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.

Ben Mussi

In 2019, Seattle was named the WORST city for dating… for the second year in a row. Seeking to melt the Seattle Freeze, I launched the Seattle Dating App in 2019. The app’s concept and design came directly from suggestions by Seattle singles. Every feature was crowd-selected by local singles voting on social media. Within months, we matched thousands of Seattleites, gaining lots of local media attention. Read more>> 

Halley Zadeyan

I have been in the business for four years, and half of that was over covid. While everyone was at home, I was out touring and shooting content at vacant listings and using social media to build my clientele. I had many closings over covid where I had not even met my clients until the closing table. I had used face-time to show them homes. Read more>>

Natasha Roberts

While ASAP Commercial Doors is much larger than when I took over the business, we are just getting started! Stay tuned to see how we take over the door industry in our markets. Read more>>

Kristina Witmer

Witmer Group began 13 years ago after a failed effort at a co-owned business venture that lasted for three years. Having approached this new company with a ‘build from the ground up’ mentality a lot of the growth was steady and substantial. The first few years saw a lot of progress with building an expert team, building the client base, and more importantly building my and my company’s brand across the U.S. Read more>>

Rachel Mans

In 2017, I started as a birth doula. I took an online training, created my social media page, & found my first clients. It took 6 months to a year, but my business took off! Read more>>

Emily Wright

Although, I’ve been working in the beauty industry for a decade, my business (and my life) really started over after moving to Los Angeles in 2017. I started my business small, working on my own to offer hair and makeup services for television, film, brand shoots, and to brides on their wedding day. Read more>>

Laura Murphy

10 years ago when I started my business journey, I was chained to my computer anywhere from 80-100 hours a week from 2013-2015, trying to chase this “dream business” of mine. I was a one-woman show, trying to keep all the balls in the air by myself (with no systems in sight) to help me out. Read more>>

Miranda Tate

I have a background in sales and marketing with training and business development. So, my first move was to lay a foundation. Most new agents don’t think to envision themselves as the employer of their business vs a real estate Salesperson. So, for me, coming in, my business plan was created and I opened shop and started building my brand. Read more>>

JM Balbuena

“Hi, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?” Read more>>

Henri Lorenzi

So much has changed in the last seven years in hospitality in America. A government mandated lock downs, supply chain issues, staffing shortages. All of it has played its role in changing how we operate as a catering company, but the foundation the business has been built upon has stayed the same. Read more>>

Bryan Esler

One of the first photoshoots I did was for a local brewery, who was hosting a local tasting. From that point on, I knew that photographing corporate events was what I wanted to do. I started photographing for a local social media company, and corporate events quickly became my bread and butter. I learned everything from composition to lighting, mostly by reading articles, watching videos, and trial and error. Read more>>

Jami Kinton-Sluss

Our business has always been super focused on our team, and we always will be. One thing that has always set us apart is that, unlike nearly every other real estate brokerage, we do not compete with our agents, meaning we don’t sell real estate. Read more>>

Sabrina Jones

I think my experience of scaling-up is non-traditional. Usually when people scale up they think of people who go from home to a store front, from 1 employee to 200, or from $2,000/year to $250,000 a year. While these are all amazing successes in their own right, I’m happy to report scaling up certainly has levels. Read more>>

Marc Angelo Coppola

I think when it comes to my career a lot of the hard work really came in the scaling up phase. Read more>>

Jamari Boozer

What helped me scale up my business Richlifestyle Brand, is being able to step out of my comfort zone and taking more risks. By taking the money that I saved throughout the years or even money that I didn’t want to touch just to try to make memory money. Read more>>

Jennifer McPherson

I started my business as a solo practitioner in 2018. I always had intentions on expanding to a group practice in the future but that future always seemed so far off to me. I enjoyed being a solo clinician and working for myself after working in nonprofits, medical settings, and the corporate sector. However, in March 2020, everything changed when COVID hit. Read more>>