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Scale for Success: Expert Insights into Growing Your Business
'Both inspires and exposes the challenge of making it big.' – Financial TimesAll it takes to start a business is a great idea and initial funding. But when it comes to growing and scaling a business – turning it into an enduring success – it becomes much more difficult to manage and sustain the various elements that are involved. You need to set out a clear plan, sustain funding, optimise marketing opportunities and develop an effective team. There are many opportunities to fail but, with Scale for Success, readers will gain valuable insights and practical advice from a global array of entrepreneurs and business leaders who have paved the way to their own versions of commercial success.Scale for Success features 30 entrepreneurs and CEOs, including Dame Shellie Hunt, Jeremy Harbour, David Meerman Scott and Paris Cutler. These inspiring figures share their stories of successful growth and scaling and, most importantly, the practical and adaptable advice and guidance that led to their businesses moving effectively on to the next stage of growth. With insights from world-renowned figures in industries such as tech, real estate, marketing and fashion, this book provides an eclectic array of original ideas and approaches that have been proven to be effective. Narrated and curated by writer and former entrepreneur Jan Cavelle, this book provides an engaging and enlightening pathway to scaling success.
- GenresBusiness
289 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 25, 2023
5 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Jan Cavelle
2 books5 followersJan is an entrepreneur from the UK who has a few decades of running micro and small businesses behind her. She is very familiar with all the challenges that go with that, having started one from the kitchen table as a single mother with two young children, and overcome the obstacles to go on to build that into a multi-million turnover business. Like most entrepreneurs, she has known failure and success.
She has always been passionate to encourage and support other entrepreneurs and has been involved in many campaigns with a view to that. She was chosen as one of the first 50 women to represent the UK in the European Union on one of these.
Jan put her entrepreneurial experiences together with her passion for writing together for her first book, aimed at helping entrepreneurs to grow their businesses during the big leap of 1-10m. Scale for Success and has been published by Bloomsbury.
Start for Success is due out January 25th 2023 and aimed at helping aspiring and growing entrepreneurs everywhere.
She has always been passionate to encourage and support other entrepreneurs and has been involved in many campaigns with a view to that. She was chosen as one of the first 50 women to represent the UK in the European Union on one of these.
Jan put her entrepreneurial experiences together with her passion for writing together for her first book, aimed at helping entrepreneurs to grow their businesses during the big leap of 1-10m. Scale for Success and has been published by Bloomsbury.
Start for Success is due out January 25th 2023 and aimed at helping aspiring and growing entrepreneurs everywhere.
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November 2, 2021Scaling your business poses as many challenges as it does opportunities, so it’s important to do things right. The most important thing to bear in mind is that scaling should always be prepared for, down to the very last detail. From lines of accountability to issues of working capital, nothing should be improvised. And whether you're dealing with sales, marketing, or even your company culture, never lose sight of the fact that you're interacting with real human beings. Every strategy you implement should be anchored in the lives and needs of your customers and your employees.
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Make sure your company is well-staffed and organizationally sound.
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.
The key message here is: Make sure your company is well-staffed and organizationally sound.
Most entrepreneurs start businesses with people they already know. That’s natural, and in some ways it makes sense. Every entrepreneur needs to be surrounded by a few people they can rely on entirely. Who better than someone you’ve already known for years?
Well, sometimes it’s better to have someone who knows exactly what they’re doing. As a business scales, it’s important that you strengthen your core team by adding experts to it, not just your friends, family, and trusted former colleagues.
Another adage of Mike’s is that entrepreneurs need to work on, not in, the business. In other words, to scale your firm, you need to disconnect from dealing with day-to-day issues at some point, in order to focus on the firm in a broader way. Instead of focusing on the micro issues, like any single project or any particular customer, scaling up requires that leaders take a step back to shape the firm at a structural level.
So what does that look like in practice? Well, one example is ensuring that your firm’s organizational design is scala`ble. Are there clear lines of communication and accountability in your company? Do you know exactly who’s responsible for what? And will you still know that if your firm expands into new regions, or takes on new employees, or launches a new product?
Making it to one million in profit is never easy. But scaling up, and approaching that figure, will prove far less troublesome if you bring in employees with expertise, and work on, and not just in, the business.
---
Make sure your company is well-staffed and organizationally sound.
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.
The key message here is: Make sure your company is well-staffed and organizationally sound.
Most entrepreneurs start businesses with people they already know. That’s natural, and in some ways it makes sense. Every entrepreneur needs to be surrounded by a few people they can rely on entirely. Who better than someone you’ve already known for years?
Well, sometimes it’s better to have someone who knows exactly what they’re doing. As a business scales, it’s important that you strengthen your core team by adding experts to it, not just your friends, family, and trusted former colleagues.
Another adage of Mike’s is that entrepreneurs need to work on, not in, the business. In other words, to scale your firm, you need to disconnect from dealing with day-to-day issues at some point, in order to focus on the firm in a broader way. Instead of focusing on the micro issues, like any single project or any particular customer, scaling up requires that leaders take a step back to shape the firm at a structural level.
So what does that look like in practice? Well, one example is ensuring that your firm’s organizational design is scala`ble. Are there clear lines of communication and accountability in your company? Do you know exactly who’s responsible for what? And will you still know that if your firm expands into new regions, or takes on new employees, or launches a new product?
Making it to one million in profit is never easy. But scaling up, and approaching that figure, will prove far less troublesome if you bring in employees with expertise, and work on, and not just in, the business.
November 2, 2021
Blinkist
It is important to have 2 to 3 people around you that you can rely on.
Working capital increase with scaling is important.
Preparation is essential.
Hire very carefully. Detailed job descriptions.
The key message in these blinks is that:
Scaling your business poses as many challenges as it does opportunities, so it’s important to do things right. The most important thing to bear in mind is that scaling should always be prepared for, down to the very last detail. From lines of accountability to issues of working capital, nothing should be improvised. And whether you're dealing with sales, marketing, or even your company culture, never lose sight of the fact that you're interacting with real human beings. Every strategy you implement should be anchored in the lives and needs of your customers and your employees.
Company culture
The first is not to hire hastily. In their rush to scale, too many businesses experience what Natalie Lewis calls “distressed recruiting disasters” – unsuitable hires made on the spur of the moment in an effort to fill an urgent vacancy.
Both recruitment and employee performance can be improved by making job descriptions more detailed and more exact. That way, employees know exactly what’s required of them from the get-go. With employees and managers on the same page about what a role involves, disappointment and frustration are far less likely to arise.
But keeping a culture positive involves more than just job descriptions. Another key element is gratitude. Lewis recommends treating your communication with employees like a bank balance – gratitude and praise are deposits and criticism is a kind of withdrawal. As with a normal bank account, you should always aim to be in the green.
Finally, take the time to onboard employees properly. If you want workers to find value in their work, you need to help them identify with the company’s mission and key objectives. Taking the time to do this when they first join the firm will pay dividends in the long run.
It is important to have 2 to 3 people around you that you can rely on.
Working capital increase with scaling is important.
Preparation is essential.
Hire very carefully. Detailed job descriptions.
The key message in these blinks is that:
Scaling your business poses as many challenges as it does opportunities, so it’s important to do things right. The most important thing to bear in mind is that scaling should always be prepared for, down to the very last detail. From lines of accountability to issues of working capital, nothing should be improvised. And whether you're dealing with sales, marketing, or even your company culture, never lose sight of the fact that you're interacting with real human beings. Every strategy you implement should be anchored in the lives and needs of your customers and your employees.
Company culture
The first is not to hire hastily. In their rush to scale, too many businesses experience what Natalie Lewis calls “distressed recruiting disasters” – unsuitable hires made on the spur of the moment in an effort to fill an urgent vacancy.
Both recruitment and employee performance can be improved by making job descriptions more detailed and more exact. That way, employees know exactly what’s required of them from the get-go. With employees and managers on the same page about what a role involves, disappointment and frustration are far less likely to arise.
But keeping a culture positive involves more than just job descriptions. Another key element is gratitude. Lewis recommends treating your communication with employees like a bank balance – gratitude and praise are deposits and criticism is a kind of withdrawal. As with a normal bank account, you should always aim to be in the green.
Finally, take the time to onboard employees properly. If you want workers to find value in their work, you need to help them identify with the company’s mission and key objectives. Taking the time to do this when they first join the firm will pay dividends in the long run.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2021
One of the most brilliant qoutes that I have in my mind, comes from this book, work on your business not in your business
April 21, 2024
Kudos to Jan for organizing such an insightful book! The advice, experiences, and strategies discussed was extremely helpful! There were so many key points given in the book that my notes are golden!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews