What 3 Years of Running a Profitable, Lean Business Taught Us

Shape & Scale is officially three years old. 🎉

Three years in and we’ve built a profitable, lean, high-integrity business. We’ve had ups and downs, and in betweens. We’ve learned things we never thought we’d have to, and we’ve had the pleasure of working with some incredible clients along the way.

If you’ve ever started your own business, you know it’s a constant learning process. We wanted to share just a handful of some of the lessons we’ve learned these past three years building Shape & Scale, and how they’ve helped us grow into the business we are today.

1. Know your limits — and hire accordingly.

There’s a difference between being scrappy and being stubborn. For a while, we tried to do it all ourselves: bookkeeping, operations, taxes. We were watching QuickBooks tutorials on weekends and wrestling with accounting software that made us miserable. And why, might you ask? The answer is simple. When you’re first starting out, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing you should know how to do everything. Or that paying someone else for their expertise is somehow a loss for your own skill set.

Eventually, we got smarter about it. Now, if a task is draining our time and energy and it’s not directly bringing in income, we outsource it. There is no trophy for suffering through things someone else could do better and faster. Know when your skillset no longer benefits from being stretched, and get comfortable staying in your lane.

2. The highs and lows are part of it.

Some quarters feel like you’re on fire… and others feel like you’re shouting into the void. That’s just a harsh reality of owning your own business. One of the hardest things we’ve had to learn is not letting a slow period spiral into self-doubt.

Just because things are quiet doesn’t mean you’re failing. Your work is still valuable and your business is still needed. Learning to ride the ups and downs without making them mean something about your qualifications is half the battle.

One of the smartest things we’ve done is listening to our accountant (Thanks, Michael!) and creating a business savings account with 3 month’s worth of Founders’ pay. That makes sting a little less when clients offer notice. We have some padding without it immediately threatening our livelihood.

3. Your business will reflect your personal patterns.

Running a business is the fastest way to see what you need to work on personally. Whatever you haven’t dealt with yet — whether it’s people-pleasing, perfectionism, fear of being seen — it’s all going to show up in how you lead, communicate, price, and make decisions.

If you’re avoiding confrontation in your personal life, you’ll avoid hard client conversations. If you don’t believe you’re worthy, you’ll undercharge. The business forces you to confront those things and either address them head on or suffer the consequences in other ways.

4. Experience matters.

We didn’t just wake up one day, decide to start a business, and hope for the best. We spent years at agencies, learning how to manage complex projects, give strategic counsel, lead calls, and own outcomes. That experience is the backbone of what we do now.

It’s incredibly challenging to jump right into entrepreneurship without a decent amount of experience under your belt. There really is no substitute for time spent in the trenches. The more context you have — from working on high stakes launches, last minute fire drills, dealing with messy orgs, and just sheer exposure — the more you bring to the table when you’re advising clients.

5. If you’re not self-motivated, this isn’t for you.

When you run your own business there’s no boss giving you feedback, no one setting deadlines, and no built-in structure to fall back on. You have to retain the self-motivation to create your own structure, hold yourself to high standards, and dedicate yourself to learning as much as you can along the way to better yourself and the business.

This isn’t a knock on anyone who prefers stability. If anything, working for yourself helps you understand why working for someone else can be such an appealing decision. But if you’re trying to build something on your own, self-motivation is an absolute requirement.

6. Not all money is good money.

In theory, it’s easy to say you’ll only work with clients who respect your time and values. In practice, it’s a lot harder when the bills are due and a well-paying client wants you to compromise.

But saying yes to misaligned work always comes at a cost. It chips away at the clarity you’ve built, burns time and energy you could spend on the right work, and makes it harder to show up the way you want to.

We’ve learned to trust our gut. If something feels off in the sales process, it’s bound to get worse once the contract’s signed. Walking away from the wrong fit isn’t easy, but it’s always been the right move when we have had to do it.

We’re Just Getting Started

Three years in and we’re proud of what we’ve built. For us, it’s not just the client wins or revenue milestones, but the way we’ve done it: intentionally, imperfectly, and on our own terms. We’re still learning, evolving, and asking how we can do better.

To our clients, collaborators, and trusted peers — thank you for being part of this journey. Whether you’ve hired us, referred us, brainstormed with us, or just sent a supportive text at the right time, we’re deeply grateful.

Here’s to three more years!

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