How do you scale a profitable business without VC?

We run a small but solid business that has been working well for several years. Customers value the product and the company is already profitable. Demand could probably support significantly more sales if we pushed harder for growth.
However, we deliberately avoided venture capital and “growth at all costs”. Independence matters a lot to us: short decision paths, full control over product quality, and staying true to the substance of what we built.
So the question we’re thinking about is slightly different from the typical startup question: How have other founders successfully scaled a profitable business without taking investors and without losing independence or product integrity?
I’m especially interested in concrete models that worked in practice — for example productization, SaaS layers, automation, licensing, partnerships, or other structures that allow growth without losing control. Just to be clear: I’m not looking for investors, buyers, service providers or partnerships here. I’m only interested in hearing experiences from founders who have dealt with this problem themselves.