Evolve Resource
Breaking Through the Growth Ceiling: A Service Business Owner’s Journey to $10M
As a business coach, I often hear from service business owners who have hit a wall in scaling their company. They’ve achieved impressive growth, but now they’re stuck, unsure how to reach that next level.
This is exactly the situation one business owner found himself in when he reached out to me. He runs a parent company that has acquired several service businesses. In just two years, he grew revenue from $1.3M to a projected $5M.
But this owner has his sights set higher. His goal is to reach $10M, which would make his company attractive for acquisition by private equity and provide more cashflow to build out infrastructure. As he put it, “We sort of hit a little bit of a wall, if you will. And I’m trying to figure out how to scale up from here, because what I’m seeing is that from an organizational infrastructure point of view, you know, we’re hitting our sort of our bound with limits.”
Can you relate? It’s a common challenge for growing service businesses. You’ve achieved product-market fit and landed a solid customer base. But to keep scaling, you need to evolve from an owner-centric model to building out the team and systems that can take you to $10M and beyond.
This transition isn’t easy. As this business owner shared, he’s getting pulled into daily operations and away from the higher-value activities where he excels – finding new opportunities and partnerships. “Getting me sort of the daily operations to where I can exercise my talents, which is finding the opportunities. I can find those opportunities, develop those deals, develop those relationships,” he explained.
Part of the challenge is that his unit managers, while skilled in their trade, lack formal business training. “They are both capable people from an operational point of view, but not as much experience in terms of business management, if you will.”
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. As a business scales, the owner can’t be involved in every decision. You need to develop leaders and put systems in place so the day-to-day can run smoothly without you.
That’s where business coaching comes in. On our call, I shared how our team-based approach at Evolve focuses on the core areas that drive scaling – sales, marketing, team building, and financial control. We start by thoroughly assessing each function, identifying the gaps between your current state and your big picture goals. Then we create a detailed roadmap to get you there, with regular check-ins to drive accountability.
As this prospect pointed out, having an outside perspective is invaluable. A good coach has helped other owners navigate the same journey you’re on. We can share best practices, spot potential roadblocks, and be a trusted sounding board. And just like a personal trainer keeps you showing up at the gym, having that regular coaching cadence keeps your focus on those $10M goals and beyond.
Scaling a service business takes hard work, especially in that transition from owner-centric to enterprise. But with the right team and guidance, you can bust through those revenue barriers and build a thriving company that’s attractive to acquirers or poised for continued growth.
If you’d like to learn more about scaling your service business, let’s talk. This business owner had downloaded a resource from our website and reached out to explore how I could help. I’d welcome the chance to learn about your goals and discuss how a coaching engagement could help you achieve them.
