15 Key Principles That Helped Me Scale My Agency 275x in 13 Years

In the last 13 years (as of 2022), my web agency business, Multidots, grew from a team of 2 to 100.

The revenue growth is 275x.

In 2022, my company ranked #560 on the list of Inc. 5000 America’s fastest-growing companies.

In my 13 years of entrepreneurship journey, I have learned from both my successes and failures.

Here are the lessons that helped me grow my business at a 65% growth rate.

#1 Every business has some level of chaos, confusion, and conflicts

You would think that there is always something wrong with your business, but other businesses (or your competitors’ companies) are in the best shape and form. Well, that’s not true. After listening to several entrepreneurs’ stories, I learned that no entrepreneur is immune from some level of chaos, confusion, and conflicts in their business. As an entrepreneur, you need to accept and embrace that. Our desire to bring harmony to our business starts with a realization that there is (and will be) some chaos and conflicts in the business. 

#2 Strive to be a specialist, not a generalist

Multidots started as a generalist by offering web development services on multiple technologies. It brought additional growth at the cost of a lot of stress and a mediocre brand reputation. Our switch to becoming a specialist in one technology (WordPress) in 2018 brought the right kind of scalable growth and brand reputation, which proved to be an excellent decision. 

#3 All changes are hard in the beginning, messy in the middle, and great at the end

It feels easy and obvious to stay in the comfort zone of the past, especially when it continues to work in the present. Our strategic decision to focus only on WordPress services and wind down the other services was one of those changes that were extremely difficult (financially and emotionally). Still, that change has proven much more profitable and scalable now. I am grateful we dared to do something that made us uncomfortable. The results are worth it.  

#4 Not ready or uncomfortable?

When it comes to taking an important action or implementing a decision, we often choose to act on it later based on the argument that we are not ready yet. I realized four out of ten times I was not comfortable than not ready. Act sooner on things you are prepared for but may make you uncomfortable. Take a moment to ask yourself: do I need more time or information to make this decision, or am I delaying the action because I am scared?

#5 Less is more

In the past, we tried to do too many things at a time. We focused on too many priorities and implemented too many processes. Ultimately, simplicity and minimalism in tools, processes, priorities, goals, and focus created better results with less stress in our business. 

#6 Long-term goals require patience and persistence

It’s fun and easy to work on things that give instant gratification. But it’s hard and tedious, and our mind quickly gets distracted from working on something that demands continuous and consistent efforts over a long period of time. I credit our success and robust growth to our ability to work on long-term goals with immense patience and persistence.

#7 Think from the mind and act from the heart

As an entrepreneur or leader, you have to make hard decisions. You should rationally process your decisions and judgments, such as shutting down a non-performing product, firing a team member for non-performance, saying goodbye to a non-fit client, etc. But we can be humble and respectful and show empathy in our actions and execution of such decisions.

#8 Choose people and productivity over profit

Since our inception, Multidots maintained a long streak of solid profitability and growth until our earnings shrunk in 2019. It wasn’t easy, but we stayed committed to finding opportunities to improve our productivity by innovating processes and empowering people. Thankfully, we are profitable again, and I learned the biggest lesson to focus on people and productivity in the hard times!

#9 Excellent Efforts > Perfect Results

Staying committed to bringing excellence in every effort is the best thing you can do as an entrepreneur, and have control over it. My decision to focus on excellent efforts over worrying too much about the perfect outcome has been liberating and less stressful. I have seen better results and outcomes by putting my best self into executing an idea rather than waiting or focusing too much on the results. Perfect results would be a progressive outcome of our best efforts. 

#10 Ninty-day commitment to new hires

We should not assume that when we hire someone with great skills, extensive experience, and very positive references for a critical role, they will perform as well as they performed in their previous organization. We need to remind ourselves that they will still need supervision and support in the initial 90 days. Every company and culture is different. As entrepreneurs, it’s part of our responsibility to invest time and energy to educate new hires and provide continuous and candid feedback.

#11 Not everyone is equal

Your clients, employees, vendors, and partners are not equal. They all have different strengths and weaknesses, different levels of contribution and expectations, and different motivations and fears. Please don’t put them all in one box; instead, treat them fairly and personally.

#12 Know your real obstacle 

Sometimes, we pay too much time and attention to our clients, competitors, or employees when something goes wrong in the business. One of the biggest obstacles to attaining the desired success is our own blindspots, inefficiencies, inability to learn and grow, and limited imagination as an entrepreneur. The more I brought awareness, attention, and intention to improve my mindset, thinking, skills, efficiencies, courage, productivity, and creativity, the more my company grew and succeeded. 

#13 Don’t stop learning

Reading books, attending business events, and joining personal development training have helped me grow, gain more confidence, get new ideas, and bring in new perspectives. Allocate some time in your schedule for continuing learning to build a better version of yourself and your business.

#14 To Start: Act First and Think Later. To Scale: Think First and Act Later

When you are starting something new, learn by action. Don’t waste too much time on planning and strategizing. There is not much to lose in the early stage of your business. Once you build a strong foundation and want to grow more, focus on the right strategies first and then execute them well.

#15 Don’t punish 95% of the Good People because of 5% Bad People

We introduce and enforce several rules in work and life to discourage certain behaviors. Most of the time, less than 5% of people want to take advantage of us, but we end up punishing the other 95% of good people, which is not fair. Instead, focus on your energy to find and eliminate this 5% of bad players so you can have a more trusting relationship with the remaining 95% of good people. 

I use this rule: 

• Drafting our company policy 

• Teamwork and communication

• Building more trusting relationships with friends, family, and relatives.