How to Scale a Business Successfully with Confidence
Isaiah 54:2 (AMPC) "Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; spare not, lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes."
The nuances surrounding growing or scaling a business are often lost on business owners until they experience growing pains. Knowing how to scale a business can help you improve your bottom line by finding ways to reduce costs that eat into your profits.
Taking your business to the next stage is exciting and reflects your hard work and passion as a business owner. Taking strength from your faith in God will give you the confidence to take this next step and facilitate sustainable growth and long-term success in your enterprise.
How to Scale a Business Successfully
Whether you've just started an ambitious new business endeavor or are seeking to shake up your business model to accommodate growth, you must understand the key factors involved in scaling a business.
As your business grows and you increase sales, you need to have the internal processes in place to handle increased demand. The key to scalability is your business's capability and capacity to grow. Ask yourself if your growing business has the systems, infrastructure, and team in place to meet growing customer demand. If not, you will need to invest in order to scale effectively.
Studies suggest that business scaling is vital for long-term growth and success. Among the benefits of scaling your business are:
An opportunity to increase profits, revenue, and market share
The creation of jobs
Contributing to economic growth that benefits society as a whole
Important: Don't Be Afraid to Scale Your Business
Taking ambitious steps with your business can be a daunting experience. Keep in mind that God wants you to prosper! Scaling your business with confidence and faith will lead to plentiful rewards.
Our team has extensive experience in faith-based entrepreneurship and small business finance and can partner with you for this next step through a monthly membership (request details) and our free podcast (sign up for early access).
In the meantime, the following steps will get you off to a great start:
1. Evaluate and Plan
First, you must evaluate if your business is ready for rapid growth. Strategize what you must do to reach new customers while building customer loyalty. Does your company have the capacity to increase sales as it is? How will your business model adapt to larger-scale processes?
Start with a meticulous sales growth forecast and an expense forecast. Use these documents to anticipate where your expenses will go up and how you will meet those requirements.
2. Money Matters
Scaling a business is a wonderful long-term goal but it doesn't come for free. Your plan for further growth will likely require more employees, new technology, or larger premises. You need to work out how you'll finance these investments.
3. Secure Sales
The main assumption behind scaling a business is that you'll achieve more sales. But do you have the structures in place to do so? Achieving overall growth is only possible if you:
Have a robust marketing plan in place
Have sales representatives to close leads
Have effective technology to manage orders
Have a billing system that ensures invoices are collected
When taking on more staff, consider how many customers each person can look after effectively. This will help you find a balance as you scale.
4. Invest in Technology
Technology may be a sizable investment at the beginning but ultimately it will make scaling your business less costly. This is because you'll save on labor costs by automating processes wherever necessary.
5. Find Reliable Employees
Your employees will be crucial in seeing your vision become reality. Look for staff who share your vision and core values and who you trust to make your long-term business plan successful.
Don't forget your own role at this point. You are the business owner, but that doesn't mean you need to oversee every process in your business. Hire reliable management staff to handle the everyday running of your business.
Delegation Is a Strength
God told Moses “I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.” (Numbers 11:17). Remember that delegating work is not a sign of weakness; it's just the opposite. Taking work off your hands will allow you to continue to flourish with strength, energy, and mental well-being.
How Isaiah 54:2 Applies to Scaling a Business
Isaiah 54:2 inspires Christian business owners to scale their businesses by taking the right steps to achieve success.
Vision for Growth
This verse speaks directly to the ambitious business owner, urging them to dream bigger and prepare for expansion. It's a divine encouragement not to be limited by current circumstances but to plan and act for increased capacity and influence. This can mean diversifying product lines, entering new markets, or scaling operations—all with the confidence that such growth is not just possible, but expected.
Investment in Infrastructure
The call to "lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes" can be seen as advice to invest in the foundations of your business. Strengthening the stakes implies solidifying the core aspects of your business, such as your team, your technology, and your operational processes, to withstand the pressures of expansion. Lengthening the cords represents outreach—extending your brand's reach, networking, and customer base.
Fearlessness in Expansion
"Spare not" suggests a bold, all-in approach to business growth. It's an encouragement to take calculated risks and make significant investments in your business's future. This might involve committing resources to innovation, marketing, or new ventures without fear, trusting that the groundwork you lay will support the expanded vision you have for your business.
Scaling vs Growing a Business
Scaling and growing a business are two different concepts. As a small business owner, knowing the difference is important as you seek to take your business to the next level.
Growing a business involves increasing revenue regardless of the costs involved. Scaling improves your bottom line by increasing revenue while minimizing costs. You might hear this referred to as "economies of scale."
For example, take a business that manufactures cookware; a pan costs $50 to make and you sell it for $70. If both figures are inflexible, your business has a margin to grow but not to scale. This is because your costs rise at the same rate as your profits. Scaling is only possible if you can reduce your costs, for example by reducing the costs of materials via a volume discount from your supplier.
Enlarge Your Tent Strategically and with Confidence
Scaling a business successfully requires business acumen and taking wise steps that benefit your business. Confidence in your ability to execute these steps will also underpin your decisions.
The confidence to scale comes from a successful track record with your business. It also comes from finding inspiration in the Bible, believing that God wants your business to expand, and having faith that your hard work will be rewarded.
Related verses:
Habakkuk 2:2-3
Hebrews 11:1