IN your business to get things set up, but eventually, you will end up working more ON your business in order for it to grow. It is all about knowing when to switch from IN to ON that is also a vital key in scaling your business.
- Obtain optimal solutions to gain highest returns
Every business has its flaws. Every business faces issues that need to be addressed and solved to ensure that these issues do not damage the values of your business later down the line. For example – A Beauty Salon – Think of a problem such as having too few massage beds in your salon. Cutting down the massage times per client, in order to turn more client, is definitely not a viable solution.
What can be done to ensure that you have enough massage beds for the number of clients that wants to use your services and products? The answer would be is to invest in more beds. This will, in turn, allow you to have more clients in your salon, without impacting the value of the services you provide. Resulting in the highest return on your investment.
- Build a great team…Leverage perhaps?
A business cannot succeed without a great team to support the products you sell and the values you are building your business on. But often, businesses will have to look into other avenues to ensure scaling can be done to the business’s fullest potential. Having a great team drives the processes, drives the sales and lives the values of the business, but sometimes outside investors are needed to ensure the business grows.
Leveraging in business is an art. Knowing when and who to leverage with, takes a lot of courage. Deciding what internal leveraging can be done, can you leverage with the executives, the teams, the vendors. This all adds to the successful scalability of your business.
The beauty industry is built on relationships. Clients can develop lasting relationships with spa’s and salon owners, which means that you will have continuous support, granted that your systems and processes are in line with the client and your business needs. Investing more on your staff will provide you with engaged employees, building on that customer relationship that the industry is built on.
The beauty behind scaling is that the process is based on continuous improvement and evolving with the times and needs of the consumer. It also means that it is never too late to start doing things smarter. Changing and becoming more efficient today can mean scalable, exponential growth for tomorrow.
MZS Digital Marketing works with your current Marketing Team and adds value to your Business by working together to achieve your Marketing goals.