Shape take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge for The Christie

MadeByShape is 13 years old in 2023, so why are
we a team of 19 staff, and decided not to have a
team of 50+?

I personally know friends who have upscaled their business to take on more staff, with the intention of taking on more work. But this didn’t work out for them, and then it became a problem. You have more staff, more wages, more stress, more pressure to get work in and feed mouths. I know 1 guy who had to put a 3 year strategy in place to go BACK to where he originally was. He had a team of 12, that went to 40 and then it took him 3 years to get back down to 12 organically. WOW.

Having more staff gives you the capabilities to take on more work, and produce more profit, but it’s not guaranteed. Many factors come in to play, for example; having more staff not only means more wages, it means expenses will go up. Having more staff doesn’t necessarily mean that work will be completed in a timely manner - client factors can still come in, and then do you need to hire extra project managers to manage your team and your increased number of clients?! I know first hand from other businessmen/businesswomen that bad experiences for them have resulted in more work but less profit, and if you're not looking to sell the business - what is the benefit in this strategy?

• Why don’t you grow your agency?
• Why aren’t you in the centre of Manchester?
• Do brands trust bigger agencies more?
• Small agencies can’t win big contracts
• A bigger team, means you will earn more money
• Why don’t you have multiple project managers?

More staff, doesn’t mean more profit.

I personally know friends who have upscaled their business to take on more staff, with the intention of taking on more work. But this didn’t work out for them, and then it became a problem. You have more staff, more wages, more stress, more pressure to get work in and feed mouths. I know 1 guy who had to put a 3 year strategy in place to go BACK to where he originally was. He had a team of 12, that went to 40 and then it took him 3 years to get back down to 12 organically. WOW. 

Having more staff gives you the capabilities to take on more work, and produce more profit, but it’s not guaranteed. Many factors come in to play, for example; having more staff not only means more wages, it means expenses will go up. Having more staff doesn’t necessarily mean that work will be completed in a timely manner - client factors can still come in, and then do you need to hire extra project managers to manage your team and your increased number of clients?! I know first hand from other businessmen/businesswomen that bad experiences for them have resulted in more work but less profit, and if you're not looking to sell the business - what is the benefit in this strategy?

Team chemistry

This is SO important to us here at MadeByShape. Over the years we have taken time, we have employed the right candidate and heavily considered each decision. I wrote a separate article if you want to read more about how we recruit individuals.
When upscaling a business, there’s normally a few reasons that led to this decision

• You have recently won more contracts so need more team members to fulfil those orders
• You want to increase size with the intention to make more money/profit
• You have the intention of selling the business, so want to upscale

If you’re looking to increase the size of your team rapidly to aid one of the above, employing the right person is VERY hard. How do you recruit? Through recruitment companies? Straight from Uni? Through your social accounts? Whatever the way, mistakes will be made because decisions are made fast and you end up with a new team of people who have never worked together before. There needs to be a bedding in period and then there’s simple factors like personality. What if a new team member doesn’t like the guy who’s worked there for 5 years. The atmosphere changes and you have a whole new set of problems to deal with.

I have met a lot of business owners over the years and everybody says recruitment is the hardest part of running a business. Somebody might be amazing technically, but if they don’t gel with other team members, it affects the business, it affects workflow, it affects results.

It’s not impossible, companies have successfully upscaled quickly - but a plan is needed and a strict onboarding strategy needs to be created and adhered to before committing.

Work smarter, not harder

This is a big topic at the moment on social sites like LinkedIn and Facebook, but I don’t understand why people are making a fuss of it this year… and didn’t consider it 5, 6, 7+ years ago.

I admit, when I first started in the industry - I said yes to every project. I worked 24/7 and burnt out (without knowing what that was), I just powered through. It wasn’t just me that did it, every startup entrepreneur has done it, and will continue to do it. I said yes to every web design enquiry for various reasons…

• I wanted to impress people and show what I could do
• I wanted to expose my name further afield
• If I did a good job, they’d recommend me for more work
• It was financially beneficial

However, there’s a point in time where this needs to change. Whether that be 6 months or 6 years, your business gets to a point where you don’t have to say yes to every enquiry. Right now, we say no to enquiries for various reasons and it works. But working smarter, is not just about the amount of work you have on. It’s a combination of things in my opinion.

If you’re stressed and your work isn’t functional - then take a break, whether that be a walk, eating, going to the gym - whatever it is, that hour away from your desk can make your day more productive.

I used to work at big agencies

I’d also like to add that here at MadeByShape we currently work with big agencies as their digital arm, and I also used to work at big agencies in the UK. Some are very successful, the business model works for them - but it doesn’t work for me. In this article I’m not saying people shouldn’t scale up, I’m just explaining why we haven’t. Our workflow is very productive at the moment, our team is happy, we are a small family of experienced Brand Designers, Web Designers and Web Developers who offer a great service to clients all over the world. Why change it if it works?

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All information correct as of 20/07/23

We've had offers

People have wanted to purchase MadeByShape, but it's not our business strategy to sell. This is what we enjoy doing, this is what we're good at. I understand some people are in this industry for financial reasons, for business reasons, to upscale and sell - then do something new. But for us, this is a way of life and we love it. To be able to run a successful business in an industry you love, is very rewarding. And to make good money, whilst enjoying working is even better.