Growing your business effectively means considering a multitude of factors: so how can you break them down to manageable aims?

Growth of your business is always a good thing but with it comes new challenges in many different areas, whether it’s the need to take on new employees to handle product production to expanding your marketing reach by exploring new platforms.

• With grow there will be a handful of important questions you would want to answer:
• How will I handle the influx of orders and ensure they are shipped on time?
• Will the introduction of new employees change the core philosophies?
• Where is the new opportunity that will continue to provide growth for the business?
• What financial implications will come about now that we’re earning and spending more?
• When should I upgrade our hardware and software to adjust to needs and demand?

The path leading to the tipping point is the hardest as it requires your business (and employees) to run on all cylinders. Once you’ve made it past the point you’ve secured your business in a great position to grow while having a safety net of success leading behind it.

Now comes the critical decisions that will set a new path for your business…

• Orders – A rapid influx of orders can overwhelm a small business. If the business cannot provide ample response time on the shipment of products it’s likely the customers will become disgruntled and seek business elsewhere.

To adjust to this growth your duty should be to renegotiate with logistics services for better rates. Likewise, you should consider bringing in one or two new employees to work in the warehouse for picking & packing.

• Workforce Expansion – New employees can disrupt the old guard, which is why it’s important that you hire those that are able to align to your core values in business. At the same time you will need to consider the finances of bringing on new employees and adjusting schedules for all.

You may have used a simple system before but now that you have more help it would be worth investing into a service like MasterTax Payroll Tax Software so you can easily setup employees with the right forms, packages, and paperwork needed to handle their taxes and keep your business in compliance with the IRS.

• Marketing – What works for your marketing now may not be enough to continue growth in the near future because brand recognition has taken off and you’re now tapping into a larger portion of your marketplace. 

You need to begin implementing new marketing strategies that allow you to expand your reach (even globally) if you’d like to see the same level of growth. A larger investment of time, energy, and education in PPC, SEO, SEM, Content Marketing, and the rest is what’s needed. Since you’ll now take on a larger array of marketing channels you should consider hiring individuals that specialize in these specific areas.

• Finances – Think long and hard before you decide to expand the business such as with a new, physical location. Uprooting your workforce to move to an area of greater opportunity is very tempting but would it cause a fissure in the business?

Do you really need the additional space at this time or are you simply too enamored by the growth that you’re not grounded in reality? Now is the time to look at ways to cut expenses and reinvest those found earnings into the avenues of business that have shown growth whether it’s increasing the marketing budget, hiring employees, or improving upon a product.

• Hardware/Software – When launching the business you may have taken shortcuts or used hardware & software that was just enough to get the job done. Now that your business is in growth it’s vital that you make an investment to upgrade the tools that your employees use to get the job done.

Consider new policies and invest in SaaS providers that keeps your overhead low but provide incredible flexibility with areas like customer service, payment processing, time management, and more.

Explore new work conditions such as allowing employees to work from home or empower them with the tools to do their work while they are mobile. Bring your business together by using hardware and software that is part of the same ecosystem.

There will be many challenges ahead now that your business is on the path to long-term success. Take each day to learn and implement growth strategies to keep the momentum. Do pay attention to finances throughout this process along with employee & customer satisfaction. Always work on improving your products and services. Do this and your business will become a major player in the industry.