PLANNING TO SCALE

What happens when a one-person business wants to grow beyond what one person can accomplish on their own?

When you’re a freelancer working solo and charging by the hour for your services, your capacity and earning potential have a built-in hard stop. If you aspire to more than (how many hours you’re able to work) x (what clients are willing to pay for an hour of your time), it’s time to get serious about scaling.  

Despite its lofty corporate undertone, scaling isn’t just for big enterprises — it’s how businesses of all sizes take on more of the right kind of work. That said, sustainable growth doesn’t happen instantly (or accidentally). Laying a solid foundation before you invest in scaling solutions is the best way to ease growing pains and make sure you stay solvent, for bigger or for smaller. 

Ready to grow? Start here: 

1. Decide What Growth Looks Like For Your Business

We all take on the freelance life with different endgames in mind. Some of us have long-term plans to start our own award-winning agencies, while some of us just want to protect the flexibility that comes with self-employment. 

Determining your optimal scaling strategy means rejecting vague ideas of “growth” when they don’t appeal to you. Instead, think about how the right-sized business will look, feel, and fit into your life — then pursue the growth metrics that get you closer to your big picture. 

This may look like:

• Increasing passive income
• A smaller roster of higher-paying clients
• Reclaiming your time through automation
• Organizing an army of subcontractors

Not everyone wants to build an empire out of their freelance business. Rather than pursuing growth for growth’s sake, focus on building to spec. 

2. Build Repeatable Processes

When you’re used to working alone, it’s not unusual for a lot of your operational information to live in your head. A system built on Post-It notes and voice memos may have brought you this far, but it won’t support sustainable scaling. 

Well-defined operating procedures, templates, and workflows make it possible to move quickly when opportunities arise. They also allow subcontractors and outside professionals to get themselves oriented and offer more meaningful support with less complex onboarding. 

Disorganization only gets magnified with growth. Try to look at your processes from the perspective of an outsider. If it’s clear that anyone who isn’t you would have a hard time making sense of things, that’s your cue to button up your business. 

The time you spend now standardizing SOPs and contracts will pay off mightily the next time you need to hit the ground running. 

3. Plan for Possible Roadblocks

Every plan needs a backup plan. No matter how well you set your business up for growth, occasional bumps in the road are virtually guaranteed. 

You can’t predict the future, but you can head off setbacks by deciding how you’ll respond to them before they happen. Make a list of your most pressing “what ifs” and work through what you plan to do in the event that:

• Subcontractors ghost
• Clients reject new pricing models 
• Automation tools don’t work out
• Your workload unexpectedly fluctuates 

Pre-planning your pivots can save you a lot of anxiety and sad weekends at your desk as your company’s total workload grows. 

4. Check Your Margins

Before you invest in growth (whether that looks like people, tools, or the nicest office at your local co-working building), you’ll need to make sure that your margins are predictable and consistent. 

If you’re worried about how you’ll divide the pie, you may need to start by focusing on profitability. Break out the books and look for ways to increase revenue while taking care of the clients that are a good fit for your business. If raising your rates isn’t feasible at this time, the answer may lie in passive income (e.g. downloads, templates, etc) or updates to your pricing structure that steady your revenue stream (e.g. retainers and service packages). 

Sometimes, the solution is as simple as letting go of low-value work to create space in your schedule for higher-value work. In any case, it’s smart to address revenue issues before adding additional financial commitments — small problems tend to compound as your business grows.

5. Identify the Outsourceable 

Scaling your one-person business means it will no longer be possible to wear all the hats. Decide early which ones you’d like to take off, and in what order. 

There’s a strong possibility that at least some of the tasks you’ve been doing yourself could be done more efficiently by someone else. Consider what’s outside of your expertise, be it bookkeeping or self-promotion, and determine if it’s worth outsourcing. This could also extend to parts of your workload that don’t require your personal hands-on involvement. 

If you aren’t ready to take on the expense of subcontractors or professional support services, tools and software can be a great stepping stone. Virtual assistants and project management programs can eliminate a significant amount of manual work, freeing you up to do more tasks that require creativity and focus. 

Delegate what you can in a way that makes sense for your business, and you’ll find the space to increase your capacity — even if you can’t add hours to your day.