How to Scale Your Business While Maintaining Your Autonomy – Rolling Stone
if you a independent creator, you may be considering scaling your business. While scaling is a great way to increase your exposure and bottom line, you often need to bring other people into the mix as well — a significant adjustment when you’re used to working independently.
Fortunately, it’s possible to grow your brand without losing sight of your original creative vision. To help you with that, members of the Rolling Stone Culture Council share 11 tips to help you scale your business while maintaining your autonomy.
stay true to yourself
Stay true to what makes you “you”. It is often portrayed that you have to drive differently in order to be fast. Stay authentic and real. There is power in walking in your truth and power in possessing it. Scaling doesn’t always happen quickly; Success takes time, failure and patience. Stay the course. – Madison Butler, GRAV
Think about your mission statement
Find your strengths and what makes you unique and build on them. What is your mission statement and how does it differentiate you from the competition? It’s easy to lose sight of why you started in the first place. Therefore, in times of transition or intense growth, it can be beneficial to revisit such questions to stay on track. – Karina Michel Feld, Tallulah Films
Establish high brand standards and consistency
One of the best things you can do to scale your creative enterprise while maintaining autonomy is to start by establishing high branding standards for your content. The second aspect would be consistency with the work you are producing. Scaling generally occurs once you’ve built a legacy brand. Make your brand a reliable source and people will gravitate towards you over time. – Kelly Black, Indie Film Factory
Find your niche
It is important to choose a direction that you can control without outside interference. It’s tempting to try to appeal to the crowd, but it’s far easier to stand out in a smaller pond. Don’t be everything to everyone. Become an expert in your field. This will attract more quality customers and give you the freedom to deliver your unique services. Focus on finding your niche. – Thomas Bresadola, Simplified Entertainment
Hire supplemental team members
I started out as an independent freelance podcast producer. As my client list grew, I hired team members who specialized in some components of my role and did a far better job. Now we have grown to 30 employees worldwide with multiple clients. I kept the responsibilities and the parts of the role that I really enjoyed. It’s also important to think about how much autonomy you want. That could mean taking fewer customers. – Ginni Saraswati, Ginni Media
The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for influencers, innovators and creators. Am I Qualified?
“Fill the funnel”
Keep your spend low and focus on “filling the funnel,” which means constantly acquiring new prospects and converting them into customers. Sales solves all problems! – Adam Ayers, number 5
Understand your strengths and weaknesses
Start with an honest self-assessment to understand your strengths and weaknesses. Identify the things you are good at, the things you enjoy doing, and the things you need help with. With this clarity, you can identify how to fill in the gaps and give you the space and time to grow your business more effectively. -Michael Klein, Trees Corporation
Look for brand collaborations
Look for brand collaborations that align with your personal and professional values. This is how you keep your media presence under control. Influencer marketing is widely accepted by consumers; Use this to choose what you want to stand for, while still aiming to reach a larger audience. – Jacob Mathison, Mathison Projects Inc.
Spread the fence
I learned this term when I was hired by the studios but wanted autonomy. Straddle the Fence means you are there for studios or companies 24/7 based on need and availability, with the right to decline because you are already booked (autonomy). This adds significantly to the ‘street cred’ for your profitability of being hired and delivering both studio level and independent work. – Susan Johnston, New Media Film Festival®
Become a mentor
What can you teach that others don’t? Become a mentor. There is so much gold in creating online courses and mentoring programs. Be the teacher you wish you had. Add a dash of good PR and nothing can stop you! —Victoria Kennedy, Marisa Johnson
Earn side income to invest in your brand
Picking up a side job or doing odd jobs to earn extra income that you can invest in your personal brand and scale your business is a great first step to scaling anything while remaining your own boss. – Christian Anderson (Trust’N), Lost Boy Entertainment LLC