1. Biggest mistake?

Last year, we were pushing hard on growth and had invested additional resources aimed at increasing sales. At the time, some of the work we had planned was new and untested, so I actively made the decision to hold off scaling the operational side of the business.

This was because I wasn’t 100% certain that our plans would pay off. But then they did. We got a 30% increase in sales within 2 months, tipping the balance in the business as we got hit by the wave of the increased demand. We had to quickly shift focus to scaling our operations, hiring, and training new team members. Whilst at the same time managing the demand and keeping standards high. The period was pretty stressful, and it felt like we were at breaking point for a few weeks, but we just about managed to hold it together and get back on track.

The big lesson of this was to be confident that your plans will come to fruition and think bigger from the outset by gearing up in advance of growth. If we had done this, we could have served the demand more smoothly and kept pushing hard on the growth.

2. A lightbulb moment

Do things that don’t scale. At first, this sounds like crazy advice, but after reading Paul Graham’s essay and listening to Brian Chesky’s take on it, the penny dropped. Over the years, we have turned down many good ideas because we felt they weren’t scalable enough. The whole concept of doing things that don’t scale flips that on its head, encouraging you to try things, test, adjust, and then find a way to make them scalable once they are working perfectly. Since employing this, we have become much more innovative and customer-focused, doing things we wouldn’t previously have considered practical or feasible.

3. Tip for tomorrow

Pin down the metrics that act as the big growth levers in your business. Then get awesome at whatever activity moves these numbers along. Simplifying and focusing on just a few key things can lead to transformational growth.