Growth Lab Sunderland: Should I Scale or Should I Grow?

Most business owners reach a point where working harder stops feeling like the answer. You’re busy, you’re committed, and you care deeply about what you do – but something isn’t quite clicking. Perhaps you’ve made real progress and built something that works, but taking the next step feels less straightforward than you expected. The business isn’t moving forward as you’d hoped, and you’re not entirely sure what it needs next.

That’s exactly the conversation this Growth Lab is designed to have.

This session brings together people who’ve been at that same crossroads – and come out the other side with a clearer picture of what their business actually needed. Along the way, we’ll explore the difference between growing and scaling. Not as a theory, but as a practical tool to help you work out where you are, what’s holding you back, and how to move forward without adding more complexity, cost or pressure.

Why you can't miss this

Growing and scaling sound like the same thing. In practice they describe two very different paths – and many businesses struggle precisely because they’re trying to do both at once without realising it.

Growing typically means more revenue, more clients, more staff, with costs rising alongside. Scaling means revenue rising faster than your costs, by building systems and processes that make the business more efficient and less dependent on you personally.

Understanding which path fits your business – and aligning everything behind that choice – is one of the clearest ways to start making real, sustainable progress.

This session will help you

• Recognise whether your business is set up for growth, for scale, or accidentally trying to do both
• Understand what your business actually needs at this stage – in plain English, with real examples
• Ask better questions about your time, your team, your margins, and your systems
• Leave with 2–3 practical steps you can take straight back to your business

Your hosts

John Forth and Debbie Simpson, Business Advisers, North East BIC

Debbie and John will be welcoming you on the day, introducing Andrew and the panel, and making sure the Q&A is open, relaxed, and genuinely useful. No question is too basic. That’s a Growth Lab promise.