Starting your own business can feel like climbing a mountain. A founder never finishes learning – once your business is off the ground, the next challenge is scaling yourt business with strategic growth.
There are a number of areas to focus on to learn the most as you grow. Scaling your business should be an exciting process, leading you towards becoming self-sustaining and profitable.
Hub Australia is home to over 3000 member businesses of all stages – from freelancers and startups to large established international businesses.
Hub has compiled some top tips to avoid roadblocks that may stop your business from scaling:
1. Hiring the right people (and keeping them!)
When your business is scaling quickly, hiring is one of the biggest challenges. It’s essential to get someone on board to assist with your growing workload, but how do you make sure they’re the right person?
Write a comprehensive and accurate position description to help potential applicants know if they’re suitable for the role, and provide information about the interview process and internal culture upfront.
During interviews, it’s important to get buy-in and feedback from key stakeholders and team members, ensuring everyone has realistic expectations about the role.
In terms of retention, the shifting culture of workplaces and values sought by job seekers has shifted the balance towards acquiring and retaining great talent.
To attract great people into your team, and retain the ones you already have, you need to offer more than a competitive salary – culture is everything.
Work to nurture a dynamic and collaborative company culture, helping your employees enjoy their work, feel a sense of purpose, and create great relationships.
It may seem like a large amount of initial effort, but a positive internal culture is priceless and reflects well to your external audiences.
Provide your team opportunities to grow personally and professionally, and show your appreciation for their contributions.
2. Learning to delegate
Many entrepreneurs build and manage their business alone, starting as the sole person in control of everything.
As a result, many can find it hard to let go of the feeling of control and learn to delegate tasks to others.
Business owners aren’t necessarily better off doing everything on their own – in fact, it can be detrimental to business success, as well as to health and stress levels.
Scaling your business involves accepting that you don’t need to handle everything alone – instead, focus on hiring and training others to run day-to-day operations.
Nobody is an expert at everything – look externally for those who can fill your skill gaps, and help you ensure accuracy in vital fields like legal compliance and accountancy.
3. Raising funds and managing money
Growing a business means finding capital and potentially investors, and managing your cashflow in the most productive way.
Too often, businesses struggle to get the right funding to jumpstart their growth, or struggle with managing their existing funds.
Having a strong business case and existing processes when you are pitching is essential – make sure everything is organised and you have anticipated all questions and pain points before you go in to pitch.
Your goal is to prove your business is viable and moving in the right direction.
Prospective investors will be ruthless in looking for weaknesses – impress them by being completely prepared and polished.
Hub Australia partners with experts to provide businesses with the support in this area, including through our Hub Talks series.
4. Keep upskilling yourself
Although you don’t need to operate every facet of a fast-growing business yourself, knowing about the different areas of a business will never be a negative.
A common major roadblock for owners scaling their business is that they don’t feel equipped to deal with all the moving parts.
To overcome this, it’s important to continuously learn, whether it’s attending seminars and workshops, joining online communities, or reaching out to mentors and experts who can offer sound advice.
