InTents April/May 2021 - 40

business | management

* Financial impact, including the projected ROI in terms of revenue growth, expense reduction and/or net proϐit gain.

Financial footing

Effective scaling
requires the
existence of strong
internal processes
and seamlessly
functioning operations.

Scaling a business requires smart,
calculated ϐinancial investment. Your
strategic plan may call for hiring staff,
adding new technology or equipment,
or expanding your facilities. It is helpful
to identify funds to accelerate growth
such as a loan or a line of credit to draw
on. When approaching potential lenders,
show them your strategic plan and be
prepared to explain how your business
will be able to scale, including measurable
goals tied to proϐit and revenue along the
way. In addition, a good cash ϐlow analysis
is perhaps the single most important
piece of a strong plan. All strategy, tactics
and ongoing business activities mean
nothing if there is not enough money to
pay the bills. Make no mistake: Proϐits
are not the same as cash. Proϐitable
companies can run out of cash if they
don't know their numbers and manage
the cash as well as the proϐits.

A strong foundation
A building will not remain standing if it
is set upon a weak foundation. Effective
scaling requires the existence of strong
internal processes and seamlessly
functioning operations. Establishing a
framework of processes, standards and
systems that work when your business
is small will provide a solid core as you
grow. Admittedly, compiling all this data
can be daunting. Companies such as
Trainual (www.trainual.com) provide
easy-to-use templates and formatting
to help you build a " PlayBook " for your
business. At Signature CanvasMakers,
we use Trainual products for onboarding
new employees, training and testing, and
for housing all processes, standards and
checklists with written instructions,
videos and pictures. This provides an
40 intents

0421IT_34_CV4.indd 40

adaptable, updatable and accessible
location to house our corporate
knowledge for our team to reference.
* Build a team for the future. A
prerequisite for scaling is having a
strong team. Turnover is expensive,
particularly for a small business, in
terms of lost productivity, so hiring
the right person in the ϐirst place will
save you both time and money. The
team that you are building, however,
is not just about your employees.
Align yourself with external suppliers,
partners, colleagues and other outside
organizations that will support you in
your growth. The community that you
build around you will strengthen your
foundation and bolster your leverage.
* Learn to delegate. If you have built a
strong team, you should have enough
trust in it to delegate many important
tasks so that you can work " on "
your business instead of " in " it. As a
business owner, you may ϐind it hard
to let go of tasks, as you want to feel
like you have a handle on every aspect
of your company. To effectively scale,
however, the business must be able
to thrive without you " in " it. What are
you doing that someone else on your
team could handle?
Learning to scale is not impossible,
but it may require you to change what
you are doing and how you are doing it.
When you strategically align your vision
and goals and set the foundation for
long-term, sustainable growth, scaling
will become easier. Don't just predict
your future, create it.
Charlene Clark, IFM, is the CEO of Signature
CanvasMakers in Hampton, Va.

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InTents April/May 2021

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