Growing and scaling a business is hard and we wanted to hear from business owners who have successfully scaled a business. Below, you’ll find our conversations on scaling with some very talented and insightful folks.

Chris Diego

I think any business owner who invests in themselves along with all of the other investments that a startup requires will have success. Maybe not overnight but by continuously dedicating time to it. I’ll explain. When I opened up shop, I’ll admit I didn’t have a clue about the business side of things. I figured that a camera and people skills would open doors for me, part of that is true. But what really shifted my perspective was when I started implementing short-term goals into my plan. Read more>>

Rachel Bell

My photography business began as a hobby. Photography was always something that I loved but I always felt as though the market was saturated and as though it was “too late” for me to jump in. I had a career and intended to move forward doing what I had always done. After an illness in October 2020 that left me mostly sedentary for 7 months, I decided to use my time productively and offer product photography services to small businesses for free just to see what could come of it. Read more>>

Sarah Stidham

I have always loved all things beauty. Even as a young girl. When I was about 5 years old I cut one of my friends hair and chopped it all off. My mom was mortified but it makes me sure that this is what I am meant to do! I started out assisting at Sachi salon in Scottsdale Arizona and learned the ins and outs of the salon. I got married started. Family and didn’t see myself working 10 hour days anymore. So I gave up working to stay home with my little one. Read more>>

Jasmyne Brooks

When I first launched Mixy Chix in May 2017 I had no idea it would be where it is today. As we enter our 5th year of business this year, reflecting on the growth makes me so happy that I never gave up. Before the pandemic we were booked consistently but after the pandemic, business picked up tremendously and we had our first 6 figure year in 2021. Mixy Chix is a mobile bartending company but in order to make 6 figures, every business owner must learn how to scale their business. Read more>>

Mora Steele

Hair&Healing has been open for 9 months and has up-leveled in so many more ways than just our fully booked out schedules. I have learned SOO much through trial and error, trusting my gut and making sure that we stay in full integrity and run our business from a loving and vibe up energy. This may sound cliché but staying true to your brand and get to know your individual entity by let it working through you. Read more>>

Jassi Rideaux

Many factors played apart in my coming scaling and it certainly didn’t come over night . I scaled when I dove into more business books such as one of my favorite books what is strategy again by Andrea Owens . I had to focus on the small things first and not worry about such extensive amount of products . I focused on my quality and the customers returned as they began to return I slowly added new products and eventually scaled to selling nearly every-hair extension product on the market also offering a custom order for any type product you don’t see on our website we have it all . Read more>>

Laura Umansky Gina Elkins

What started as a boutique design studio 15 years ago has flourished into a multi-million dollar design collective that offers both interior and residential building design under one roof. This award-winning, all women-led firm offers a full-service approach to home design, that spans all style of disciplines, from traditional to contemporary and everything in between. Read more>>

C.J. Bierscheid

I started my business during the initial Covid-19 lockdown. I was at a sales job that I hated and I found myself constantly wondering if there was more to life. I think we were all re-evaluating our situations, but a beloved family member of mine gave me the pep talk of my life that launched me into Christian Joy Bridal. Since March 2020, I have served 30+ custom brides and countless vendors on styled shoots. Between now and then, in just two short years, has been a journey! Brides of North Texas magazine found my Instagram and reached out to me for a potential partnership. Read more>>

Rome Williams

When I first started my business, I didn’t know anything about running a business. I just jumped out there and had to learn different things along the way. I opened up my establishment in two thousand and seventeen. and didn’t see much growth with my business until two thousand and twenty. Being your own boss is wonderful, but it also takes time trying to build your brand and build management characteristics. There where times, where I thought about give up because I had so much going on in my life. I never gave in to what the enemy wanted, I continued to grow stronger with my work and now people from all of are learning about my brand. Read more>>

Vernessa Spratley

I scaled up by investing in classes. No matter how good I may be, I feel like I can never stop learning from other people in this industry. I invested in classes from other Bakers and Chefs to learn more. I also scaled up by learning how to advertise myself. One of the first things I learned from Jeromie “Kake King” Jones is to clean up my social media. He often says get a website or platform that is not Cash App. I learned about Shopify from him. Read more>>

Carime Muvdi

2GO! Organic Snacks came from the idea of providing healthy snacks to children and adults . Our dehydrated fruit do not have sugar or preservatives added. Also I wanted to emphasize the importance of sustainable development within the communities who grow, process and package the fruits in Colombia. When fruits are dehydrated; the shelf life becomes 365 days, so the farmers can sell all of their production and export it. Fru2GO! is a Fair Trade certified company. Read more>>

Kacey Eckelberg

Let me start by saying I have not had a need for marketing my business. My client base at Go Virtual Associates has been growing rapidly every month which means my business operations have been as well. The secret weapon to scaling my business is leading with compassion. Yes, getting results is important too but let me explain! Read more>>

Jazmin Wiley

It’s crazy, how did the former athlete/tomboy become a professional makeup artist and business owner? I am Jazmin Wiley and I am very talented professional makeup artist and business owner/CEO Of LuxyFaces. I also consider myself a Bridal makeup artist & beauty enhancer. Being an entrepreneur is not as easy as social media makes it look. It is a lot of long & sleepless days & nights. It is a lot of bumpy roads and sacrifices. You have to be certain type of individual to withstand the process & responsibilities of having your own business. I know for sure I was destined for this. Read more>>

Mike Jones

I scaled up my business by quality rather than quantity. It is easy to perform more transactions to get to a a higher level but it is more effective to establish relationships through these transactions that are of value. I seek out to go to social events of different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. It is important to diversify my network base to ensure I am being of value to others. In that, I starting teaching Commerical Real Estate courses that allows me to be a subject matter expert in my field. As a result, I am referred deals as opposed to me having to go out there and get them. Read more>>

Reyna Sandoval

The most common question I get is “How did you scale up to do nails or runways, music video, editorial, ext.?” Answer is, I took a risk and happened to ask the right person. I used to be a very shy person and hated going up to strangers especially when I needed advice but I worked on it with a therapist which led up to me traveling out of town for a couple days, which was out of my comfort to leave for several days for a nail class. With the support and communication with my family, I left for 3 days and at this nail class my career changed my career, I asked the right person for advice. After being consistent with my work, a month later I got my first on set job which was nails for Playboy. Read more>>

Melissa Borrell

When I think of “scaling up” I think of the scale of my artwork. I went from designing and creating tiny sculptures that can be worn on your ear or finger to large scale installations that surround and create an environment that many people can experience at the same time. That is maybe not exactly the intent of the question but for me changing the physical scale of my artwork has been a huge part of the growth of my business both literally and conceptually. Read more>>

Big Nardo

I feel as though I’m still in the ‘scale-up’ phase, although I’m a lot further along than I was at the genesis. One of the most important things I’ve learned is to use what you have around you to begin. We often feel as though we need to come into our respective business areas with the latest and greatest with regards to tools and technology, but I often feel this is a symptom of overcompensation. I used to spend a lot of time watching Youtube videos of people who are excelling in my field – one message that was consistent across different creators was that WHAT you use isn’t as important as HOW you use it. Read more>>

Roxette Miranda

Over the years one questions Founders always ask is “how do I scale?” If you ask yourself how I provide value, scaling is inevitable. I spent the last 5+ years in the Coworking industry and one thing I enjoyed about the spaces who were evangelicals about community building was all the resources they gave to early-stage startups. It’s what got me involved over 3+ years ago in the accelerator space through Founder Institute, a global pre-seed tech accelerator. Read more>>