Five Signs That It’s Time to Scale up Your Business

“You never know with these things when you’re trying something new what can happen—this is all experimental,” says Richard Branson with a bright smile, as one of the world’s most recognizable and successful entrepreneurs.

The “things” he refers to are the numbered and dynamic variables associated with starting or building a business. Similarly, many of his quotes involve working hard, making mistakes, never quitting, and following your passions, especially in regard to startups and small businesses.

Over one-third of the United States’ working population happen to be employed by small businesses. The American economy is supported by small, private businesses that continuously prove that the “American Dream” is possible. In order to achieve the successful growth it takes to become the one percent of publicly traded U.S. businesses, startups must have a competitive edge and must take a healthy dose of risk.

Whether they know it or not, small business owners are entrepreneurs. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, an entrepreneur is responsible for organizing and operating a business, as well as taking on risks to do so. It’s about the business, the drive, and the risk it takes to succeed.

However, in 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 50 percent of small businesses fail within the first four years of existence. Moreover, Forbes discovered earlier in 2013 that only two to three businesses out of ten will survive fifteen or more years.

Richard Branson may be right about never knowing and trying something new, but the odds of your small business’s survival are not great enough to “experiment” with, particularly when it comes to scaling.

Fortunately, there are signs to watch for that signal when it’s time to take the next step, and grow outward in search of new customers, new revenue streams, and greater brand recognition.

Building a Lifestyle Business in a Startup World

This certainly feels like the age of the startup founder. The cheerleading tech press and massive valuation rounds have built a mystique around startup culture. It seems like exciting new companies are popping up daily, led by founders just a few years out of college (or never having finished school).


The allure of this narrative is obvious: the smartest kids in the room get to hire their friends and build a company with other people’s money. Eventually, they attain unicorn status and sell for a cool billion dollars—fame and fortune await.

How to Choose Which Social Media Platforms Are Right for Your Business

So, you know by now that having a presence on social media is important for your business. Not only that, you’re interested in the potential benefits of social media marketing, and you’re getting a sense of what marketing on the various social media platforms entails.

Maybe you’ve read my recent articles on marketing your small business on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube (and if not, check them out—I’ll be referencing them periodically throughout this article).

The trouble is, you can’t do it all. Unless you are planning on creating a position within your business for someone to take charge of your social media accounts, focusing on any social media marketing is going to come out of your time. As a small business owner, that time is precious, so it’s important to put it to good use.

Ultimately, you’ll have to choose which social platforms to focus on—you won’t be able to do it all. While you may intuitively know right away that some are a good bet and that there are others you’d rather avoid, I’ll go over a few questions to ask yourself before you pick.

There are a variety of ways to determine which platforms are right for you; I’ll focus on the role of your customer demographics, your bandwidth in terms of time to spare, the tone and personality of your brand, and—last, but perhaps most important—what kind of content you actually want to create.