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.

Serena Billman Rave

Scaling up any business is all about networking. It’s putting your authentic self out there, believing in yourself and your work. My main strategy is that if I just keep expanding my expertise and producing quality work and content that the people will find me. Social media helps a lot to put yourself out there and keep a cohesive portfolio to easily show your clients but a lot of it is grassroots work, face-to-face with people. Being honest and realistic with your clients and their expectations is also important, people will find you disingenuous if you’re not. I also find it important that you don’t pressure the client, I don’t recommend products you don’t need. I don’t recommend unnecessary treatments. My main purpose is to come up with a personalized skin plan/treatment that will bring you results and that is why I offer always complementary consultations. when the client follows this plan and they see results that they’re so ecstatic and happy with is what means the most as a service provider. Read more>>

Lauren Gamelin Vankeulen

Thirteen years. Thirteen years ago, I was sitting in my small two-bedroom apartment, writing names on purple file folders. 4 names. 4 folders. 1 folder per youth. I chose purple because I knew it would stand out to me in the future. I remember thinking, “one day, we’ll have an entire filing cabinet full of purple folders.” This summer, I came across the purple folders. Sure enough, we had an entire filing cabinet full of them. I was immediately transported back to that living room, back to that memory, and was overwhelmed with gratitude. Read more>>

Ekaterina Sanchez

Starting our business has been a significant challenge. In the early stages, we faced a tough uphill battle, especially when our investor unexpectedly withdrew their funding, leaving us in a difficult position. To keep our dream alive, we reached out to family and friends for support and relied on our credit cards. We opened our doors on a shoestring budget, navigating through the first three years, which were particularly tough. Read more>>

Nina Caviggiola

I started my “hobby” as a content creator back in 2014 when my husband I bought our first home. It was just him and I renovating, DIY’ing and then sharing our projects on Instagram and a blog. From 2014 to 2019 I build my social media platform and in the early days I did not have any intention in making it a full time business. As I shared more of my life and myself on social media I got a lot of traction with different brands who wanted to gift me product and some even pay me. That’s when I realized I held a lot of value in the space I was in. I put in endless hours of free work and content and it was all paying off. I built a community based on trust and personality. Read more>>

Ruha Ratnam

A few years into my business, I was earning just enough to pay my bills and live comfortably. I had built a reputation and my contacts regularly sent potential clients my way, and occasionally a complete stranger would even hire me after finding me online. I was comfortable enough that a question started wiggling its way into my head: what else is possible? Read more>>