When we’re caught up in the race to scale and grow our businesses, it's easy to find ourselves gasping for air among the whirlwind of rapid expansion. Five years ago, a client of mine decided she would take her expertise out on her own and start her own company. She experienced hypergrowth at such a rapid pace that left her struggling to catch her breath. In this struggle to keep up with demand she hired many people that weren’t the right fit, just to get the help she really needed. Everyone wants to scale to impact as many people as possible, build financial freedom and really make a difference. But when it’s done from a place of reactivity and urgency, too many women end up stressed, overwhelmed and drowning.
When she came to me everything on the outside was great – revenue was high, profit margins were good and the team structure was supporting the work.
But, behind the success lurked a different reality.
Unfortunately, her mental health, happiness and relationships were all struggling.
This is common among high powered successful women because the need for continued growth and external validation never goes away.
Constantly chasing after the next big goal can really wear us down. We end up feeling stressed, totally overwhelmed and drowning in our own ambitions.
But is there a way to scale and continue growing without adding so much stress?
It’s Not Just About Speed
The issue creating the stress isn’t necessarily the rate or speed of growth, it is in the inability to effectively manage the workload and manage yourself and your family simultaneously.
Without the foundational pieces in your business to support scalability and boundaries in place to protect what matters most to you, the default to always addmore will become a double-edged sword.
The old-school approach of just piling on more work to boost revenue is like running a race without training- it’s physically exhausting and emotionally draining.
This doesn’t work because the math isn’t math-ing. Eventually, you run out of time… and energy. Insert burn-out
Adding more hours, more team, and more work is great for revenue, temporarily.
But when you don’t have the support system or structure in the business for HOW to support holding more, it feels like the business is always on fire.
Then it becomes a recipe for chaos.
Let’s Redefine Growth
Instead of always focusing on stacking revenue and adding more hours to your plate to create that revenue, you have to redefine growth and the metrics you are using to track growth. You have to put on new lenses and develop seasons to get a clear picture of HOW you are growing.
It’s like intervals in running – you can only sprint at your top speed if you are walking the recoveries.
Think of it as interval training for your business. Moments of intense focus followed by periods of strategic rest.
This means you have seasons where you are evaluating your foundations to strengthen the base;
Looking at your organizational chart to ensure you have the right people in the right roles.
Creating clear processes and procedures.
Upgrading softwares.
Ensuring you are utilizing project management softwares and identifying gaps in your workflows.
And you have seasons where you are going full steam ahead with growth;
Focused on building to capacity.
Inviting more people into the business with the updated and more sturdy foundation.
Creating new offers and services to serve your clients in a new way.
Not to mention part of this foundation is YOU - elevating your leadership skills and taking time for personal development to ensure your happiness is the top priority so you are healthy mentally to effectively lead your team.
Investing in and making time for yourself is key to laying these essential foundations.
After all, having a leader who's doing well means the business as a whole will likely be thriving, too.
Scaling in seasons works because you are prepped and ready for the growth rather than trying to reactively handle it as it’s happening. When you focus on team development, leadership development and all the intricacies of what’s happening behind the scenes – you are only then capable to support the scaling that is inevitable for you.
Having established boundaries and standards in place allows you to go into every sale and client meeting with clear focus and expectations which produces better results for the client.
This will help you feel empowered to navigate these interactions with confidence and be able to build stronger relationships, too.
Embracing Seasons for Business Growth
When you are planning out your quarters, or year ahead, plan for seasons and within each month for what you will focus on in the front-end and in the back-end.
While many things can be done simultaneously you also don’t want to overwhelm your team with all the operations they need to do to sustain the business AND implement too many changes at once.
Plan for seasons where gaining revenue won’t be the highest goal (likely a by product of what you’ve put in place already).
Plan for times where you will focus ON the business week to week in a “CEO day” with no meetings so you can identify areas you want to change, clean up or refine.
Reassess your long-term goals and alter your expectations so you don’t make reactive decisions and try to take on too much work because you are afraid there won’t be more opportunities.
Roll with the Ebb and Flow
Redefining the metrics of growth in your business calendar year will transform the energy of your business, knowing that there are seasons where you are making things cleaner and focusing on development of your own leadership will empower you to conquer the seasons where you are expanding at a rapid pace.
Embrace the ebb and flow of scaling in seasons, knowing that each phase contributes to your long-term success.
By prioritizing foundational work, nurturing your leadership skills and making your personal well-being a priority, you'll navigate periods of rapid expansion with grace and resilience, scaling your business without added stress.