What was once a distant dream or modest idea has now evolved into a flourishing small business. You’ve overcome the initial challenges of being a start-up and your business is ready to transform into something bigger.
Growing a small business involves more than just expanding operations, growing the team, and diversifying offerings—it requires a commitment to sustainable and effective growth. Rushing the expansion process or approaching it haphazardly can lead to challenges down the road, such as burnout, a loss of vision, or even cash flow problems. Learning effective strategies for sustainably growing your small business can help you anticipate common challenges and find actionable solutions.
How Do I Know When it's time to Grow My Business?
Before delving into the challenges and solutions associated with the growth of small businesses, it's crucial to initially consider how to determine when the right moment for expansion has arrived. Given that each small business is distinct, with its own set of strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities, there is no universal timeline. However, as a general guideline, the indication to grow may arise when:
The demand for your services is greater than your current capacity.
You need a leader (or leaders) with a specialized skill set(s).
You’re gaining steady business without trying too hard (through referrals, current marketing strategies, your reputation, etc.).
You’re turning down business opportunities because your current schedule and team are strained.
Tired of spinning your wheels, unsure of what to focus on next to grow your business, then the Business Growth Guide is just for you. This checklist walks entrepreneurs through the three stages of business growth to help you maximize your Return on Investment (of TIME, ENERGY, and yes MONEY) - GET THE BUSINESS GROWTH GUIDE HERE
4 Common Small Business Growth Challenges (With Actionable Solutions)
When you start to grow your small business, you may face some common challenges that small business owners before you have faced such as:
1. Lacking proper cash flow management.
2. Increasing quantity but decreasing quality.
3. Finding the right talent.
4. Maintaining your brand and personality.
With savvy preparedness and sustainable growth strategies in your toolbelt, you can help prevent these challenges and move forward steadily.
1. LACKING PROPER CASH FLOW MANAGEMENT.
As you begin your small business growth journey, the demand for your company’s resources can exponentially increase. Acquiring qualified talent, increasing marketing initiatives, and investing in new technology can strain your income.
It’s critical to anticipate these increased expenses before you begin expanding so you can strategically allocate funds, maintain enough liquidity, and anticipate financial needs — all while sustaining your current day-to-day operations.
Forecasting your future cash flow needs is an excellent way to prepare for the cash flow changes that will inevitably come. You’ll want to carefully evaluate whether or not your projected returns justify your investments. Investing in the right technology or talent can prove to be worthwhile, it just shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Ensuring you have a foolproof method of receiving payments from clients or customers can also help prevent setbacks. If you have clients who are consistently late on their payments, address them promptly and streamline your invoicing process.
Verifying that you always have access to the cash you need, either through a business line of credit, credit card, or even a small business loan, is also crucial as you grow. While you don’t want to rely too heavily on financing, it can be a lifeline as you work through certain scaling challenges and invest in the future of your business.
Prioritizing your highest-paying clients or products can also help you maintain the cash flow you need to grow effectively.
2. INCREASING QUANTITY BUT DECREASING QUALITY.
Increasing sales, sending higher proposals, and meeting new customers and clients is exciting, especially when it seems to all be snowballing in the right direction. But with all the excitement and new opportunities come the potential for a decrease in quality. Saying yes to new contracts and orders should only happen when you have the capacity and manpower to back them up.
It can be detrimental to your business if your current clients start to notice a dip in quality or there’s a significant change in your products.
Creating clear quality standards and ensuring proper employee training can be extremely advantageous as you grow. Having crystal clear benchmarks and expectations can help your employees feel empowered and ready to maintain quality. Let them know that they can always ask questions to gain clarity and regularly provide them with positive feedback and opportunities where they can grow.
3. FINDING THE RIGHT TALENT.
As you grow your business, you’ll want to ensure your new employees have both the necessary skill set and the right personality that will blend well with you and your current team. Expanding is an intense time in the life of a business and clashing personalities can be detrimental to growth.
Potential employees are attracted to companies experiencing exciting growth, especially well-executed expansion. Finding the right people to join you on your scaling journey can seem intimidating but utilizing the right strategies can help you navigate these complicated waters.
Chances are, you already have a wide network full of professional contacts. And thanks to networking websites such as LinkedIn, you can access qualified talent worldwide. Advertise your position with your current network first and see where that takes you.
Offering compelling work perks can also help you attract the right talent for your team. Offering flexible work arrangements, generous pay and benefits, and opportunities for growth and development can pay off in the long run.
Creating a process for hiring can also help you ensure you’re bringing on the right people — have clear experience requirements and skills assessments ready to use during interviews.
4. MAINTAINING YOUR BRAND.
As your team grows and more personalities and preferences emerge, you might not recognize parts of your business anymore. While some of this is unavoidable, you can help prevent your business from completely changing by putting in some initial effort.
Before expanding, brainstorm and write out your business’s core values. These values should reflect you and what you want your business to stand for. Examples could include prioritizing diversity, always acting with integrity, consistently exceeding customer expectations, being fiscally responsible, etc. As you hire a team, present these values during interviews and ensure the candidates are willing to adhere to them.
Creating a brand style guide can also help you and your employees stick to a consistent brand identity. From colour palettes and typography to brand messaging and tone of voice, a style guide can help your team maintain cohesiveness. This also helps your business gain trust and recognition among your target audience.
Consistently reviewing adherence to your company’s core values and brand strategy is essential as you grow. Periodically review your communications and ensure both your employees and your customers are perceiving the business’s brand positively.
Achieve Sustainable Growth with HM Accounting
At HM Accounting, we take pride in guiding our clients through the development of financial and scaling strategies that foster the thriving of their businesses. Our expertise extends to optimizing cash flow, implementing effective forecasting and budgeting practices, and identifying and addressing potential growth challenges.
Entrepreneurs and small business owners can benefit from our Business Trainings and Business Strategy Sessions, designed to equip you with proven systems for managing your finances and prioritizing your own revenue. To explore how we can support you and your business, reach out to us via email at info@hmaccounting.online or book your free discovery call with us - here
DIGITAL DOWNLOADS:
Tired of spinning your wheels, unsure of what to focus on next to grow your business, then the Business Growth Guide is just for you. This checklist walks entrepreneurs through the three stages of business growth to help you maximize your Return on Investment (of TIME, ENERGY, and yes MONEY) - GET THE BUSINESS GROWTH GUIDE HERE
TEN DAYS TO BUILD A BETTER BUSINESS - A strategic mini-course designed for small business owners and entrepreneurs focused on transforming and growing your business - Get it HERE
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