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.

Lauren Blanford

When we first bought our property and made the move from Chicago to Northern Michigan it was the beginning of the pandemic and it was a time of utter uncertainty. Our initial vision was to finish restoring the timber framed dairy barn to host weddings and larger events. We had to shift gears and expand our vision to what we thought was going to be our phase two, Glamping. Fast forward to year three and we are expanding our Glamping vision to becoming a four season eco resort. Read more>>

Tom Dufek

Our brewery opened in May of 2020, or as one of my partners likes to say… “the best time to open a brewery since Prohibition.” The business model for the brewery was based around selling beer out of our taproom and maybe a little bit of kegs to local bars and restaurants. Covid however had other plans and we weren’t even able to allow people into our taproom, nor were bars and restaurants doing much draft business. Read more>>

Ben Reed

About 8 months ago, I started working with a business coach. His name is Trevor Olesiak and he works through a company called Novus Global. I can’t recommend business coaching enough to anyone in the business world. It’s completely changed my mindset, my language and my outlook – we can get into more of that later, but one of the exercises Trevor challenged me to do was write a letter to myself from when things weren’t going so well business wise. Read more>>

Morgan Carrell

My first year in business was incredibly slow. I would get clients from facebook ads, but other than that I just had my close friends and family helping me get by. I had always really enjoyed the social media side of things and wanted to get into TikTok. I would post quick videos of my facials on willing clients and I would talk all thing skincare. It’s TikTok common knowledge to know the more you post, the more likely you’ll get more views, more followers, and more engagement. Read more>>

Toshihiro Iwasaki

Phiaro was founded in 1939 and is a Japanese company with a long history. Approximately 40 years ago, Phiaro expanded into the United States, maintaining the quality standards of Japanese manufacturers while also undertaking projects with American startups and automakers. Phiaro recognized the importance of HMI and UI/UX over a decade ago and established internal development departments for them. Read more>>

Audrina Henry

PRETYYLITTLEBADDIE started six years ago in 2018. It took courage faith and a little bit some sativa to do what I really love. I always been into hair since middle school. High school I would wear my hair in these different crazy hairstyles to express myself. When college came around that’s when a old friend gave me the idea to start a hair company. Read more>>

Jaye Martinez

To quote Tom Clancy, “An overnight success is ten years in the making.” This is the most honest statement. People see your success and think it came quick and easy. Especially in this time where instant gratification is sought after. I have been a Salon owner for 10 years. There was nothing quick and easy about it. I changed careers at 50 years old. Read more>>

Hayley Feyereisen

I started Wildflower by Hayley in 2018, when I was an event coordinator at a local restaurant. I hired myself to do the florals for events that requested them and that’s how it began. Fast forward to Covid hitting and I panicked. I put an ad out on Instagram offering free drop and go deliveries. Once families, especially moms home with their kids, got wind of it, it blossomed. Read more>>

Stina Aleah

I absolutely love this question! In fact, the vulnerability it requires to answer this very question is one of the main reasons my business scaled up the way it did. But first, let’s start from the beginning. Being an artist is one thing, being a successful artist is another. And the truth is none of us knows what that looks like, because it is not a one size fits all topic. Read more>>

Chris Hensley

Starting a photography business was something that I never thought I would actually do – I always thought it would be a hobby. But as my love for photography & the stories that I got to tell grew, I realized the potential it had for growth. My journey started off pretty slowly, taking photos for friends & family whenever I could and doing it for free. I then had more friends reach out for photos as my work made it out into the world, and I realized that my time, effort & skill was valuable. Read more>>

Michelle Skarpness

I first married into photography and together we built a really great volume photography business. “Volume photography” means that we do more volume at a time – or number of people. When we decided to get divorced in 2012 he kept 70% of the business and I got 30%. Read more>>

Karen Villanueva

Clean Homes USA was founded in November 2020. Since then the company has been more and more successful. My company stands out for offering a very detailed service, for being professional, and always on time to reach customers satisfaction. Read more>>

Jorge Cano Rangel

Let’s look back on the beginnings of Ovlivion MKT a digital media company. When I first started, I was well aware that I was entering a highly competitive industry, with countless other businesses offering similar services. I am proud to share that over the course of just two years, Ovlivion MKT has experienced tremendous growth when compared to other businesses established in the same year. Read more>>

Luisa Cerda

I began this business on a whim and a dream. I’ve had this business since 2010. The first 7 years were hard. I pushed it on social media. Had family & friends help. Kept a float with orders. But it was a huge competitive market. In 2016 I met my husband. As a couple you share your goals & dreams. He was such a hard working man. Read more>>

Anita Martin

I was constantly putting out content and going live on social media on a consistent schedule and I burnt out really fast. I was beating myself up about taking a break. Then realized I actually need to take a step back to see what I could be doing differently, networking and marketing. It improved my clientele tremendously. Read more>>

Amber Scardino

I started my business out of my home near downtown in 2013. I was home with my two incredibly energetic and inquisitive boys and keeping them busy with projects is what kept them somewhat calm, and me somewhat sane. My friends encouraged me to pursue my dream of opening my own home-based process art studio so I could share what we were doing with other kids, many of them being their kids early on. Read more>>

Chase and Tarna Dancik

We’re not huge, by any means, but we’re substantially larger than when we started….and our entire way of life had to change for us to get here. We started by simply helping our parents in our free time, but orders started coming in so we worked after hours and on weekends in our garage – while maintaining “real jobs” as well as raising two small children. Read more>>

Isaac Rau

Unfortunately, most digital marketers get stuck at the 5 to 10 client mark before they get burned out and in some cases even difficult to track down by their existing clients. In order to scale to 50 and 100 plus clients you must start thinking and functioning like an agency. Read more>>