When businesses are covered in the media, often there is a lot of focus on the initial idea, the genesis moment. Then they almost brush over the middle part – the scaling up part – and arrive at how big and awesome the business is today. It makes for a fun read or in the case of a movie or show an entertaining watch, but it’s also a missed opportunity. The middle part – the scaling up part is where so many small business owners get stuck. It’s the part so many of us need more guidance with and so we wanted to get conversations going on the topic of scaling up.

Lady Raw

Well of course we all know that the road to success is never easy it definitely has its ups and downs twists and turns. I started rapping between the ages 9 and 10 and from then on I was consistent. I didn’t start taking my music serious until the year of 2017. In October of 2017 something tragic happened I lost my older brother to violence and that situation encouraged me to go harder. Read more>>

Ashley Grady

Unfortunately, it took me years to scale my business. I didn’t see the value in myself. I often compared myself to others in my field and felt they were better than me, so I couldn’t charge anywhere near what they charged. Read more>>

Kim Hibbs

When Jan and I started flipping houses, we really dug into what it meant to build a good quality home. After learning about high-performance building and seeing that these better building techniques weren’t being implemented at a consistent level. That is when we decided it was time to go all in and start building custom homes that were higher quality and lasted longer than conventionally built homes. Read more>>

Zohra Chunawala

I started my henna business with very limited means and zero plans for expansion. My goal was to have something I could call my own and which celebrated my roots. I was just happy to be able to meet like-minded people and share my artistic abilities. Read more>>

 Stephanie Heeb

6 years ago I started working with and supporting entrepreneurs and small business owners on an hourly, as-needed basis to start saving extra money. It was during this time that I realized there was a real need for flexible, hourly assistance but it was hard for people to source quality and trustworthy individuals to fill that need. Read more>>

Robert Pauley III

When I quit my finance career to start my clothing business, I had one product, a coat. I started the business in March of 2017–spring time. Most people are not shopping for a coat during that time so most sales came from friends and people that my friends knew. Read more>>

Lisa Seppelt

Honestly, when I think about how fast I scaled-like pretty much in a matter of 5 years. It feels like such a blur because everything moved really fast. However, I think it feels like such a blur because I really worked my butt off. Read more>>

Missy Brooks

In 2018, my husband, Aaron, wanted to try his hand at soapmaking. He had used custom soaps since he was 14 and our local soapmaker stopped making soap. He went to the store for some oils and lye and Goodwill for some other supplies. He purchased a book and very slowly made his first batch of soap. Read more>>

Bria Hash

When I started my business in 2016 as a virtual assistant nobody in the space was targeting Black women in business. Yet, I was curious because I’d just spent a significant amount of time and energy that summer in my hometown Roanoke VA pulling together a physical list of black-owned businesses. Read more>>

Tom Huestis

Well it’s definitely been an interesting road since the beginning of The Vintage Tattoo Shoppe. The Covid lockdown put a damper on everyone. However the last time we spoke, we talked about how I decided maybe this was a good time for me to open my own little shop. Read more>>

Lexi Young

My business started and never stopped growing. I am an entrepreneur at heart and have somewhat of an addiction to business and growth. I started in March of 2018 as a standard sized family child care home with myself and 8 children. I was 7 months pregnant at the time and had just graduated college in the winter of 2017. Read more>>

Rae Hightower

My makeup journey started back in 2012 at Regency Beauty Institute. I initially went to focus on the hair industry, I was never into makeup until I was in school. Then I began to practice on students and became good at it! So the more I did it the better I got. Read more>>

Brittany Scott

I have a Professional Development company , BenhancedByScott Professional Development Services, LLC. My company empowers everyday professionals to embark on new career paths, increase their annual income, and scale the corporate ladder with finesse. Read more>>

Joseph Johnson

How did I scaled up? I feel as if I started it at the right time, while I was finishing up my last year of college. If it wasn’t for me going to college I wouldn’t have started it at all. It started with some basic tees with a catchy word on there. Everyone wanted one, they were hitting me up left & right. Read more>>

Nata Salvatori

When I started my business a few years ago, I was a solopreneur. It was “me, myself, and I” as they say. That is how a lot of small businesses start. An idea, a motivated person, an executed plan. I was very fortunate to be able to grow at an amazing speed. Read more>>

Larica The Makeup Artist

A lot of people who get into this industry (esthetics) have this false perception that everything will come falling out of the sky and success happens overnight. Read more>>

Eric Morgan

I remember as a teenager watching ATL, and the one line that stuck out to me was, “It’s not always what you know, but who you know.” That always stuck with me. Iin an age where interpersonal interaction has been replaced with social media and technology , the art of meeting, learning, and cultivating people and relationships is all the more important.  Read more>>

Melissa Benkert

I currently sell from seven Etsy shops, and my products can also be found on 13 different additional platforms. Since seven years ago this didn’t even exist I would say my shop presence is significantly larger than when I started. In 2014 when I first decided I was done climbing a corporate ladder I never thought I would have the business I did today. Read more>>

Kari Stevens

I opened my first location in April 2020 during the pandemic. I believe with any business, it takes time to scale your business: especially when starting a new business, and our disadvantage was starting during Covid. You have to be realistic with yourself and always anticipate the worst. Read more>>

Susan Trumpler

I think sometimes women business owners think that because they are really good at something they can start a business, put up a website, start doing social media, and clients will just naturally flock to them. Read more>>