Jan Cavelle - Scale for Success: Expert Insights into Growing Your Business

Jan Cavelle has written a must-read primer that offers behind-the-scenes insight into the journey of fascinating and diverse business leaders who share the highs, lows and in-betweens of entrepreneurship.

Nancy Thompson, Founder & President, Vorticom, Inc.

Scale for Success does a brilliant job of weaving together stories, lessons and thoughtful reflections. Each one of the eighteen entrepreneurs featured could write a book. Until they do, this is the one to read.

Oli Barrett MBE, Co-Founder, StartUp Britain and Co-Founder, Turn On The Subtitles

Business is challenging at every level. Fortunately most of these challenges have been solved, you just need to know where to look. Scale for Success collates many lifetimes worth of insights, shortcuts and wisdom. Grab a copy, take notes and get to work!

David Jenyns, Founder, SYSTEMology

In Scale for Success , Jan talks with real people as they recount their business challenges with warmth and clarity whilst revealing key takeaways. A refreshing change from the usual jargon-filled business books.

Tara Hawkins, Director, Authentic Villa Holidays

Scale for Success shows the reality of business growth as an entrepreneur. With real, frank discussion of the challenges that plague small businesses, solutions become possible. Jan shares those stories and solutions, creating a practical guide for business at any stage.

Nettie Owens, Founder & CEO, Momentum Accountability

Every year that a company survives in business should be celebrated the tenacity to bring together essential ingredients for scaling an early stage venture should never be taken lightly. Scale for Success highlights these essential qualities and includes valuable references to entrepreneurs and their success stories.

Rick Anstey, Founder, inQbator, iQFunds, and iQ360, Queensland, Australia

Scale for Success tells the stories of growth enterprise, delivers some of the essential rules of growth, and will inspire anyone that reads it. The outrageously tough journey of building a company and actually enjoying the process is very rare but Jan has captured the stories of those that have worked hard to build their success.

Lara Morgan, Founder & Co-Owner, Scentered and Founder, Global Amenities Direct

What I love about this book is that Jan provides in-depth stories that truly engage and connect with the reader. This is how business books should be written.

Joseph Meuse, Founder & President, Business GPS

Jan has an incredible knack of making scaling applicable and accessible for entrepreneurs and start-ups. Making the human connection between real examples and applicable strategies is golden. Relatable, human, and super valuable, this is a must-read for the business owner getting ready to scale.

Jo Gifford, Content Development Lead, author and podcaster

This book is dedicated to my son, Jack, who is not just incredibly special to me, but also encouraged and supported me in writing this book. Without him, it might never have existed. In addition to that, he has left me in awe of his courage during what has been an incredibly tough year for him.

Contents

James Bartle, Outland Denim

Bev Hurley, YTKO

Stephen Kelly, Chair of Tech Nation

Durell Coleman, DC Designs

Nicole Lamond, Eloments Tea

Alex Packham, ContentCal

Ben Revell, Winebuyers.com

Russell Dalgleish, Exolta Capital Partners

David Siegel, Venture Partner, Right Side Capital Management

Roby Sharon-Zipser, hipages Group

Dame Shellie Hunt, Success by Design, Women of Global Change

Ranzie Anthony, Athlon

Rob Hamilton, Instant Offices Group

Natalie Lewis, Dynamic HR

Adrian Kingwell, Mezzo Labs

David Meerman Scott, Strategist, Speaker, Author

George Sullivan, The Sole Supplier

Matt Sweetwood, LUXnow

Ed Molyneux, FreeAgent

Paris Cutler, Planet Cake and Blue Ocean Strategist

Andrew Milbourn, Kiss The Fish

Anneke van den Broek, Rufus & Coco

James Davidson, tails.com

Sam Kennis, Three Wolves

Simon Wadsworth, Igniyte Ltd

Lex Deak, KinderList

Mike Lander, Piscari

Natalie Douglas: Lucidity LLC, RareiTi, Inc

Jeff Fenster, Everbowl

Jeremy Harbour, The Harbour Club & Unity Group

The most enormous thanks goes to the entrepreneurs in this book: James Bartle, Bev Hurley, Stephen Kelly, Durell Coleman, Nicole Lamond, Alex Packham, Ben Revell, Russell Dalgleish, David Siegel, Roby Sharon-Zipser, Dame Shellie Hunt, Ranzie Anthony, Rob Hamilton, Natalie Lewis, Adrian Kingwell, David Meerman Scott, George Sullivan, Matt Sweetwood, Ed Molyneux, Paris Cutler, Andrew Milbourn, Anneke van den Broek, James Davidson, Sam Kennis, Simon Wadsworth, Lex Deak, Mike Lander, Natalie Douglas, Jeff Fenster and Jeremy Harbour.

Between you all, you made me laugh a lot, cry occasionally, become a great deal wiser and remain in constant awe of your achievements.

Sadly too many to mention, there is an even longer list of lovely people who help those mentioned above, be it as PAs or PRs, who helped me out in liaising back and forth. They were all hugely kind and patient.

Also, on the kind and patient list, has to be Matt James, assistant editor at Bloomsbury Business. Not only did he encourage me with my submission, but he has tolerated a barrage of questions over several months. Thanks to him and everyone at Bloomsbury.

A final thank you too goes to Kate Bassett (now at Management Today ) and Hunter Ruthven, now at Be the Business , both of whom were my editors at Real Business , Kate briefly and Hunter for many years. His encouragement of my writing meant the world to me and without him I would never have arrived at this point.

All my life I have been an entrepreneur. I have started micro-businesses that have stayed deliberately micro and one high-growth, multi-million business. That high-growth one happened organically, a roller-coaster ride I got on and for a long while, I couldnt get off again.

This fairground ride brought me glittering opportunities. During my 20-odd years of running that business, I won regional and national business awards. I was proud to represent the UK in the European Parliament as one of 50 women to spearhead a campaign for womens enterprise; I discussed the economy on BBC Twos Newsnight under the kind encouragement of both Jeremy Paxman and Emily Maitlis. I debated at the Cambridge Union. Perhaps the most exciting opportunity for me was to be able to write for a variety of business publications, most notably Real Business . Had I bothered with any education, writing was what I had always dreamed of doing. Not too shabby for someone who started businesses originally with not one jot of knowledge and probably just as little skill.

That lack of knowledge and skill became more significant when it came to growing the business rather than starting one. I worked at remedying that ignorance by applying to become a member of a high-growth business club in London called The Supper Club. They were very selective about whom they interviewed and even more so about whom they let in. To my slight amazement, they accepted me, and for several years, I attended business dinners and training courses with some of the very best entrepreneurs in the UK. Everything we discussed was always under Chatham House rules (in which information shared can be disclosed, but the sources cannot be identified), and everyone was incredibly open about the problems they encountered in growing a business. I loved it. I never made any secret of the fact that I was a minnow among whales and no one ever seemed to mind.