What Does Scaling a Business ACTUALLY Look Like?

Let's see. You're somewhere in 2014. So I'm guessing you're right in the middle of that crazy accelerated growth you wanted.

What was going on in your world around this time of your life?

You have over $400,000 in receivables, making payroll every other Friday is a nightmare. And the thing is a third of it contractually. You can maybe move on. But if you flex on these people that you're a startup. They'll just go find somebody else. You're very replaceable.

These are a hundred million dollar companies. They're just pushing their cashflow problems on to you. You tried to go to the banks two years of tax returns. You can't do anything. Not a lot of credit, no nothing.

Even though you have contracts that can prove that you can factor it for 25%, but most people want things that are just unfeasible, and you don't have them. You're a startup. There are no resources. Even though you've proven that this thing works and this thing is viable.

You have 300 employees in field 300 across the country. They're expecting living expenses like hotels, food, travel. You get calls every single morning at four or five o'clock because cards are getting declined here or there.

You can't sleep. You can't breathe. There's no escape.

Every single hour. Some other problems that you have to fix, You feel like a fireman that doesn't get paid for putting out fires. You've grown a thousand percent in the last eight months. You're the one that has done all of that to even exists. And most of your employees make more money than you do.

You do your laundry in your bathtub. You jogged to your office. You lost a silly amount of weight not because you were trying to lose weight but because you literally couldn't afford food. You're stressed out of your mind. You're getting bullied and pushed around by people that are supposed to be your strategic partners.

Your wife doesn't deserve that, and you don't deserve that. It's insane. That is not what you signed up for. You're flying red eyes all the time. You drove the desert from New York to LA and halfway back in 10 days. You're literally plugging in wherever you can plugin. You don't know what else to do. There's nothing that you can do. You have poured your heart and soul and everything into that.

Well, let me ask you this...

Do you remember why you wanted to start thisbusiness?

You may say that you're just trying to grow and get over the hurdle to acquire the things that you need and move forward and grow.

But...

**Revenue is not growth.**It's one of the levers, but you're a CEO now. You can't play all the instruments. You have to learn how to be the maestro. Your job is now to lead your jobs. Your job is to put people in positions where they can thrive and grow.

Right now, you're just putting people in positions and just expect them to do the job that you do. It's not only unfair, it's unrealistic. A company needs to be viewed as a living organism. Everything works harmoniously, and it flows naturally. And that's going to take time. But slowly, you're going to learn how to look at your business differently. Analyze where you're weak, the things that need to be fixed, know where things are headed, where the industry is trending, what you need to do and the resources you need to acquire to navigate that seamlessly.

Before you had $400,000 in receivables, what could you have done? The bank is not the only option. Calculate your steps. Think strategically. This is chess. It's not checkers. And remember to slow down. What does this infatuation with hitting revenue milestones? Focus on building a healthy and thriving organization. Ignore whatever silly pressure you feel to scale rapidly. The irony is that's the secret to high growth, not forcing sales and putting pressure on delivery.

If you have strategic partners you're working with and they’re not willing to work with you and meet me where you're at, that's not a business relationship you want to be in. It's your job to protect what you've worked so hard and sacrificed for not acquiesced to their demands. And right now you're training them how to treat you.

I know you've been through a lot, and I know it's confusing because you've never applied yourself this much. And you've never worked so hard and poured your heart and soul into something to still be struggling. It's called growing pains with that growing pleasures. Take a step back, take a deep breath, and focus on putting your people and your business in position for the long term, not just the short term.

And lastly, I get thought about capability group or mastermind group of people that are running similar businesses. There's no way you're the only person going through the challenges you're experiencing. Use the resources that you have available to you. And if those people don't have connections or they don't know the answer. Surely they'll have somebody that does.

Quit acting like you're alone. You're never alone. You never will be. Celebrate your wins. Don't just caught up on the next thing, the next goal, the next milestone, just to places to mount your flag. Pull your inner circle, lean on that amazing fiance of yours. She's one in a million, and I promise you, she supports you and believes in you way more. That's the stuff that matters. Everything else it'll sort itself out. Just be patient. Great things are coming.