Growth is not a bad thing. But, unmanageable growth presents a set of challenges often overlooked when discussing small businesses. The emphasis tends to center on the marketing and promotion necessary to grow your business, and not on the business infrastructure needed to scale your business in a sustainable manner. Remember last month’s definition of grow vs. scale?
These back-office operations can make or break your business. What’s worse is that when you try to look for cures for these “back-office blues,” you might find that the resources either are reserved for manufacturing and enterprise-level companies or are prohibitively expensive.
Access is Everything!
That’s why I started the Business Infrastructure: Curing Back Office Blues podcast – to give savvy leaders like yourself access to resources to better manage growth so that your business can scale sustainably and profitably. The focus is on the how and not just the what.
According to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, there are approximately 149 million small and medium-sized businesses in the world. While there are many reasons why the majority of these businesses will fail by their 10th year, I believe that lack of access to operational resources to meet spikes in demand is one that can be prevented.
Considering the podcast has listeners in 35 countries, this is clearly a universal topic!
Just over a year-old, the podcast is making serious inroads in reaching entrepreneurs globally. The infographic below contains more interesting stats:
Perhaps most impressively is the number of resources that my guests and I have shared to close the knowledge gap for scaling operations of small businesses – 369 to be exact! You can access these resources in the show 
notes of each episode:
- Season 1: Laying the Foundation
- Season 2: Making the Case for Business Infrastructure
- Season 3: Ask the Experts
- Season 4: How I Did It!
Season 5 Wrap Up
Adding to the lexicon of resources are the guests of Season 5:
In this season, each guest shared the one key thing we need to know about a particular topic to consider on the journey to scale your business. Leadership, communication, and planning were the central themes across all episodes.
Specifically, these guests shared insights and specific resources on the one thing you need to know about:
- Organizational Agility – Roger Nierenberg
- Product Prototyping – Eric Lange
- Social Media – Marie Incontrera
- High Stakes Conversations – Dez Thornton
- Podcasting – Doug Sandler
- Conscious Capitalism – Corey Blake
- Data Privacy – Jodi Daniels
- Finding Your Voice – Josh Cary
- Mental Health & Entrepreneurship – Silke Glaab
- Exit Planning – David Shavzin
- Estate Planning – Deshonda Charles
- Delivering Difficult News – Liz Kislik
More Resources to Come
The Business Infrastructure podcast releases new episodes every Sunday at 9:00 am ET. You can likely find it on one of your favorite platforms including Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Google Play, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Business Radio X, PlayerFM…and many more!
The great thing about podcasts is that you can download episodes and listen to them on your smartphone while commuting to or from your office. Learn while you’re on the go!
Request for Your Support
In the last episode of Season 5, I talk about process improvement and hint at changes that you can expect to see with the podcast – all in an effort to provide even more value to you.
The best way for me to know how effective these changes are is for you to leave a review, preferably on Apple Podcasts (the dominant platform in the podcasting space). In the digital marketplace, reviews are like currency.
You don’t have to navigate growth spurts alone. Take advantage of these resources. Want one-on-one personalized support? Contact Us to request a consultation.
