Comments on: Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Expand Your Design Business

By: pw

pw — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 06:22:49 +0000

interesting thoughts! anyway I feel companies are destined to expand if they are successful. just need to make sure we choose the right strategy :)

By: Wesley Lynch

Wesley Lynch — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:38:56 +0000

I agree with the benefits of smaller teams. Have you given much thought to larger companies comprised of smaller independent teams. I would be keen to hear your thoughts?

By: Ayush Jain

Ayush Jain — Mon, 31 May 2010 13:29:03 +0000

Nice article, though there are opinion differences. If we say that we should stay away from volume and complexity to keep things simple, we are ruining the essence of a subject called management science. I agree to the fact that it is far more difficult to manage a creative business, but that does not infer that it cannot be done at all. I talk of this from my experience at my company http://www.cheesecare.com where we have outgrown expectations of all sorts doubling our volumes each year in all aspects. The challenge does come with a lot of stumbles with process and the unpredictability of art and creativity. But the fun lies in accounting for this dynamism. Though, even we are still learning and experimenting while we grow and are working hard to put things in place, but I would like to leave everyone with a thought here. When you say that small units function and large units do not, why don’t we try to define a large unit as a conglomeration of these smaller units. I understand the dynamics that come along, this is just a thought.

By: Nikos

Nikos — Sat, 29 May 2010 11:29:20 +0000

Great article indeed! There are several factors that you should consider while expanding… It is not an easy process and it can leave your company hurt if not done carefully.

By: ddeja

ddeja — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:46:00 +0000

There are alwasy advanteges and disadvantages for expanding your business. I think mostly good and conscious company managind is the key. Whithout it there is no differece if you are small company or big company, you are going down…

By: Zach

Zach — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:10:34 +0000

Matt:
Excellent post. I was just addressing a similar theme about the unique challenges of design businesses on my blog. I found an interesting parallel to the differences between car manufacturing and airplane manufacturing. One is assembly line and one is almost all by hand.
if you’re interested the full article is here:
http://plasticsturgeon.com/?p=113

I have to say, I’m pretty impressed for such circumspect advice from someone so young. Keep up the great work.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:52:27 +0000

I particularly agree with #4 – about investing in additional revenue streams. While that approach can potentially fracture a company, in today’s market we’ve discovered our small business clients have a wide variety of needs, and our successes are based on meeting those. We’ve never had a client yet that was “in the box”.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 28 May 2010 13:51:48 +0000

This is something I’ve been kicking around for the past year or so. Should I, and if so, how would I go about hiring my first full-time employee?

I’ve been relying on my own work ethic and occasionally hiring contractors to help out, but the idea of truly “expanding” – just a little – always crosses my mind.

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 28 May 2010 04:16:51 +0000

This is a brilliant post. Great thoughts about providing great service without getting wrapped up in the “bigger is better” idea.

I decided to not expand my business with employees or partners simply because of the headache and complications it brings. There’s not much drama when it’s just me.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 28 May 2010 03:11:34 +0000

for individual art studio indeed