Being a business owner can be one of the most stressful jobs you can have. Each decision you make has a direct impact on your business. Growing a business is even harder than simply maintaining one. Navigating growth can be fickle. Making one wrong investment can doom your business. If you think your business is ready to grow, take steps to ensure that it scales smartly. This guide will provide some different tips for you to consider when growing your business.
Grow Sustainably
After years of hard work, planning, and non-stop worrying, your business has experienced a few wins. You have more capital than ever and the future projections are looking great. You’re excited about the future of your business and want to grow, quickly. Far too often, business owners have unrealistic expectations in relation to their growth. This is one of the quickest ways to sink your business. Going in too fast, too strong, and without a solid plan in place can take all that hard work you’ve put in and throw it out the window.
When you decide it’s time to scale your business, consider hiring a financial advisor. Financial advisors can help you make realistic projections about your business. Having an advisor on your side will assist you in navigating the murky waters of growing your business. A financial planner should be able to help you understand all your business finances. This will enable you to make a realistic goal in terms of your growth. Setting a realistic goal should be the first step of your expansion plan.
When looking to hire a financial planner, choose one that fits your needs. There are many different types of financial advisors out there and finding the right fit for your company can be difficult. Brokercheck is a helpful tool you can use to research different financial advisors. It will show you a specific advisor’s work history, certifications, and licenses.
Take Out A Small Business Loan
Investing in expansion can be a costly venture. Often, you won’t be able to fund this expansion on your own. Outside funds will likely be needed to help maintain a healthy cashflow.
While taking out a loan to fund an expansion can seem counterintuitive, it will likely pay off in the long run. A loan will enable you to spend the desired amount of money on your expansion to better ensure its success, while still having the required amount of liquid cash to maintain your working business needs.
When deciding to take on a business loan, choose a loan that fits both your capital needs as well as the desired time frame you had in mind for a payoff period. Business loans have evolved over time, and today’s loans can be customized to meet your needs in almost every way.
If you don’t feel like pulling out all your financial records and walking down to a big national bank to apply for a loan in person, consider looking into some alternative loan options. Online business financing has become increasingly popular within the lending space. These alternative loans only require a soft credit check and generally have quicker turnaround times for funding.
No matter what kind of loan you decide to take out, comb through the fine details of the agreement. A loan that isn’t perfect for your business can cause major headaches down the road if you don’t do your due diligence.
Give Up Some Responsibility
Running a small business can be overwhelming. Depending on the size of your business, it can feel like you’re being pulled from every different direction. This is even truer when you are growing your business.
It can be hard, but giving up some responsibility is necessary if you truly want to grow your business. As businesses evolve, it becomes impossible for the boss to continue to do everything.
There are a few ways you can shed some responsibility when growing your business. Hiring more people can be challenging. Partnering with a staffing company can better improve your hiring process. Staffing companies can help ensure you’re hiring the right people for your company.
When looking for new employees, remember quality is better than quantity. Working with three great employees is better than working with 10 people who may not be fit for the job.
Besides hiring new employees, automating some processes of your business is a great way to drop some unnecessary tasks. Investing in different software will help you automate business processes. Investing in technology will help keep you from spreading yourself too thin. Depending on the size of your business, you may only want to automate a few different departments.
If you aren’t using customer relationship management (CRM) software already, it is a great first step in terms of automating business processes. Read up on some of the best CRM software available in 2020. Utilizing CRM software will help increase your marketing efforts and will enable you to be a more efficient business.
Lean on Others
Remember that you are not in this alone. Business owners sometimes feel like they can’t rely on others to help them when they need it. Going into expansion alone can be near impossible.
Leaning on friends, family, coworkers, and peers is a great way to be a better business owner. The people around you will keep you in check when you are stressed out and they also can provide great insight from an outside perspective.
If talking to others is helpful for you, try getting more involved with local businesses in the community that may have gone through the same issues your business could be going through right now.
If you feel lost when navigating a business issue, visit How Do I…? This page provides insight to help with many business problems.
Keep Your Eyes on The Prize
When growing your business, keep your goals in mind—not just your growth goals, but your business goals in general. Be sure to continue to provide excellent customer service, amazing products, and be the best business you possibly can.