When you first start a business, you generally put a lot of effort into marketing and winning new business so that you can first, make your business viable in terms of revenue, and then aim to expand it. When you are in this exciting, often frenetic phase of your business’ life, things can move fast and the scale of your business can increase quite rapidly. As a business begins to grow and expand, many business owners fail to keep their strategies aligned with their size, and can feel overwhelmed trying to manage the needs of a rapidly scaling enterprise. However, by identifying new needs as they emerge and taking action to meet them, running a growing business doesn’t have to be so stressful.
Here are some changes that tend to happen as your business grows, and what you may need to do about them:
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Some of The Roles You Are Filling Yourself Become Too Big
One of the first signs your business is expanding to the point where you need to adjust your approach is that there isn’t time for you to wear all the hats you were wearing at the beginning. When you start a new business, it is common for you, as the owner, to try and fill as many roles as possible yourself to keep costs down. You may be doing all of the financial management, running the marketing, human resources, admin, and lots of other things on top of doing whatever it is your business actually does for its customers. As you grow, these things all become more demanding. Some things may become big enough that it is worth hiring a full or part time employee to take them off of your hands. However, in other cases, using consultants can be a great way to get these important functions done without having to take on a new employee. Consultants for things like accountancy can easily free up your time and do a highly professional job of supporting your business.
Your Premises and Resources May No Longer Be Adequate
As well as the minimum amount of people, a lot of businesses start out with the minimum amount of space and resources. If you are running your business from home, or you have a small office space in a less than prestigious location, this may no longer be enough to support your business in its current size. If your business operates from a physical location like a shop or restaurant, you may find you have enough demand to look at opening a second branch. Not all businesses need to scale up their HQ, but it is well worth considering.
You Get to Reinvest
Your strategy can have more freedom now you are bringing in more money, and you can consider reinvesting profits into further marketing to keep the business growing exponentially. However, it is more important to invest in addressing the points above before you start investing in further growth.
A growing business is a great thing, and as long as you make the changes needed to support your growth, you can enjoy the experience of your venture being a success without the stress of having too much on your plate!
About Carson Derrow
