Congratulations! Your business is successful and you have more work than you can handle. It is time to look into new opportunities, bigger clients and—hopefully—more income. How exciting!
But wait! Before you buy that new inventory or hire new staff to sell the new product, you need to get ready for growth by scaling your business. This means investing strategically on the front end to accommodate growth at the back end.
Think of it this way—you would not upgrade from a bicycle to a car without making sure you have the garage space, budget and ability to drive it, right? Likewise, scaling your business is about making sure you have the infrastructure, systems and knowledge in place to support that growth.
How do you know it is time to scale? First, your work networking and getting new customers has paid off and you now have more than you can handle. You will also know it is time to scale when your goals are no longer a stretch.
Another indicator your business is ready to expand is when your cash flow and sales are predictable, as well as when you have confidence in your product and staff. Finally, scaling up should happen when you can minimize risk, not just because opportunity knocks.
When you decide it is time to grow, you will need to start planning the framework that will support your growth. Updating your technology is a great place to begin. Look for tools that will help you manage the areas you expect to grow, including external things like customer relationships and sales to internal systems for teams and inventory.
Now is also the time to build a strong customer framework and ensure your practices are customer-centered. Build customer personas that help you understand your business from a customer perspective. What does your ideal customer expect from you? Why do they keep coming back? What will drive them away? Knowing where you fit in your customers’ lives will also guide how you market your growth and any new products.
As you prepare to grow, you will want to lean on and strengthen your relationship network. These are the colleagues who can become valuable assets, partners and even mentors. They can connect you with the tools and services they had success with, and they can offer advice or simply support as you navigate your own new path.
Your network is also a key resource for referrals and connections—for both you and your future customers. You can even collaborate with those serving adjacent audiences and leverage visibility for both of you!
In addition to investing in technology and customers, you will need to assess your team to see where you can strengthen skills and fill gaps. This often takes the form of professional development or training. Or, it can involve hiring new team members to lead new initiatives or manage processes (or backfill when you promote your current team members!). The latter is especially true if your growth will result in significant new work for your staff.
Of course, all of this scaling requires money. It is often a good idea to create a budget using the above investments—as well as any others you identify—so you can determine how much you need and formulate an income growth plan.
When it comes to securing capital for growth, there is not one right answer. Unless you already have a significant profit built up, you will probably want to investigate small business loans and grants to scale your business immediately. You can also take the slower path by scaling over time, prioritizing practices and tools to generate more net income and using the profit to support additional growth.
The benefit of scaling your business for growth—as opposed to a reactive approach to growth—means you will have better insight into the path that is right for you and your business. And, knowing what will support sustainable growth for your business, means you will likely be better positioned to take advantage of the growth when it does come your way.
