When you own a business, you can travel down one of three paths…

A) You become a multi-million dollar Unicorn, which only happens to 0.00006% of businesses.

B) You become a start-up failure statistic in the first 2-5 years, which occurs for 48.4% of businesses.

C) You create a highly successful and sustainable business.

Which path do you want to take?

Of course, everyone wants to be a Unicorn, but the chances are slim so you must have a backup strategy.

If you don’t want to take path B) then you need to understand and learn how to scale smartly to mitigate risk and guarantee success. 

The success of a business is solely dependent on the quality of its foundation and leadership. The foundation of your business needs to be stable if you plan on building upon it. In order to build a solid foundation, the below checklist needs to be accomplished.

Each of these steps solidifies the mission, vision, metrics, financials, leadership, marketing, sales goals, and more. Especially, if you’re wanting to pitch your business to investors for seed money or a bank, you will need to create a solid foundation by completing these tasks.

// SMART SCALING STRATEGY CHECK-LIST //

  • Business Plans - create a business plan utilizing Live Plan software.

  • Business License - complete applications for a business license, EIN number, ReSale number, and D&B number.

  • Barriers To Entry - document what makes your products and services unique.

  • Cash Flow Analysis - create a framework for the inflows and outflows of funds.

  • Cost of Goods - building a B.O.M.

  • Exit Strategy - develop an exit strategy for yourself and your investors.

  • Financial Projections - outline how much money your business needs to survive the first 2-5 years.

  • Inventory Control & Management - Forecasting

  • Quickbooks - create a chart of accounts for bookkeeping and accounting systems.

  • Mediation and Conflict Resolution - learn tools and skills to mitigate conflicts.

  • P&L - develop profit and loss statements, and how to use them.

  • Pitch Deck - design marketing collateral for investors and banks.

  • Pitch Strategy - develop a strategy, and script with talking points with a PowerPoint presentation (if necessary).

  • Seed-round Funding and Ownership - develop outreach strategy, presentation, and outline the ROI.

  • Smart Money - discover what it is, why you need it, and how to get it.

  • Supply Chain Management - Ordering in Real Time

  • Team building - develop a cohesive program and strategy.

  • Timelines - integrate S.M.A.R.T goals to manage internal and external timelines.

  • Use of Proceeds - outline how you will spend investment money.

  • LEVEL 1: BUILDING THE FOUNDATION

    You started a business, but now what?

    We will help you solidify the foundation of your business by creating the Smart Scaling Strategies checklist and designing the structure and systems necessary to scale and secure investment.

    LOGISTICS: 4-6 month contract, 1-2 calls a week, additional task hours included in the rate.

  • LEVEL 2: IMPLEMENTATION AND INTEGRATION

    Your business has foundational pieces, but it’s incomplete.

    We will review the foundation of your business, complete documents that are missing from The Smart Scaling Strategies checklist, and then create a strategy that will strengthen the structure.

    LOGISTICS: 3-month contract, 1 -2 calls a week, additional task hours included in the rate.

  • LEVEL 3: SCALING STRATEGIES

    Your business foundation and strategies are solid, yet your leadership is underdeveloped.

    We will review your business strategy, mission, and goals and help you develop your leadership, advise you on how to scale, and pitch to investors.

    LOGISTICS: 3-month renewable contracts, 1-2 calls per week, additional hours as needed.

  • LEVEL 4: BUSINESS ADVISOR

    Your business is finally solid and your scaling successfully. Congrats!

    Now you want to ensure that you continue to make the best decisions for your business and need someone on-call to strategize with.

    We will be an advisor on your board and on-call to strategize as needed.

    LOGISTICS: 3-month renewable contracts, strategy calls as needed.

READY TO SCALE?

If you’re committed to NOT becoming another statistic, you’ll need a strategy.

Our smart-scale packages are designed to guide you through the process step-by-step so you feel confident and excited!