Bianca Miller-Cole, Founder Bianca Millar London SCALING UP SUCCESSFULLY HOW TO ENSURE YOU’RE


Bianca Miller-Cole is an award-winning entrepreneur and author who became a well-known finalist on The Apprentice in 2014. Since then, she has launched Bianca Miller London, a diverse range of nude hosiery available online and in Topshop stores, and been awarded a prestigious ‘Power Profile’ on Linked In for being one of its Top 10 most powerful leaders. She has also co-authored a book titled “Self-Made: The definitive guide to start-up business success” and mentors budding entrepreneurs. Bianca draws on her experience as a business owner and offers tips on what scaling businesses can do to ensure they set themselves up for success.


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eaching the scale up phase is an exciting moment for any business – however, it brings new challenges as


well as opportunities. Recent research from Barclaycard reveals that almost six in ten leaders (57 per cent) of scaling businesses have experienced a moment of uncertainty when they were afraid their business would fail. The research, which consisted of interviews with 500 senior decision makers in scale up businesses*, also found that the overwhelming majority (91 per cent) of growing companies have looked to external partners to help scale their businesses. In addition, seven in ten (71 per cent) business leaders are calling for more help to be available to successful start-ups ready to grow.


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Recognise the moment when you need to scale up Taking a moment to step back before taking action is really important and might prevent you from diving in without having the right infrastructure or external support in place. A simple question could prove to have a very worthwhile answer – ask yourself, “Am I technically a ‘scale up’?” Over a quarter of key decision makers in businesses that have scaled up don’t know or haven’t heard of the term ‘scale up’, according to Barclaycard’s research.


Use tools that will help you in more ways than one In order to scale successfully, you will need to start thinking about the


TAKING A MOMENT TO STEP BACK BEFORE TAKING ACTION IS REALLY IMPORTANT AND MIGHT PREVENT YOU FROM DIVING IN WITHOUT HAVING THE RIGHT INFRASTRUCTURE OR EXTERNAL SUPPORT IN PLACE


processes within your business that can be automated. Technology can drive significant efficiencies and it is important to use it to your advantage. There is a


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