Gear Down to Scale Up
Sometimes you need to gear down to scale up.
Your Business Journey
If you’re a client of Blue Elevator®, you are probably familiar with our trademarked phrase … Innovate, Accelerate, Replicate®.
Your business journey is unique. No two business owners are alike. Consequently, every business is different. At times, you will experience twists and turns. You will also experience ups and downs. First, you’re innovating. Then you’re accelerating, and next you’re replicating.
Growth is Not Scaling
At Blue Elevator®, we differentiate between growth and scaling. We use a simple metric to describe an organization’s “level.” Basically, we use Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3.
- Level 1. Business owner is mostly doing the work themselves.
- Level 2. Business owner is managing others.
- Level 3. Business owner is mentoring others.
Additionally, you can read more about this here.
God willing, you can take your organization, and quickly assess “where” you are at. Please note that the “Level” doesn’t have anything to do with annual revenue, assets, etc.
Revenue Growth
For top line Revenue, I use Revenue and Sales interchangeably. Given that, as long as I have been in business, I find most entrepreneurs focus on chasing top line revenue growth. For a start-up, your top line goals might look like this:
- First, getting to $1 million in revenue
- Next, getting to $5 million in revenue
- Then, shooting to break the $10 million mark
- etc.
Organizational Growth
Additionally, I want to distinguish between revenue growth and organizational growth.
- Revenue growth: Is your company or organization growing top line revenue? This is great.
- Organizational growth: Is your company or organization “developing” from Level 1, to Level 2, to Level 3? If you are developing and moving higher on the scale, that’s great. If not, you need to re-evaluate.
Just because you are growing top line revenue, does not mean your organization is “developing.”
Gear Down to Scale Up
Sometimes, you need to gear down to scale up.
What does this mean?
If you truly desire to scale, then you will have to focus on more than just growing top line revenue. This might mean gearing down the revenue growth so you can focus on “developing” your organization.
Here’s what this might look like:
- First, if you are Level 1, focus on documenting processes and hiring staff to carry out basic processes.
- Next, if you are Level 2, focus on managing your team so that you are confident they can execute all of the various functions necessary to run the company.
- Lastly, if you are Level 3, focus on ensuring you have the right leaders in place to effectively run the organization without any of your direct involvement.
By focusing on scaling, you will need to Take AME.
Are you willing to let off the accelerator of revenue growth in order to make headway on your ability to continue scaling?
What It Is and What It Isn’t
I remember ages ago, one of my business mentors, Dr. Norm Whan, said this:
- All growth brings change
- Not all change brings growth
Here’s the Takeaway
- Proper scaling should yield growth
- But, revenue growth by itself doesn’t necessarily accomplish organizational development (e.g., scaling from Level 1, to Level 2, to Level 3)
Where Are You At?
Do you find yourself pursuing the next big deal? Are you looking to land another big account?
Or, are you focused on going to the next level?
God willing, you can pursue both at the same time.
I encourage you to focus on scaling your way to revenue growth!
Contact Us
Please contact us. God willing, we’d love to help you do just that.
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About the Author:
Ken Moll is the Principal and Founder of Blue Elevator®. With professional experience spanning four decades, Ken has a breadth of foundational business knowledge rarely found – making him part of an elite class of professionals. Ken's passion is helping clients of Blue Elevator® get their “business to the next level™.”