Let’s talk about scale, baby!
Entrepreneurs, by nature, aren’t content with small changes and victories. If you’re anything like me, you envision a world where your solutions ripple across communities and transform lives on a grand scale.
When I think about my personal vision - a world where women globally are free to use their unique skills, expertise, and voice to create opportunities for themselves and others - I know I won’t be content until I’ve done all I can to close the gap in this space.
This drive to scale impact is not only about increasing outcomes and profits in my business but is rooted in the desire to effect change that resonates in my local community and beyond.
Today, I want to delve into why scaling your impact as a business is crucial, the various approaches to achieve it, and how entrepreneurs who want to make a difference on some of the biggest social and environmental issues can make a lasting mark on the world.
Scaling Impact Defined
Scaling refers to the process of expanding or increasing the size, scope, or impact of a particular endeavor or initiative. It often involves taking one of your products or services that has been successful on a smaller scale and replicating or extending it to reach a larger audience, broader markets, or a wider geographic area.
The goal of scaling is to achieve greater efficiency, impact, and influence by reaching more people, generating higher outputs, and effecting more significant changes. When done well, that growth or increase in reach occurs while you maintain or increase your business’s profitability.
As you think about the impact your business is trying to make, scaling, by definition, means going beyond localized solutions. Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of BRAC, the largest NGO in the world, said, “Small is beautiful, but big is necessary.” When you intentionally scale for impact, you’re contributing to something that goes beyond your local “borders” and has the potential to influence the world positively.
The Three Ways To Scale
There are a number of ways to scale, but I want to give you three of the most common, including some ideas for what this might look like practically.
Scaling Up (Vertical) involves increasing the capacity, resources, or capabilities of a service you already provide. This is often achieved by investing in better systems, infrastructure, tools, or expertise to handle a larger volume of work or more complex projects. In consulting, coaching, and other service-based fields, this might mean hiring more experienced providers, streamlining your processes to increase efficiency (e.g. automation), or investing in advanced software.
Scaling Out (Horizontal) entails expanding the reach or breadth of your services by adding new offerings, diversifying your service portfolio, or targeting different customer segments. This approach focuses on broadening the variety of services you provide rather than simply increasing the depth of your existing services. This could involve hosting group and/or online programs, branching into new industries, offering new types of services, or launching related products or services to cater to a wider range of client needs.
Scaling Deep (Diagonal) is a combination of both horizontal and vertical scaling. It involves enhancing the quality and depth of the services you offer, with a strong focus on providing higher-value, more specialized, and more personalized solutions to your clients. This approach emphasizes building strong, meaningful relationships with your clients, understanding their unique challenges, and tailoring your services to meet their specific needs. In consulting, for example, deep scaling might include offering highly customized consulting packages, providing in-depth analysis and insights tailored uniquely for your client, and forming long-term partnerships with clients for sustained growth.
Why Localized Solutions Fall Short Over Time
While localized solutions are vital for addressing immediate challenges, they often lack the adaptability needed for scaling impact. Cultural, social, and economic contexts vary globally, making a one-size-fits-all approach ineffective. It’s also one of the biggest reasons scaling is so challenging. Effective scaling requires innovation and an understanding of what aspects of your product, service, or solution are transferable across contexts.
The Path to Scalable Impact
So, how do we scale effectively? The approach you take will depend largely on your goals and objectives, but here are five ways that transfer across all three scaling styles.
Innovation: To scale impact, innovation is key. But it's not just about creating something new; it's about crafting something that can be effectively communicated, understood, and applied across diverse situations. This requires identifying the core elements that drive your solution and ensuring their transferability.
Partnerships and Collaboration: Forming partnerships with other businesses, nonprofits, local governments, international organizations, and other stakeholders enhances the reach and influence of your initiative. Collaboration widens your perspective and resources, creating a stronger foundation for scaling.
Leveraging Technology: Technology offers unprecedented opportunities for scaling impact. Whether through digital marketing to raise awareness or using technology to streamline your operations or improve your service delivery, its strategic use can significantly magnify your efforts.
Advocacy: While advocacy itself may not directly contribute to the quantitative expansion of services, it can facilitate broader awareness, support, and change that extends beyond your direct reach and are essential for effective scaling. This paves the way for long-lasting, widespread transformation.
Training and Empowerment: Sometimes, the most effective way to scale impact is by training others to implement your model. By empowering individuals and communities, you enable them to become agents of change themselves, multiplying your impact. One of my colleagues, Sarah Ray, Founder of Neema Development, has done a great job of licensing and training other facilitators to teach her Elemental Business Development Course, ensuring that the benefits are felt beyond her direct involvement.
Scaling your business’s impact doesn’t have to be this elusive thing. When you strategically evaluate the best way to scale your impact based on intentional goals and embrace innovation, partnerships, technology, and other scaling approaches, you can take your localized solutions and catalyze a global movement.
If you have questions about how to scale your business or need support in the process, reach out. I’d love to talk about the impact you’re trying to make in the world and how to get there!
