When you think about your business do you consider whether or not it can scale?
Starting your business has been hard enough, I know. But, at this early stage, it’s important to think about how your business will run over the next few years. If you truly want it to growth and scale, you cannot be the one doing everything.
Is the work you do for your business sustainable or are you burying yourself in mountains of to-do lists?
Ask yourself, “How can I reach the most amount of people doing the lease amount of work?“. This may sound lazy but it’s not. It’s really a smart way to approach a business so that you are creating something that is economically sustainable but still effective and helpful, and at the same time allows you to have a life outside your business.
Here are some things you need to keep in mind when considering how to scale your fashion business:
- When you start to hire people, are you set up to show them exactly how things should be done? This may sound obvious but do you really have processes in place or do you just know how to do things the way you like them done? When you hire people to take over certain roles in your business you assume that because they’re are good at what they do, they can just pick up where you left off. Not so. You need to make sure that you have documented processes in place in order to keep things moving smoothly. These are systems and they’re crucial to the success of your business.
- Don’t think that you can just hand off the role. Another misconception about hiring a team is that once a role is filled, you’re not really needed anymore. Create a schedule for regular meetings and a policy for when you’re door is open. No one will love your business as much as you do so you need to promote constant communication.
- Leverage your skills. Remember that hiring a team should mean you are filling in the gaps that are not your strong points. This allows you to focus on what you do best and begin to understand how you can offer what you do best in a broader way.
- Understand that scale does not mean losing a personal touch. It is absolutely possible to maintain an element of personal touch within your business even when you’re not the one doing everything anymore. Social media especially has made this possible. In addition, think about things like special collaborations, custom work, event appearances…these things all make it possible for your customers to feel close to you and your brand, even on a broad scale.
- Hold true to company culture. Creating a company culture and communicating that culture to your customers is essential to running a successful business. As you begin to scale your fashion business, don’t lose this culture. Continue to share your values and strive to make your customers feel special.
Taking the above list into account, creating a scale-able fashion business that still manages to cater to its customers and make them feel special is absolutely possible. Remember that the ability to scale is a key component of prolonged success.