In last week’s blog, I asked the question, can your business run without you?

If your answer to that question was ‘no,’ don’t worry. Most small business owners feel this way. They often find themselves tied to their business, acting as the bottleneck, and struggle to let go of control or trust others to take charge.

Many business owners remain stuck in the GROW phase—grind, repeat, operate, and work. To move forward, you need to embrace the SCALE framework: Systems, Confidence, Accountability, Leverage, and Excellent execution. These elements provide the foundation for growing your business and reducing your reliance on daily operations.

I struggled with exiting the GROW phase of business for many years.  I was (and still am) a control freak; I like things done a particular way, and I am hard on myself and others.  These were just a few attributes that, although can be beneficial for many reasons, hindered my ability to SCALE the business.

SCALE is another acronym that stand for: Systems. Confidence. Accountability. Leverage. Excellent execution.

Let’s dive into to each of the components of SCALE and how they practically apply to your business.

Systems. Many business owners run their operations like unwritten stories only they know. While they understand every detail, they often fail to document processes in a way others can follow. Does this sound familiar?

If so, here are a few tips.  As you operate in your business, stop every 30 minutes to document what you did.  Take clear notes of all the actionable steps in your business that make it happen.

Every business has four main parts: Marketing, Sales, Delivery, and Collection. As you document your tasks, note what you enjoy, what you’re good at, and what you dislike or struggle with. If you could focus entirely on one area, which would it be?

Remember that the exact step-by-step and play-by-play of every piece of your business must be documented so simply that a third grader can understand and execute on it.  This breakdown can be written, and many times I have also seen it in video format.

If you are not doing this already, make time to capture and document the daily operations of your business that allow it to operate.

Confidence. You trust your own skills, but do you trust your team’s abilities? Confidence in your team makes delegation easier and helps them feel empowered to take on responsibilities. Ask yourself, ‘How confident am I in my team on a scale of 1-10?’ If it’s below 8, think about what’s holding you back.

Accountability.  Once you’ve set up systems and trust your team, it’s time to let them take charge. Give them clear roles and responsibilities, then allow them the space and trust to do their jobs effectively.

By the way, the role and rope analogy is from Matt Dahlstrom’s book BLOOM.  Hold your team accountable to making calls, and taking action, and celebrate them for it, even if they make the wrong call.  One huge mistake I made here was I would give my team the space to make decisions, then question every decision they made.  I effectively hung them with their own rope, wrecked their confidence, and made them doubt themselves and their capabilities. 

Leverage.  As Robert Kiyosaki explains in Rich Dad Poor Dad, being self-employed still means trading time for money. You may have left a job to escape a boss, only to become one yourself. Moving from self-employed to business owner means using the skills and resources of others.  This is where people and building an amazing team comes in.  Who is on your team?  How are you leveraging their skills, passions, and abilities to bring more value to your company, to those you serve, and to your bottom line?

Excellent execution. Many business owners hesitate to delegate, fearing things won’t be perfect. But perfection isn’t realistic—focus on taking action, making decisions, and improving a little each day.  Excellence is simply showing up as a better version of yourself than you were today and yesterday, and showing up tomorrow better than today.  Don’t get stuck trying to attain something that is impossible to achieve.

The key is trusting others to handle key parts of your business. Delegation requires time and trust. This process will reveal your team’s strengths and areas where they need support.  This will become your focus as you continue to advance your business.  Please know that the SCALE phase takes time and can be a frustrating phase of business.  There will be days you just want to go back to BUILD.  You will be frustrated things are not moving as fast as you like or as well as “you could do it all by yourself”.  But please trust me when I tell you, once you begin to figure this phase out just a little bit, you will be able to step away and take a well-deserved vacation while your team executes for you.

I’ve covered this topic in detail in an article for INC Magazine.  Feel free to check it out here.

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