Do you want to scale your small business? If yes, check out this blog where we have discussed eight strategies for scaling a small business. Miss out on this handy information at your own perils!
The phrase strategies to grow a business may sound like magic, but it isn’t. It’s a very well-thought-out plan that is defined and divided into clear steps that will ensure the growth of an existing small business. In other words, it is the initial scaling of a small business with the purpose of laying a proper foundation for its consistent growth and development.
Keeping in mind that everything big today began small one day, the strategies should not just be ambitious but also realistic. In this article, we shall discuss the eight growth strategies for scaling a small business with a view that you will emerge better informed once you have read through.
1. Choose a location:
Choosing a location might sound like a piece of cake, thinking that you will freely select the location that you find pleasant to your eyes or one that suits your wallet. Actually, that is probably not the case; a location should be chosen for the business you are planning to set up in mind. “Is the location suitable for this business?” Who’ or what’ you are targeting is the main issue here. You need to plan and ensure you identify a suitable location and then go right in and place your business there.
2. The right people:
It is only logical that in the process of scaling your business, you will need people working with you or for you. In either case, you have to choose the right people for the right job. The right people in this case should mean the most ideal people to face the present and emerging issues of the job. Such choice cannot be made on any other consideration except putting the person who can do a certain task in his exact position, or what is otherwise called the division of labor and specialization.
This will ensure competent and accurate completion of each and every task. You will eventually have a good team that is accountable for each task; one whose work can be tracked and verified.
Always remember that even when a business has been established, there are still many steps to be taken in the right direction to ensure a basic daily achievement that can only eventually lead to continuous growth.
3. Plan your day:
You might ask yourself, what does planning a day matter? However, as a shrewd business person, planning your day first thing in the morning and every morning ensures that every minute is utilized and every effort saved. That in turn saves time and money which is key to the success of any business.
Supposing you decide to run an errand, and after coming back to your office you realize that you should have completed another errand as well. This will not only throw you off balance chasing after tighter deadlines but may as well throw your other plans for that day in disarray. Plan your day meticulously, and every day, as long as you have a business that needs to grow, don’t forget that documentation is the essence of planning.
4. Define your tasks:
Defining your tasks comes hand in hand with planning your day. This strategy entails dividing them into three categories as described below;
>Do it -These are those things that you need to do yourself,
>Automate -These are the things that can be done with the help of tools, computers or that could even be outsourced and
>Delegate –These refer to those things that can be assigned to someone else and not necessarily just one person.
Once that is done, you find that you have a clear enough head for the next step. Every day, you should be able to improve in these three areas. As you go on, you will learn that delegating is the secret to freeing yourself to build your business.
5. Work on your business, Not in your business:
Mundane tasks expend energy until there is nothing left of effort for the business. You need to have distributed those tasks so you can find yourself working on your business. This means working to improve, enlarge, expand, find those hidden glitches and improve the general efficiency of the business.
In other words, work on your business and don’t let the mundane tasks drag you down. Working on so many tasks to keep afloat means you have no chance to even try to scale up.
6. Expand your mindset:
One of the most important points to take into consideration is expanding your mindset which means opening your mind to improve a task or take on more tasks. It also involves targeting more traffic to your business and finding opportunities. In order to achieve that, you must think big and take steps in that direction. Expanding your mindset invariably means you need to act boldly with confidence since you have already gone through the rigor of planning your steps.
A continuously expanding mindset ensures that there will be no stagnation and that you don't overwhelm yourself. Keep up to date with events by being a member of several websites that can help you track your steps in the daily running of your business. A good example is; FieldPulse. This is an up-to-date site that helps a lot of small businesses to grow.
7. Build a public profile:
Building a public profile ensures that your target audience sees you; be it clients or potential contractors, other businesses. In this era of technology, there are numerous ways you can build a public profile. It can be achieved through social media, google ads, advertisements, so simply making sure your client are more than satisfied with the services that you provide.
Word of mouth is still one of the most effective ways of promoting your brand and remaining close to your clients. In order to make it work, ensure you offer itemized invoices to your customers and keep on top of your opportunities.
8. Physical expansion:
Now comes the actual expansion of your business whereby you begin to think in terms of having another location, perhaps a larger and better one. At this stage, you already have had your business going on for a while with a continuous state of upscaling. You targeted your audience and you now know exactly what your next step will be.
At this point, there are quite a few options at your disposal to choose from; you might aim for a large contract or maybe a government contract which could be a huge boost for any business. Or you could decide to merge with another company or business as a way of expansion. A small business could also offer itself as a franchise and that would be a huge step in the right direction for a small business.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, it is clear that only a business owner has the ability to pick up his business and make it grow. In the beginning, it may be quite a difficult task, but with proper business plans like rockstar, there is no limit to how much you can achieve in terms of scaling your business to new heights every day.
Indeed, scaling, planning, documenting, improving and having a good team are important steps for the assured growth of a small business.
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