Stay Small or Scale Up? Making the Decision That Shapes Your Practice—and Your Life

The Crossroads Every Firm Owner Reaches

For ten years, I thrived as a solo fractional CFO with 90% profit margins, deep client impact, and the freedom to take off for a day or week of family adventures without asking permission. But during those years, I felt an increasing call to progress beyond what was possible own my own. I faced the choice common with many practice owners:

“Do I double down on a boutique that fits my lifestyle, or start building something bigger than myself?”

That dilemma—and the decision-making framework I’ve refined—was the heart of my breakout session at Scaling New Heights 2025:

“Stay Small or Scale Up? Making the Decision That’s Best for You.”

Pressure to Scale: Sorting Signal from Noise

With a full room, it was clear that all participants were wrestling with this question. How did I discover my answer? 

Early on, I felt two pulls:

External pressure: Industry podcasts praising eight-figure firms. Team members are hungry for promotions. Vendors promising “unlimited AI capacity.”

Internal pressure: My itch to grow, wrapped around a genuine love of flexibility and family time.

Insight:

Before charting your course, pause. Ask yourself: Where is the pressure coming from, and does it align with what I truly want?

External data informs you, but only an honest internal check prevents a business that silently drains you.

The Case for Staying Intentionally Small

Lifestyle Control When I capped revenue just under $500K, I worked from home, chose my projects, and never missed dinner.

High Margins My last month before hiring a US employee: $45K recurring, $3.5K to offshore contractors, $1.5K in software/travel—90% profit.

Client Impact Being “the business” lets you parachute into defining moments, like designing a funding model on a Saturday that helped a startup raise millions.

Simplicity No staff meetings. No HR headaches. Your only constraint is the clock. But remember: A lifestyle boutique caps your income, risks loneliness, and limits your exit options.

My Recommendations on How to Optimize a Small Firm:

1. Value-Based Pricing. Anchor fees to client outcomes, not hours. An early client happily paid $4K/month when we outperformed their $5K in-house bookkeeper.
2. Doing Offshoring Right. Start with repeatable tasks (e.g., a payroll-commission template) so you only have to “review and send to the client or hit the pay button.”
3. Niche Down. Weed out marginal clients, replace them with perfect fits, and become indispensable in your vertical.
4. Develop Process, first,  then hire People. A three-video SOP library beats a 15-page PDF—and makes delegation friction-free.

The Pros & Cons of Scaling Up

Pros:

• Earnings & Equity. I traded short-term take-home for millions in enterprise value, and steadier income.
• Leadership Leverage. Today, our full leadership team lets me disappear on cruises and return to momentum, not mayhem.
• Greater Impact. We serve 300+ clients and create careers for 100+ people across the U.S. and the Philippines.
• Personal Growth. Transitioning from technician to builder stretched me infinitely more than perfecting spreadsheets ever could.

Cons:

• Complexity. A COVID outbreak in the Philippines once forced us to rent a quarantine house and buy $50K in laptops overnight.
• Margin Compression. My monthly draw dipped to nearly zero while we reinvested in people and tech.
• The “Messy Middle.” Between $1M–$3M ARR, you face enterprise-level headaches with mid-market resources.
• Skill-Set Shift. Hiring, firing, leading: tasks I’d mastered as a CFO looked very different when the buck stopped with me.

Scaling Profitably: Becoming a Builder, Not an Operator

• Create Systems, Then Upgrade Them. Every $1M milestone demands a process rebuild—SOPs, org charts, leadership rhythms.
• Develop Leaders. Our core virtues, leadership groups, and EOS meeting cadence keep 100 people moving in unison.
• Maintain Financial Discipline. Run a rolling 13-week cash forecast. Model hires against real pain. Fire fast when fit is wrong.
• Define “Enough.” For us, $10M ARR is the next checkpoint: freedom, leadership depth, and healthy margins.

Key Questions to Ask Yourself

1. Work/Life Balance: What does true freedom look like for me?
2. Managing People: Does leading energize or exhaust me?
3. Financial Goal: What’s my number for security and satisfaction?
4. Definition of Success: Personal growth, team growth, client delight, sustainable profit, or a blend?

*Write your answers. Vague aspirations make fuzzy strategies.

The Decision Is Yours—Own It

Staying small can deliver profit and presence. Scaling can unlock freedom and lasting impact, as I continue to create at Nimbl. The real tragedy is letting momentum—or fear—make the choice for you.

If this overview resonated, let’s continue the conversation. Message me! 

Whichever path you choose, choose it with eyes wide open and strategy in hand. 👋

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