4 Considerations to help Small Business Owners Grow

When I started my first business in 2017, I was ecstatic, but confused. I majored in marine and environmental science, and although I always admired my peers in business majors from a distance, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I just knew I wanted to work for myself. It took me years of both personal and professional development to turn a profit.

Fast-forward a few years, and my business ventures have been featured in Forbes and ABC News, and I am well on my way to created sustainable social impact by exposing youth to STEM careers via speaking engagements, media content, and educational programming.

Here are a few ways I've been able to scale my business to 6-figures and sustain it over the course of 4 years:

1. Incentives

Why do people care to click on your links? Why are you worth listening to? Why should people work for you? Why should they purchase your products & services vs. competitors'?

You should have clear, direct answers to all of these questions in your business, and incentives are important for bolstering your value proposition. This starts by deeply considering the needs of the individuals you're pitching to. You can offer giveaways for people to register for a program, you can ensure your employees and contractors have pathways to receiving raises, and you can always incorporate thoughtful gifts when working with larger clients.

I have been able to convince people to repeatedly book me for speaking appearances, or work with me for voice-overs by offering bulk discounts and demonstrating a willingness to go above and beyond in my service.

2. Coaching/Mentorship

My business operations quickly developed because I had very strong mentor-mentee relationships. My growth was expedited by shadowing some of these people - vising their places of work and watching them operate in excellence. Before I could afford a coach, grabbing lunch with a mentor would improve my business strategy by lightyears.

You can also get business consulting and coaching support from various accelerator programs. I met my mentor Jessica Santana - pictured above, through one of these programs!

Finally, although they technically aren't "coaches", I'd advise hiring a therapist. Sometimes, we get in our own way. Investing in your mental health might provide a necessary morale boost to get you to the next stage of your business development.

3. Community

For years, my unique interests in science and tech felt isolating. When I made an intentional effort to create a community, I realized I wasn't actually alone. I have been consistently inspired by my STEM colleagues; and they keep me accountable for my millions of ideas.

I formed close connections with the STEM Success Community and co-founded the STEM Success Summit - a large scale conference that helps diverse young people navigate STEM careers. This organization also serves as a sustainable community of diverse professionals that keep each other inspired to pursue excellence in STEM.

4. Content

Content is King! I've been able to scale my speaking business to 6 figures by executing a content strategy. LinkedIn remains my largest social platform, and lands me roughly 150,000 content views per month. A sizable percentage of my viewership on LinkedIn are gatekeepers and decision makers - the ideal target audience for my business ventures.

After you've clearly defined your brand, find out which type of content strategy and platform makes the most sense for your business. For me, Instagram and LinkedIn have proven the most useful, so most of my content is created for these two platforms.

In the near future, I am looking forward to scaling my speaking and media production businesses to 7 figures as I have developed a keen understanding of my own strengths, and a knack for outsourcing my weaknesses.

A huge thanks to Verizon for sponsoring this post! Their?Small Business Digital Ready platform is offering support in all of these areas! Here's a link: verizon.com/smallbusinessdigitalready