Designing and Building a Scalable Business Online

Building a scalable business is one of the most important factors for anyone starting out as an entrepreneur.

Even though your business will be small in the beginning, you can still set yourself up for scalable growth over time by building a solid foundation.

What is a Scalable Business Model?

Before I get into example of a scalable business, what the heck is it?

According to Investopedia, scalability is a characteristic of a system, model or function that describes its capability to cope and perform under an increased or expanding workload.

For example, if you were a personal fitness trainer, that is not a scalable business because the service is delivered by you. You have a limited number of hours that you work in a day.

With this service business model, you would not be able to accommodate a growing client base and your revenue growth would be limited to the number of hours you can work.

This is an example of trading time for money.

On the other hand, if you created an online information product, you would have a scalable business solution.

Once you create the digital information product, you can easily sell to one or thousands of customers without much more effort.

With an online product you would have a system and process in place to accommodate any number of customers for a product you created one time.

The cost of fulfillment does not go up and you can definitely make money while you sleep.

When your business does not require you to trade time for money, you can create a scalable business!

Building a Solid Foundation for your Business

At the heart of a scalable business is good, solid system. If you have an online information product, you should also ensure that the product is delivered systematically every time.

A great example of systems that work is McDonald’s. No matter where you go in the world for McDonald’s, you will likely have the same exact experience when ordering something.

That is because Ray Kroc was an expert at creating systems and processes. He was not an expert at making hamburgers. But he knew that with the right system, his business could grow exponentially.

Ray Kroc built McDonald’s with a scalable business in mind from the start.

It’s the same for you.

For example, a few years ago I had the idea to be a Pilates instructor. I didn’t look at the scalability of such a business until after I went through all the intense training (which cost oodles of money.)

When I started actually training clients one-on-one, I realized that this type of business was not scalable for me.

I had only so many hours in a day in which to work with clients!

So I moved on to a better business plan!

Are Internet Businesses Scalable?

In exploring the viability of various scalable business ideas, I found that creating an Internet business fit the model best.

With a vast majority of consumers feeling comfortable shopping online, some of the ideas I found to be scalable were affiliate marketing, network marketing, and creating information products.

Although I do coach clients sometimes for online marketing techniques, that aspect of my business is not scalable at all because it depends on my time.

With an Internet business, as long as the right systems are in place, it’s a perfect scalable model.

So before you start a business, determine whether it is scalable now or in the future before you dive in.

Conclusion

Building a successful business that is scalable means having the ability to grow without spending much more money or trading your time for money.

Internet businesses fit nicely into a scalable business solution because you create the information once, and it becomes an asset that is sold over and over again.

Look for those repetitive tasks that can be automated, such a creating products, sales funnels, and autoresponders. Put as many systems in place as possible so you can focus on the income producing activities!