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.

Deziree Sierra

By networking with the right people and sometimes, the wrong ones. I also involve myself and demonstrate what I can do. I never over promise or under deliver. Being thorough, professional and respectful has helped with scaling up in my business as well.  Read more>>

Camille Walker

For years I assumed I had to choose between motherhood & pursuing my passions. I am formally a certified teacher, but found myself in the financial world working as a mortgage broker. In 2008 we experienced the mortgage crash and recession. I became a mom and lost my job that year. It was a huge shock to my life but I welcomed motherhood and loved the new journey of being a mom. A few years passed and I realized that while I was in love with motherhood I felt my mental health declining. I wanted to connect with others, teach, share, and build a community. MyMommyStyle.com was born and I have been blogging and sharing parenting/recipes/travel for years. I have worked with amazing brands and collaborated with the most amazing people. Read more>>

Jordan Lloyd

As many fellow creatives I’m sure, I started a business on accident- photography was a hobby for me in the beginning. My dad bought me an entry level camera in high school and I would just mess around taking pictures with my friends, of my mom’s flowers, whatever seemed fun at the time. I literally NEVER thought, let alone dreamed, that one day it would turn into my livelihood! Read more>>

Ross Barnett

In the business of videography, scaling up is something that’s either unheard of or very difficult to do. Typically, the way people try to grow is they keep it under a singular owner: just one person doing everything, and they significantly increase their prices up and up and up until they reach a saturation point and only have to select so many gigs a year. With Two Fly’s side, we kind of went the untraditional route. Although we started as a partnership, the wedding side of the business started as a sort of “one man band.” The way that we were able to scale it up is by building upon that base and really honing into our own style. Once we had our style nailed down, we slowly added on team members, making sure they understood the feel, style and process that we were going for. Read more>>

Debra Taylor

As most people know starting a business seems like a piece of cake but it not it’s hard work, late nights and some disappointments. When I first started my own business I had no clue what I was doing I just knew at the time that I love producing events, designing and teaching so I went with my passion. I didn’t know that the journey was going to be rough for me. I reached out for help and no one wanted to help me or show me the ropes so I had to cry and pray just to get an answer and some direction. Read more>>

Sylvia Bedrosian

When we first launch the Facebook page, we started getting followers mostly pet parents interested in learning about new pe friendly places, but we needed business to actually be interested in learning about us and joining the movement in order to grow and to have content to offer. That’s when we created the pet friendly sticker. A 3×3 round, water and sunproof sticker for businesses to place outside and easily let people walking by, they welcomed pets. I would leave my car parked at a street and walk through all the businesses, introducing myself, quickly telling them about what we do, and giving them the sticker as an option for them to place in their windows. It only took one restaurant, one beauty salon, and office, in order for others to jump on board. Read more>>

Ray Blackwell

The overnight success term is generally reserved for inheritances. I came into this company with zero industry experience, and simply looked around at what made since for my personal growth. Staying within the structure of my training and peer advice, I quickly began to notice how powerful social media connections, as well as pure and genuine face time was. I created pages, joined online talk groups and tried to scout out as many meet and greet type mixers as possible to get familiar with the lay of the land, while simultaneously getting people established already here in Houston familiar with my name and face. No stone left unturned was the mantra that I took on to a point that I literally have dms, texts and/or emails 7 days a week regarding potential new home transactions. Read more>>

Brittney Palmer

When I first started as a notary in 2018, I wasn’t a business at all. In fact, I had no idea it could even be a business. I’d like to tell you how I scaled my business from making under $100 a year to making over $8 thousand in one month. Once I began notarizing documents, I would post to my facebook page and ask all my friends, associates, and family to send me any referrals. I started getting tagged here and there in others post seeking a notary. I quickly realized what I was offering was mobile notary services and it was a very needed service. As a mom of 4, I desired the freedom of owning my own business so that I could be more present and work with my kids schedules. I saw this as the opportunity for me. Read more>>