Starting a business is hard because it’s a fight with yourself, an internal battle – gaining the courage to get started, etc. Scaling a business is different – the challenges you face are mostly external to yourself. Each challenge has a million mini-challenges. We wanted to create a space for conversations and stories around growth and scaling. Below, you’ll find stories and insights from successful entrepreneurs across a variety of industries and markets.

Rachel Stoddard

Let’s start with the exciting stuff, shall we? 18 months ago, I was a fledgling entrepreneur earning a modest living, painfully bored and unfulfilled in my career. Today, I am the founder & owner of a fast-growing company that has generated 7-figures in revenue to date with a 95% profit margin . Today, I am crazy fulfilled, creating generational wealth for my family, and truly living a life beyond my wildest dreams, all thanks to a few key mindset shifts that completely transformed my business. Read more>>

Skye Amundsen

Our business journey began in 2018, with humble beginnings in the basement of our co-founder’s home. Initially, we had no prior experience building a business, especially one manufacturing its own products. However, we knew that if we wanted to achieve significant growth, we had to lay a solid foundation and create a high-quality product that customers would love and passionately recommend to others. Read more>>

 Abedeen Oshonubi

As the Chief Marketing & Merchandising Officer (CMMO) and Cofounder of Noire Waters, which was founded in 2021, we were challenged to scale up in an established boating industry in the District of Columbia to meet the needs of our client base but also bring something innovative to the boating world. Our team conducted market research to figure out what consumers wanted and how we as a start-up company can fulfill those needs. This research led us to branding and marketing Noire Waters as a company associated with boating, water, and outdoor lifestyles, coining our signature trademark “Make Noire Memories”. Our Make Noire Memories campaign has led to strategic partnerships beyond the DMV and into various cities across the United States, South America, the Middle East, and Europe. With these partnerships, we continue to market our brand with a goal of global recognition. Read more>>

Sarah Murphy

I’ve always had a strong pull toward creating, whether DIY or art. While I enjoy learning new art forms and create many types of art, it wasn’t until 2022 that I discovered my love for creating jewelry for myself and others. The projects I previously leaned toward were time consuming and required more time in one sitting, so after the birth of our amazing daughter in 2020 my time to create was more limited. Because she was born with Down Syndrome, she requires a bit more of our undivided attention, so the art of polymer clay jewelry has become my peaceful retreat, even if only for 30 minutes during a nap. And I am typically able to accomplish at least one step in the process each time I work in my art room. Between a full-time job and a loving family to invest in, this art form has been a blessing. I’ve even gotten to teach our daughter the first few steps of making polymer clay jewelry. Read more>>

Jordan Lazarus

I started Lekker Eats in 2020. I started making food for friends at my yoga studio which turned into cooking out of my sister’s home kitchen and doing weekly pick-ups for close family and friends. This little operation started to grow quickly and I soon needed a commercial kitchen to keep up with all of the orders I was receiving. A close friend of mine runs a kitchen locally and allowed me to use her space two days a week. The only catch was I was not able to leave any food or equipment in the kitchen so that’s when I decided to turn my second bedroom in my apartment into my “Lekker Eats Dry-Store”. I bought shelves and organized all of my paper products, packaging products, dry ingredients and equipment right at home. Once I started cooking from this kitchen, I started doing weekly deliveries instead of pick ups. I was using excel spreadsheet to keep track of the orders and addresses because I was not only cooking but also delivering everything myself. I would go grocery shopping the day before delivery and would unpack all of the food up to my fridge on the third floor of my apartment building and would wake up the next morning around 5am to take all of my food, equipment and supplies back downstairs and load it into my car. I would arrive at the kitchen around 6am and would unload my car and get to cooking. Once all of the food was prepared I would package and fill each bag with each order. I would clean down the kitchen and load up the car with all of my supplies and equipment and orders to be delivered. I would finish delivering around 8pm and would then have to carry everything back up to my third floor apartment. I did this 17 times! I was at a point where I needed a place to leave my equipment and ingredients to cut out a few hours of extra work each day. Around this time my Dad graciously bought me a dual stove and oven and placed it in a kitchen at his business, Myrtle Waves. Yes, you read that correct, I moved myself into the waterpark kitchen during the off season, lucky me! This is when the business really began to take off. I had a website made and began taking orders from there (so much better than excel spreadsheets) and I hired a delivery driver (my first and forever favorite employee) and began having two delivery days a week! I did this for a few months and let the business grow! It came time for the waterpark to start getting ready for the season which meant I needed to get out of there but my business was really a business now! It was time for Lekker Eats to have its own kitchen! I found out that a local restaurant space had just gone on the market and I was there first thing the next morning to take a look! It was PERFECT. A fixer upper for sure, but exactly what little Lekker Eats needed for its first location! I signed the paperwork and two weeks later I had keys in hand! It was time to get to work! I spent two months renovating and making this location as lekker as I could! We opened our doors April 2021 and just like that we were open 6 days a week with a fridge full of food that used to be made out of my sister’s kitchen! Fast forward two years, well let’s not forget to mention that this was probably the best two years of my life. Read more>>

Kourtney Perry

I have been able to scale my businesses from networking. Going into rooms that you never thought I could be in and meeting corporate clients. Building relationships with people who hold higher roles to make decisions. Also working with community leaders and supporting other local small businesses to evolve. Read more>>

Kiria Murray

This question is so important to me because people who have been with me from the beginning of KCMCreationz LLC has seen firsthand how much effort has gone into scaling up. I started my business in June of 2018 as just a side passion project. I knew I wanted to help others achieve the same holistic lifestyle I was growing to learn and love. I try to be as transparent as possible with my community because I feel like that is what helps us get connected and I don’t want to give the impression of overnight success, or a business with no obstacles. Read more>>

Anjali Tara

Thank you for your interest in our jewelry and clothing business and our growth journey. We have experienced significant expansion since our humble beginnings, and we are excited to share our scaling up story with you. It has been a challenging yet rewarding process, filled with strategic decisions, meaningful moments, and valuable lessons. Here’s an overview of our journey: Read more>>

Breiona Scott

We have grown tremendously! Scaling up in the industrial world has been our straightforward approach for our business. Started from funding directly from our own assets has been difficult at times. With lifestyle obstacles rolling in constantly. Although it’s been long nights of working on new projects, managing funding for equipment and materials for newly added courses, we have finally made our breakthrough! Staying hea Read more>>