How to Grow and Scale your Business (Sustainably)
Growing your business may feel daunting but it shouldn’t be exhausting. With strategy, scaling your biz means more profits, more time for you, and happier customers!
Would you believe me if I told you growing too fast was one of the leading reasons a business fails? This may sound counter-intuitive, because business growth means success right? Not always.
Growing too quickly may lead to resources spread too thin, added overhead costs, or something even more devastating for a brand: the quality of your Customer Experience and product suffer.
When you begin to scale your business, it’s critical you set yourself up for success by building a strong, strategic foundation.
Sustainable Growth versus Growing Too Quickly
There’s smart and not-so-smart ways to grow your business. We identified the five biggest hurdles when scaling your business, and where businesses get it right (and wrong). Where do you fall in terms of the five categories?
Be Pro-active, not a Re-active Business
We know you’re busy. If we teach you anything it's this: taking time out to strategically plan for your business will save you TIME, MONEY, and heartache down the road. Spend one or two days (with us or alone) strategizing about your business growth. Then for the rest of the year, dedicate 30-60 minutes per week to check-in, and build efficiency.
There are so many hats a small business owner wears, from sales to operations to finance, that it can be overwhelming. A great lesson I learned in the corporate world was:
“do something today that your future-self will thank you for.”
There is no time like the present to get something done and stop pushing it away towards a future date.
Lack of strategy leads to uncertainty and wasted resources.
Without a clear roadmap of where your business is going or what you should be aiming towards, our path to success quickly becomes convoluted. Would you begin a road trip without a map or GPS? Without strategy, you head off in the general direction and just might arrive at the destination; but, you’ll arrive much later than intended (circling back, asking for directions!) or even worse, not arrive at all.
Business goals and strategy are the guardrails for your business, keeping you focused on the direction your business is heading, with flexibility to make adjustments as needed.
Is it Time to Grow my Business?
We developed the quip, “know before you grow.” It’s important you’re considering a wide variety of perspectives to ensure you grow your business intentionally and responsibly.
Your business is poised for growth when
You’ve optimized your current operations;
Customer Experience and Service are at a high standard; and
You have a plan in place to grow that maintains quality and service.
If you have doubt or uncertainty that your business is ready to scale, that’s okay. Take a step away from the operations to strategize. Consider getting an outside perspective to review the processes and goals you have created for your expansion plans. If you have hesitations about hiring an outside perspective, that may be an indicator you’re not ready to grow, simply because scaling your business requires both investment and delegation.
With a good plan and strong tactics to reach your goals, anything is possible.
Ready to expand and looking for help?
We help businesses expand by focusing on what’s most important: strategy, time management, quality (experience and product), finances, and onboarding / processes. Contact us today!
What parts of growing scare you the most? We are here to ease those fears and always want to help business owners reach their dreams.
Learn about Roadmaps and Goal Setting for your business here. Roadmaps are a great way to create guardrails and check-ins, ensuring your business succeeds as it grows!