What 10KSB Actually Taught Me About Scaling a Creative Business

When you run a creative business, the work is usually the first thing you figure out.

You learn your craft. You refine your taste. You get to a point where you can consistently create something strong, and people start responding to it.

That part, for me, was never the question.

What got harder was everything around it. Turning that work into a business that could actually hold its own growth, without relying on me to constantly manage every decision, every detail, every direction.

That’s where I was before joining Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses in North Carolina. Kindly Woven was growing, the demand was there, and the vision felt clear. But I could feel how much of it was still being held together by instinct.

I wasn’t looking for better ideas. I needed to understand how to support the business behind the work in a more concrete way.

Why I Applied

We had a strong first launch. Sales were coming in, and we were starting to land wholesale placements in stores we admired. I felt confident in the work itself.

What didn’t feel as clear was everything around it.

I was making fast decisions to keep things moving, often without giving myself time to think through the longer-term impact. Growth was happening, but I couldn’t clearly see how stable it was. And my finances, especially cash flow, felt like something I checked after the fact instead of something guiding decisions.

If you’ve built something creative, you’ve probably experienced this disconnect. The work is thoughtful and considered, but the business decisions around it start to feel reactive and harder to track.

I didn’t want to keep operating that way, especially at a stage where the business clearly needed more structure.

What 10KSB Actually Is

A lot of people assume programs like this stay too broad or theoretical. But that wasn’t my experience.

It felt more like a condensed MBA, applied directly to my business in real time. Each section focused on a different area, financials, operations, marketing, teams, and I had to actually build those pieces out using my own numbers and decisions.

That meant looking closely at how money was moving, what was actually profitable, and where things were less clear than I had assumed. It also meant putting structure around growth, not just ideas, but something I could evaluate and adjust.

The network was a big part of it too. I was surrounded by other business owners doing the same level of work and sharing what was actually happening in their businesses. Most weren’t creatives, which ended up being helpful. They could see things I was too close to and challenge how I was thinking about them.

Having to put all of it together at once, and see how it held up against how I was actually operating, changed how I run the business now.

The Shifts That Changed How I Operate

A few things shifted how I think and make decisions inside the business.

Strategy isn’t something you “feel.” It’s something you build

In creative work, instinct is often your strength. It shapes your taste, your decisions, and how you create.

But I had been leaning on that same instinct in areas where it wasn’t enough. I was moving quickly instead of thinking structurally.

This pushed me to slow down just enough to actually build out decisions. Not to overcomplicate things, but in a way that made them clearer and more repeatable. If you’re used to trusting your eye, this shift can feel unfamiliar, but it gives you something more stable to work from.

Cash flow isn’t abstract. It’s the reality of your business

I understood revenue. I understood sales.

But I wasn’t paying close attention to timing, when money was coming in, when it was going out, and how that affected everything else.

Once I started looking at that more closely, decisions became more grounded. It was easier to see what was actually sustainable versus what just looked good at the surface level.

If finances have felt slightly out of reach or something you revisit later, this is usually where things start to shift.

You can’t scale what only exists in your head

In a creative business, a lot of how things work is tied to how you think.

Your process, your standards, and how you make decisions often live within you. That’s part of what makes the work strong, but it also creates a limit.

I had more of the business sitting in my head than I realized. That works when you’re close to everything, but it doesn’t hold as you grow.

This made me look at what needed to be built outside of me, so the business didn’t depend on constant input to function.

Not all growth supports the work

More opportunities can feel validating. More sales can too.

But not all of it supports the kind of work you actually want to be known for, or the way you want to operate.

I’m more aware now of what aligns with the business and what just adds volume. If things have been increasing but your capacity or clarity hasn’t improved, you’ve probably felt that tension.

Leadership requires stepping back from the work

Doing the work well is one skill. Building something that can hold that work is another.

I’ve always been someone who stays close to the details. That’s part of why the work is consistent.

But staying in everything started to limit how the business could grow. This shifted how I think about where I need to be involved and where I don’t.

That change is less about doing less and more about being more deliberate with where my attention goes.

What Changed for Me

The work itself didn’t change. The standard didn’t change.

But how I run the business around it did.

I make decisions with more clarity and less urgency. I pay closer attention to the financial reality, not just the visible growth. And I build in a way that supports the work, instead of constantly adjusting around it.

That’s changed how the business feels to run. It’s more stable. There’s more room to think. It doesn’t rely on me in the same way it used to.

Who This Is For (and Who It’s Not)

If you’re still developing your work or figuring out your direction, this kind of program can feel too early.

But if you’ve already built something strong, you have demand, and you can feel the pressure of holding it all together as it grows, this is where it becomes relevant.

That stage where the work is clear but the business structure isn’t fully supporting it is where this kind of experience is most useful.

Final Thought

I didn’t need to get better at the work.

I needed to stop running a growing business the same way I ran it when it was smaller.

That gap is easy to miss, especially in a creative business where your instincts have carried you this far. You’ve probably relied on your eye, your responsiveness, your ability to make things work in the moment. That doesn’t suddenly stop working, but it does start to carry more weight than it should.

What this gave me was a way to see where that approach was no longer enough, and what needed to replace it.

Not more effort. Not more ideas.

Better structure behind the decisions I was already making, so the business could actually support the level it had reached.

That’s the difference I can feel now. I’m not holding everything together in the same way. The business is starting to do more of that work on its own.

We’re still in the middle of building this.

The next step for us is our first show at Atlanta Market, and right now that looks like designing a booth, making decisions about what to bring, and figuring out how to show up well in a completely new setting. I’ll keep sharing that process as we go, so you can see what it actually looks like to grow this in real time.

If you want to stay close to that, you’re always welcome here.

And if you’re at a stage where your business is growing but needs more structure behind it, 10KSB is worth looking into. It gave me a clearer way to support what I was already building, and that shift is continuing to shape what comes next.

You can find out more about it here: Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses