My Journey – Scaling Without Losing Your Soul: Lessons from Growing a Small Business

My Journey – Scaling Without Losing Your Soul: Lessons from Growing a Small Business

Part 2: The Growth Phase –
Scaling Without Losing Your Soul

From Small Steps to Big Leaps: The Challenges of Growth

After those first couple years of hustling lingerie out of my car, hosting endless home parties, and reinvesting every penny into inventory, my little business began to grow—fast. Suddenly, I wasn’t just an entrepreneur with a side hustle; I was a business owner with real responsibilities. I had a lease, and payroll, and utilities to pay, and suddenly I was a wife and a mom.

Growth is exciting, but it’s also messy, unpredictable, and at times, terrifying. When my store began to fill up with inventory and customers, I realized that running a successful business wasn’t just about selling more—it was about managing more: more people, more products, more responsibilities.

At first, I tried to do everything myself—from bookkeeping to marketing to customer service. It wasn’t sustainable. Burnout was about to hit me hard, and I had to face a tough truth: growth requires trust, delegation, and clarity of vision.


Lesson #1: You Can’t Do It All Yourself

When you’re in the early stages of growth, it’s tempting to keep everything in your own hands. After all, no one knows your business like you do, right? I’m an admitted control freak. I still struggle with that flaw. But here’s the thing: trying to do it all is the fastest route to burnout and failure. Surround yourself with at least one person that believes in you and supports you and your vision. My husband at the time didn’t believe in me or what I was building. Not only was I doing it all on the business front, I was doing it all at home. That wasn’t entirely his fault. He was military and he was gone for over half of our marriage. Being a business owner, plus a new mom with a non supportive, and mostly absent husband was a challenge all on its own. My only two supporters in those early days were my mom, who lived 600 miles away, and a friend I’d met name Beth Cobbler. Truth be told, without her support, I would have probably failed. I give her a lot of credit for my success and to this day I wish she knew that. She wasn’t on the street screaming my name, but she whispered in my ear enough that it gave me confidence to think I could pull this whole thing off. She’d introduce me to my first ever employee, and from then on, everything would change. Her husband was on the same ship as mine, and we became fast friends. As most military families do, they moved away, and left me without anyone who believed in me once again.

Most days I strapped my son to my hip and took him to work with me. I created a mini section in the store for him to play and read. Other moms loved coming in the store to shop and being able to put their kid into that designated kids area while they shopped, so we adapted and grew that little spot for a while, until we started catering to different wants and needs of customers that were not suitable to children. But that’s another story. I didn’t really have family or friends at the time, so I had nobody to watch my son while I worked. My options were limited, so I once again adapted.

I had to learn to delegate and trust others with responsibilities. If I’m being honest, 36 years later, it’s still a hard thing for me to do. Whether it was something as simple as daycare, hiring staff, outsourcing tasks, or leaning on professionals for specialized work, letting go of control was the only way I could grow. That comes with it’s own hurdles, because everyone you hire isn’t the right fit, or trustworthy. But it’s part of the growing and learning process.

Tip for Growing Entrepreneurs:
Identify your strengths and focus on them. Hire or outsource people to handle the tasks that drain your time and energy.


Lesson #2: Systems Are Your Best Friend

In the early days, I could keep everything in my head—inventory counts, customer preferences, sales goals. But as the business grew, systems became essential. I vividly remember being able to walk into my store and instantly know everything they’d sold for the day. That’s a lot harder with 6 stores.

I started implementing processes for inventory, customer service, and finances. These systems freed up my mental space and helped me focus on the bigger picture. Everything at the time went into an excel spreadsheet. Boy, oh boy, I thought I was really something with my Radio Shack Tandy computer (that took up half my small store counterspace). But hey, I had a system in place. I couldn’t afford real software, so I used a cash register I bought at some discount store, and taught myself how to use Excel for my inventory control and my employees hours.

Tip for Growing Entrepreneurs:
Invest in tools and systems early. Whether it’s accounting software, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, or scheduling tools, the right systems will save you time and headaches.


Lesson #3: Stay True to Your Vision

As opportunities started rolling in, I was tempted to chase every shiny object—new products, partnerships, new promotions. And I did! But every time I strayed too far from my original vision, the store suffered. Growth isn’t about doing everything; it’s about doing the right things consistently. I had to remind myself why I started, what my goals were, and who my customers were. Those shiny objects would all come back to bite me in the end. My vision became cloudy and forgotten. What started as home parties and a small store, was growing in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Suddenly we were modeling lingerie in hotels for 100’s of guests per night, selling out everything we brought with us. We were being booked for Golf Tournaments to be beverage cart girls. We were working with WCW to be ring girls. We traveled up and down the east coast to work with them. We got to tour with KISS. We were on top of the world. We kept branching out and growing, and we seized every opportunity. We were booked months in advance for these shows. Everyone wanted a piece of what we had to offer. And we gave it to them. Some nights doing 2-3 shows per night. We all worked hard. We all made money, and we all started down an unsustainable path. My entire life revolved around work. I had no work/life balance. But it’s hard to say no, when you’re 22 years old and making over a half million dollars a year back in the 1990s. The bigger we grew and more popular we were, the more I wanted. With no websites or social media, it was me who was out every night entertaining clients and investors. I was the social network, making sure we stayed in the front of everyone’s mind. While everyone thought I was just out drinking and having fun, I was in reality out building relationships with business owners. The store that I had worked so hard to stock, and saved so feverishly for, quickly took a back seat. It became not something I wanted to grow, but a storage place for all that was happening outside of it. I strayed way off course of my original intentions. If you ever get your 15 minutes of fame, enjoy it, but stay true to yourself. It never lasts.

Tip for Growing Entrepreneurs:
Write down your core mission and values and revisit them regularly. Make every business decision with those values in mind.


Scaling a business in today’s world looks different than it did when I was growing my first store. Today, you HAVE to have a website. Your website is your online brochure. Available 24/7.  Your social media needs to keep your audience engaged, and keep your information relevant. It’s a different world, and it’s constantly changing.


Looking Ahead to Part 3

In the next part of this series, we’ll talk about Navigating Storms – Overcoming Challenges and Setbacks. Growth isn’t always linear, and every entrepreneur faces storms along the way. I’ll share some of the toughest moments from my journey and my life, and the lessons they’ve taught me.

Stay tuned—and remember: Growth doesn’t mean doing more, it means doing better.

Click here for Part 3


What was the biggest challenge you faced when your business started growing? Share your story with me—I’d love to hear from you!

 

The only way to do great work is to love what you do.

- Steve Jobs

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