Here’s what 11 years of growing RotaCloud taught us and why that matters for your business

In any growing business, whether a team of five or fifty, you constantly face new challenges. You want to scale up and bring in better, more strategic processes to improve efficiency, but you’re too busy managing rotas, prepping payroll, and ringing for cover (to name a few). With such monotonous tasks absorbing your day-to-day, it can be difficult to take a step back, zoom out, and see the bigger picture.

Here’s what we wish we’d known earlier, and what we think every small-to-medium business owner could use to build a stronger, more resilient business.

Advice for small-to-medium business owners

Don’t be afraid to start something again

In the early days, the first version of RotaCloud didn't quite hit the mark. It was over-engineered, but not focused enough on what employers really needed. 

So, we went back to the basics and focused on what we were trying to do in the first place – make a simple solution for employers to create and share rotas, and for employees to check their shifts. 

So we did just that. And that clarity shaped everything we've built since.

You need to hire sooner than you think

Our founders, Joel, David, and James, once did everything - and we mean everything. From customer support to marketing to operations to building the entire product and testing it – they shared every single role.

While that’s the everyday of a growing business and learning as you go is highly important, accepting what you don’t know and where you could have help can truly aid your (and your business’) progress.

In hindsight (they admitted, when looking back), the RotaCloud founders should have hired waaaaaaay earlier. 

“We'd always been a bit conscious of how much it would cost to hire someone,’ James said. “But, in reality, you’ve just got to go for it, because the sooner you can delegate and focus on the business, because the sooner you can delegate and focus on the bigger picture, the sooner you can really start moving things forward.”

Joel cemented this: “Be brutal about what you do know and what you don't know, and think about what's important right now.”

Especially if you’ve done everything when building your business from the ground up, deciding to let go of jobs you’ve been used to doing yourself can be difficult, but admitting where you could use help is key to scaling up. The longer you sit and delay it, doing everything yourself, the more it delays how your business grows.

Celebrate the wins & learn from the lows

David remembers the exact moment, down to the date and time, in 2018 when RotaCloud surpassed its first major revenue milestone. It’s wins like this you’d undoubtedly celebrate, too.

Milestones change as your company grows. Those early goals may not hold as much weight as they did looking back, and you may easily hit those now small milestones. But they remain important: they show how far you’ve come. Don’t lose what once meant so much.

But it’s the blips you should remember, too – and not because the embarrassment hits you with a shiver mid-Sunday lunch.

It’s never the best feeling. But that drop in excitement, those blips, let them fuel you into looking at what hasn’t worked. Then you know how to make it better. And it’ll work.

Have a long-term view

Another piece of advice for small and growing businesses? Have a longer-term view of what you’re trying to do and achieve.

As RotaCloud kept growing, Joel reflected on how reactive they were to everything, day-to-day and week-to-week. This resulted in going back and fixing something as and when issues occurred, ultimately leading to a lot of time being wasted.

Instead, the founders agreed to look at least 6 or 12 months ahead. From planning to simply picturing where you want to be – the decisions leading from that will make sense and you won’t face as many mistakes (or have to try and undo them, at least).

Remember that nothing is set in stone

Be it bad times or good times. The blips won’t last forever, and it’s important not to get too complacent when it’s all going well.

2020 was a true testament to this. There wasn’t a person or business that COVID didn’t touch, and overnight, RotaCloud faced not knowing what its future was going to be. 

While RotaCloud made it out the other side of the pandemic unscathed, it made the founders realise that they could have lost everything, despite the company’s growth in the years prior.

“I think the good thing is it made us realise that nothing is set in stone,” Joel said. “You just can't take it for granted.”

“Always be learning. Enjoy the journey.”

Since the start, the RotaCloud founders have been driven by providing a solution to small to medium business owners and managers, and having fun while doing it – not by the potential figures that could enter their bank accounts.

“If it's all about the money, then you’re just not going to enjoy it,” Joel said. “To always be learning is probably one of the best mindsets to have – and don't get overconfident about what you think you know.”

Own what you do know and be honest about what you don’t. Even 11 years in, our founders are still learning.

“We have a lot of really skilled, technical people,” Dave said. “I learned how to do everything that I did to create RotaCloud in the first place – and now I’m learning from all the people who work at the thing that we created and… that's a nice experience.”

Final words of wisdom

After years of building your business, you’d think you’ve seen, done, and learned it all. It can be easy to get stuck in one process or frame of mind (it’s what got you to where you are, after all!), but the key is to be flexible, adapt, and always look at where improvements can be made.

RotaCloud is still growing, too. No doubt this list will continue to grow as we learn more! But, for now, let’s keep it simple.

Some lessons that apply to small businesses, no matter what stage you’re at:

• Be passionate about what you’re doing (it isn’t always about the money)
• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and start something from scratch
• Learn everything you can (and get help where you need it!)
• Don’t decide things on a whim – and make sure you’re flexible to adapt to changes

But, most importantly, enjoy the ride.

Read next ➤

The RotaCloud Story: Interview with the Founders

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