If You Have a Service Brand, Here's How to Grow Without Hiring More People It's about making your time more valuable.

Q: I want to grow my service-based business, but do I really need a bigger staff to land bigger clients? — Anna, Charlotte, NC

Some businesses, like SaaS or tech companies, are infinitely scalable: You build the product and sell it to as many people as possible. Service-based businesses are different, because you're limited by the amount of time it takes to perform a given service.

One might assume that the only way to create more time (to perform more services) is to hire more people. But there's a different way to think about it: Smart growth isn't about spending more, nor is it about maxing out your time. It's about finding leverage.

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This starts with identifying your company's competitive advantage. Ask yourself these five questions:

1. What is the main value I provide to my clients that's not a commodity?

2. Where am I investing the most time? Could it be better utilized?

3. Where am I making the most money? Is it the area with the most upside?

4. What could I spend less time on that would multiply our money?

5. What could I spend more time on that would multiply our money?

The answers can help you rethink your model for growth. For example, you might need to invest in technology, tools, or experiences that create a competitive advantage — which ultimately saves time — so you can make more money.

Here's a personal example of how I thought through those questions. My agency, Pen Name Consulting, has only five full-time staffers — and we deliver amazing results at a premium cost for clients that have included Arnold Schwarzenegger, LeBron James, Microsoft, Equinox, and more. But of course, it's hard to sell "amazing results." After all, every company claims the same thing.

Sales calls and meetings take a lot of time, so we decided to differentiate ourselves by showing people our value: We launched a yearly event called two12 — based on the boiling point of water — in which attendance was limited to 65 people and absolutely everything was personalized. People walked in with questions and walked out with answers.

Related: 4 Surprisingly Simple Ways To Stand Out From Your Competition

Two12 was a sales event that didn't sell anything. It allowed us to meet people, to have our past clients meet potential clients, and to demonstrate that working with us was a different experience. We had a simple focus: Move the needle significantly in a few days so that people might understand the impact of several months of concentrated work.

Now ask yourself: How can you stand out from your competitors in a way that either significantly increases the number of clients you can serve in a limited span of time, or allows you to charge more for your service?

It doesn't have to be an event. You can create content, do podcasts, automate services, or invent a better mousetrap. But with any company, and particularly with service-based businesses, you don't want to be stuck in a comparison game. You want it to be hard for anyone to argue that they can do what you do.

When you focus less on how you beat the competition and more on how you maximize time — and prove you're different than everyone else — the path to growth becomes much clearer.