How to Know if Your Business is Growing
PICKUP is growing significantly. The Average Daily Revenue has multiple since January 2022. And what once was a small office with a handful of people has expanded to a total staff of 152 and increasing.
While growth is great, not everything is sunshine and roses. It is hard to grow organically and consistently without added pressure on many areas of the business. We call these “Growing Pains” companies that scale at a very fast pace will definitely feel them. However, it is my experience that if you are not uncomfortable, you are not growing and certainly not dreaming.
Sudden changes across organizations can lead to discomfort, uncertainty and tension because scaling a business is no easy task. From hiring more people to system automation, accelerated company growth brings days of peaks and valleys. Growing pains are inevitable, but they are also incredible learning opportunities that build muscle and propel you forward.
Many of PICKUP’s growing pains are a result of us revolutionizing the last mile space by powering the perfect delivery. Scalability does not simply mean replication. The mistake is often made of providing the same service in a larger context. While this is obviously necessary, the same product and service are not going to be useful forever. Constant innovation is needed and there are also new opportunities for growth in different dimensions.
This is a primary factor in why PICKUP has continued to explore models such as Shared Resources, Freight Forwarding, Multi-stop and others. Scaling in one area is a vulnerable maneuver. It constitutes an over-reliance on a particular product or service as opposed to providing a variety of products and services, which renders any company far more resilient. Diversifying your scalability into several different niches provides a platform for future growth and expansion.
Finally, I want to leave you with a critical piece of advice. Companies that are in the process of scaling should make sure to overcommunicate. Communication is so key. Zoom, face-to-face meetings, phone calls, text, Slack… the methods of communication are endless. Fostering open and honest discussion goes a long way.