Let’s get real for a second…

With all of this industry talk about how to scale your business and a million different 15-step-plans to do so, there is an even more important question we should be asking ourselves…

How do I know if my copywriting business is scalable? 

I know that sounds like a scary question, but the reality is, it’s even more important than every strategy out there you could try. 

Why? → Because if you don’t start with a scalable model, none of those strategies will even be effective. 

To understand why that question is important you also need to understand one VERY crucial point:

Why Scaling is not the same as Growth

I remember when I was an elementary school teacher, having to teach scalability, not from a business perspective, but from a geometric perspective. I’d spend my break drawing some perfectly shaped triangles, now standing proudly with my poster paper in front of an unamused audience of 7 year olds (tough crowd) saying, “Okay, we wanna scale this to 200 times the current size. What would we do?”

Multiply.

The difference between scalability and growth is that scalability is about multiplication and growth is about linear progression. 

I think a lot of people believe that they’re scaling because their business, revenue, and profits are increasing. But the catch here is → gradual growth over time is a linear path that requires more and more of you, eventually causing burnout.

And that means you aren’t really scaling. 

The real indicator of Growing Vs. Scaling is that with growth, at a certain point in time you’re gonna cap out on the time or resources you can allocate. 

Whereas scaling is about leveraging other tools, other people, other forms of service or product in order to exponentially multiply the output that you can achieve. 

Example:

Let’s say you’re a copywriter working full-time. You have maybe 35 -40 hours a week working on projects for new or recurring clients, and that’s where all of your revenue comes from. If you get sick and need to take leave, new money doesn’t come in until you’re back in the office. 

Equally, if you decide you want to go from making 80K this year to making 200K this year, you can’t without working more than double your current hours (or by tripling your current rates).

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Even if you did that, and committed to only sleeping 3 hours a night – when you next wanted to grow, you’d once again get to a point where you’re capped on the time + resources you can allocate. 

I.e. this isn’t scaling, it’s linear growth. 

Now, let’s say you’re that full-time copywriter, but you find a new way to multiply your know-how, expertise, and skillset. 

→ You hire a junior copywriter to work on projects with you. 

You’re now able to double your workload and revenue without losing your mind (or your time), and you can do this over and over as the needs of your business change. 

→ You utilize digital tools. 

Let’s say you have a presentation that you’ve given to 10 clients. Now you can turn this into a masterclass or a course that can be delivered to thousands of people.

And this is where things get really fun with scaling, because you can do something once and support literally countless people by solving a problem they have while also enabling you to scale. 

(And P.S. This could look different depending on your passions and how you wanna scale.)

So, I want you to ask yourself a couple of questions, now that we know the difference between what scalability vs growth looks like…

What kind of projects are you working on?

Are they all 1:1? Are they projects you enjoy? And are they (as they so often tend to) consuming so much of your time you can’t even THINK about scaling?

Here’s the scoop, I love the project side of the business. I love being able to capture a brand voice and support people and dive into creative work. It keeps me fueled. That being said, it isn’t ALL I want to do. And without a way to serve more than one person at a time, the effects are the reverse – leaving me drained, with no wiggle room to work on the other things I love.

Which leads me to asking you:

Do you have a way to serve more than one person at a time?

And if the answer is no, then you don’t have a business set up to scale. 

…Yet!

That’s the key word here.

Because if you want to triple your revenue this year, you need an avenue to multiply instead of continuing on a linear path.

So while you could raise your rates and increase your income, or shift the types of projects you’re taking on with higher ticket projects, that might increase your workload AND (womp womp) cap you out again.

Bringing me to my last question for you: 

Do you have what you need to get there?

I want you to think about what kind of future that you want. That big vision. 

As a CEO and entrepreneur, I’ve learned time and time again that you need to talk about + spend time deeply thinking about vision because it’s mandatory to your business. Vision is what allows you to create it. Then once you have that vision, you can start to lay the groundwork.

If you want to learn more about crafting an irresistible offer that sells itself, be sure to join the Freedom Found Collective. This is a high-level mastermind for the experienced copywriter ready to build a multiple six figure brand, secure their Big Vision, and scale-up.

Tap here to learn more and apply now!