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Started By
Message
Who has experience with scaling their business?
Posted on 3/6/19 at 3:44 pm
Posted on 3/6/19 at 3:44 pm
We have been approached by a large client about doing work for them on a larger scale. A larger scale as in going from doing work in one of their regions to doing work nationally for them?
I'm also grown the business at a level which I'm comfortable with. Two years ago we grew 22%. Last year we grew 50% which we managed well. Now, we're looking at a whole new level of growth.
Do any of you have experience with this and are willing to share what you encountered during the growth. The obvious thing for us is capital and logistics. We need to have more bodies in more places and it will take money to do that. We don't necessarily need to have physical locations everywhere or even anywhere other than Virginia to start so that is to our advantage.
Thoughts? What we'll be doing for them is data center infrastructure work in regards to their clients and their clients environments.
Thanks to all who reply.
ETA: Paging Jose Vargas. I know your business underwent tremendous growth.
I'm also grown the business at a level which I'm comfortable with. Two years ago we grew 22%. Last year we grew 50% which we managed well. Now, we're looking at a whole new level of growth.
Do any of you have experience with this and are willing to share what you encountered during the growth. The obvious thing for us is capital and logistics. We need to have more bodies in more places and it will take money to do that. We don't necessarily need to have physical locations everywhere or even anywhere other than Virginia to start so that is to our advantage.
Thoughts? What we'll be doing for them is data center infrastructure work in regards to their clients and their clients environments.
Thanks to all who reply.
ETA: Paging Jose Vargas. I know your business underwent tremendous growth.
This post was edited on 3/6/19 at 3:49 pm
7
Posted on 3/6/19 at 3:48 pm to VABuckeye
More bodies in more places means training: you need a robust mechanism to ensure that every employee has the needed knowledge, and to formalize ongoing learning/skills stuff.
Posted on 3/6/19 at 3:49 pm to VABuckeye
A big focus would be you are going to need a general manager type role that you can trust. You can't be everywhere at once when you sort of can, at least in a day, when you are regional.
Long story short, find someone you would trust running the business if you were hit by a bus and pay them well enough, including performance incentives, to make them feel like they are responsible for the business.
Long story short, find someone you would trust running the business if you were hit by a bus and pay them well enough, including performance incentives, to make them feel like they are responsible for the business.
Posted on 3/6/19 at 3:52 pm to Rusty Scroggins
For us it will be project managers and I agree with you. I'm already looking at candidates for PMs.
I'm also looking at a smaller local business we can absorb that offers some services that we don't (fiber splicing) to add skilled labor.
I'm also looking at a smaller local business we can absorb that offers some services that we don't (fiber splicing) to add skilled labor.
Posted on 3/6/19 at 4:58 pm to VABuckeye
quote:
I'm also looking at a smaller local business we can absorb that offers some services that we don't (fiber splicing) to add skilled labor.
This could be a homerun or a massive strikeout.
If you can find a smaller company to merge in, and their culture/work meshes well with yours, AND they have capacity (I'm assuming you don't have any more capacity with your current employee group) then it can work well. But if any of factors is a problem, you could be poisoning your company.
Buying more stuff is easy. Renting more space is somewhat easy (although you may need an additional physical location, even in the same area). Staffing is going to be the entirety of what you are focused on. Can you find enough staff and get them to speed.
Why is your client moving more business your way? Did they have problems with other providers?
Posted on 3/6/19 at 5:12 pm to VABuckeye
scaling you staff takes time.
be sure to incentivize those critical people who helped you grow to continue doing so.
start ironing out processes sounds like you need to be versed in itil framework and some project frameworks on building out process. start a knowledge repository if you havent. make sure there isn't anything that only one person can do.
manage the business demands for growth with ROI. so that new computer may help stacy in accounting but do you even need in house accounting.
during growth I'd outsource everything that wasnt a core competency of your business. this will help reduce the staffing stress
be sure to incentivize those critical people who helped you grow to continue doing so.
start ironing out processes sounds like you need to be versed in itil framework and some project frameworks on building out process. start a knowledge repository if you havent. make sure there isn't anything that only one person can do.
manage the business demands for growth with ROI. so that new computer may help stacy in accounting but do you even need in house accounting.
during growth I'd outsource everything that wasnt a core competency of your business. this will help reduce the staffing stress
Posted on 3/6/19 at 5:18 pm to LSUFanHouston
quote:
Why is your client moving more business your way? Did they have problems with other providers?
Our quality and attention to detail. We've never missed a hard deadline for them and missing a deadline could mean that they can't start billing $500k or more for the space on the first of the month. Other vendors in other locations have missed deadlines, not been responsive and can't get material on site to complete the job on time.
Posted on 3/6/19 at 5:24 pm to oklahogjr
quote:
start ironing out processes sounds like you need to be versed in itil framework and some project frameworks on building out process. start a knowledge repository if you havent. make sure there isn't anything that only one person can do.
We have a process for completing projects that we're always refining. We do need to get it out of our heads and on paper.
quote:
during growth I'd outsource everything that wasnt a core competency of your business. this will help reduce the staffing stress
We already use temporary labor a lot. We pay a premium for the guys but obviously don't have to pay them when they aren't needed. The downside is that if we can't pull from the pool of guys that we've used before we're either training them on our dime or weeding out the ones that don't fit our culture or work ethic constantly.
quote:
be sure to incentivize those critical people who helped you grow to continue doing so
Great point and something we're already talking about.
Thank you all for your input. I greatly appreciate it. I'm a big believer in having outsiders look in to add input so that we can continuously improve.
This post was edited on 3/6/19 at 5:26 pm
Posted on 3/6/19 at 5:32 pm to VABuckeye
Biggest challenge I see from companies is maintaining that employee morale/collaboration during rapid growth.
You’ve got a revolving door of new talent...many working off site or in new locations, becomes challenging to maintain that quality and cohesiveness when more layers and people are added.
Also...you hiring? I can travel to your new office in St. John
You’ve got a revolving door of new talent...many working off site or in new locations, becomes challenging to maintain that quality and cohesiveness when more layers and people are added.
Also...you hiring? I can travel to your new office in St. John
Posted on 3/6/19 at 5:34 pm to Golfer
quote:
You’ve got a revolving door of new talent...many working off site or in new locations, becomes challenging to maintain that quality and cohesiveness when more layers and people are added.
I need great PMs.
quote:
Also...you hiring? I can travel to your new office in St. John
Future HQ?
Posted on 3/7/19 at 6:31 am to VABuckeye
Over estimate for labor costs in other regions. Without actually being local, it’s difficult to know what your real costs will be until you are and the last thing you want is to have a hard time affording people which slows your projects.
I’d also consider doing one outside location first before signing on for multiple. Once you knock one out, it will generally give you a good idea what issues you will run into in other new locations. Unless you have a great relationship and a change order to your contract is easy, the last thing I’d want is to sign on for something like 5-10 new locations and run into a major issue you need to change your contract over in your first new location.
Finally, are you able to train people locally and then export them to your new locations? One of the easiest things to train staff maybe to have your current staff move to your new location with a promotion and train someone locally for their now local open position.
I’d also consider doing one outside location first before signing on for multiple. Once you knock one out, it will generally give you a good idea what issues you will run into in other new locations. Unless you have a great relationship and a change order to your contract is easy, the last thing I’d want is to sign on for something like 5-10 new locations and run into a major issue you need to change your contract over in your first new location.
Finally, are you able to train people locally and then export them to your new locations? One of the easiest things to train staff maybe to have your current staff move to your new location with a promotion and train someone locally for their now local open position.
Posted on 3/7/19 at 6:40 am to baldona
quote:
Over estimate for labor costs in other regions. Without actually being local, it’s difficult to know what your real costs will be until you are and the last thing you want is to have a hard time affording people which slows your projects.
I agree. The first state we'll be doing projects in is California and I know it will be more expensive to do business there.
quote:
I’d also consider doing one outside location first before signing on for multiple. Once you knock one out, it will generally give you a good idea what issues you will run into in other new locations. Unless you have a great relationship and a change order to your contract is easy, the last thing I’d want is to sign on for something like 5-10 new locations and run into a major issue you need to change your contract over in your first new location.
That's exactly what we're doing. We are doing a project this month for the company that you probably use as an operating system and to do your word processing and spreadsheet work.
quote:
Finally, are you able to train people locally and then export them to your new locations? One of the easiest things to train staff maybe to have your current staff move to your new location with a promotion and train someone locally for their now local open position.
That's the crux. Deciding how, when and where to implement new labor. I'm leaning towards using temps initially with trained PMs running the projects. As we grow into it and get a grasp on how many personnel we'll need I'll want to shift over to using more employees of the company.
I don't want to bloat. If my cost of doing business grows at the same rate as revenue I don't see the benefit.
Posted on 3/7/19 at 8:22 am to VABuckeye
A couple of quick thoughts before I go into a meeting this morning—
1. You’re only as successful as the people you can find to understand what it takes to be successful at your company. People ask us all of the time—“how big do you want to be?” As big as the talent around us allows.
2. Every market we are in is different, not because of what we do, but because of how our customers operate. What one company does here in Dallas in utilizing our services is completely different than how their Houston office operates and both are completely different than their Austin office. Travel all the way to Florida and the only thing the same is the name of the company and format of the email address.
Look at what this will do to your quality of life as well and make sure the payoff is well worth it.
Remember this—what area/region is your bread and butter? Who manages this area and will they be part of the expansion? If so, will them being part of the expansion detract from their current region? If so, in my experience, they will devote less time to the expansion and focus attention back to their original region/area.
We have a chance to expand to Phoenix right now and we are running this part of the operation from Dallas first to make sure we find the right people local to Phoenix. If we don’t find the people, we will stay half pregnant and continue working that region from Dallas.
Ask me any other questions and I’ll do my best to get back to you.
If we can help you with project managers, let me know as well.
Good luck!
1. You’re only as successful as the people you can find to understand what it takes to be successful at your company. People ask us all of the time—“how big do you want to be?” As big as the talent around us allows.
2. Every market we are in is different, not because of what we do, but because of how our customers operate. What one company does here in Dallas in utilizing our services is completely different than how their Houston office operates and both are completely different than their Austin office. Travel all the way to Florida and the only thing the same is the name of the company and format of the email address.
Look at what this will do to your quality of life as well and make sure the payoff is well worth it.
Remember this—what area/region is your bread and butter? Who manages this area and will they be part of the expansion? If so, will them being part of the expansion detract from their current region? If so, in my experience, they will devote less time to the expansion and focus attention back to their original region/area.
We have a chance to expand to Phoenix right now and we are running this part of the operation from Dallas first to make sure we find the right people local to Phoenix. If we don’t find the people, we will stay half pregnant and continue working that region from Dallas.
Ask me any other questions and I’ll do my best to get back to you.
If we can help you with project managers, let me know as well.
Good luck!
Posted on 3/7/19 at 11:07 am to JoseVargasTX
Thanks Jose. Can you post a junk email so we can start corresponding? I might need your services in the future.
Posted on 3/7/19 at 1:17 pm to VABuckeye
quote:
The first state we'll be doing projects in is California and I know it will be more expensive to do business there.
Not only more expensive, but more difficult. Become well versed in California's labor code. Alternative work weeks, daily overtime/double time, prevailing wage jobs, etc. Are you union? If not, capital projects are hard to come by, but they can be found.
Posted on 3/7/19 at 1:35 pm to darnol91
Non-union. We've been asked by a client to do work for them there so winning the projects isn't an issue.
We won't have a physical location there at least for now. I know that if we get a physical location there everything changes. Nevada here I come for my location?
We won't have a physical location there at least for now. I know that if we get a physical location there everything changes. Nevada here I come for my location?
Posted on 3/7/19 at 2:28 pm to VABuckeye
FYI I’m a PM in the NOVA region. Looking into PMP certification and potential career switch. Not sure how many candidates you are looking for, but I’ll throw my name in the hat.
Posted on 3/7/19 at 2:31 pm to VABuckeye
If what you're inferring is that the physical location is what makes it dramatically more difficult - it is not. Having employees work within the state of California changes everything. Overtime and doubletime are calculated on a daily basis after 8, 10, or 12 hours depending on if you are working an alternative work week. Mandatory supervisor training using gender neutral terms annually. Luckily, you seem to be bringing some employees with you, but the ones you hire locally will inevitably have some bad eggs from my experience.
Posted on 3/7/19 at 3:02 pm to darnol91
Gotcha. Thank you for the info. That's stuff I need to know. It would seem that it may make more sense to use temps out there despite the fact that we'll have to be constantly teaching and those frickers don't seem to know which end of a drill to hold.
Posted on 3/7/19 at 3:04 pm to themasterpater
quote:
FYI I’m a PM in the NOVA region. Looking into PMP certification and potential career switch. Not sure how many candidates you are looking for, but I’ll throw my name in the hat.
It's worth a discussion, right? I may have to move my right hand guy (my son) out west as this takes off and I'll need to replace him as a PM in NOVA at some point. Residential and commercial prewires and the data center infrastructure work which is our bread and butter.
We may take on additional sites on the east coast. It wouldn't be many as a lot of this clients data centers on this coast are dark data centers.
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