3 things to think about as a small business when you’re looking to scale up

What is one of the biggest things business owners think about when it comes to success? Scaling up of course! However, it’s not as simple as it may seem and isn’t always the key to achieving greatness and profits quickly, as scaling up too quickly can go either way. Having goals and ambition are definitely great traits to possess as a business owner, but understanding timelines and capacity of reaching those goals takes patience and knowledge. Let’s look at 3 things to think about as a small business when it comes to looking at scaling up quickly. 

It’s best to have a strong foundation before adding more floors, to hold up the weight. Without the strong foundation, the floors you rapidly assembled could come crumbling down quickly, thus leaving you with no building at all. This analogy is important to think about when it comes to looking at expansion of your business. 

One of the first things to think about is finances.

Expanding, whether it be your team, processes or even your client list can be costly. A lot of the time it requires upfront cash to expand therefore, do you have the funds to take the potential risk and have security to fall back on? Moving quickly doesn’t always mean you will achieve success straight away, but sometimes the risk is worth it. If you’re comfortable with your finances, there are other contributing factors to think about in conjunction before making decisions.

Can your team handle the rapid growth?

If your growth means taking on double the amount of clients, you have to consider if you have the resources. After all, your team is what makes the business run and keeping up a positive work culture is the difference between being a key company potential employees want to work for, and a company who has problems retaining staff. Nothing is more important than having a happy, knowledgeable and thriving team full of ambition. If your staff have more responsibilities than their time can allow this can lead to stress and burnout and in the end, resignation. 

Another thing to think about with rapid growth is having the capacity to perform customer service. If your team has double the amount of clients to handle then that means their time is spread, leaving less time to give great customer service. This can be detrimental to a business's success and receiving a negative reputation could put off future customers.

Lastly, what do you see for the future of your business?

Having a business plan is key, but remember to not be too attached to it. Changes can happen all the time and you never know what is around the corner. However, it is vital to many people who are working for a business that there is steady progress, rather than sporadically making different decisions and changing things up a little too much. It is all about having a happy medium in business leadership: having the open-mindedness to make change when necessary, but also to stay consistent enough to keep things progressing. An interesting thought: 

“Picture yourself and your employees in the next year or so. Would you be happier in an environment that’s forever reshaping itself? Or would you appreciate the chance to know that your company is doing well and humming along effectively?” - Forbes

Whilst all new business owners look to scaling up rapidly as a way of becoming successful quickly, it’s all about thinking things through and analyzing first. What will work for your business, may not work for another and vice versa. And whilst researching competitors may seem like a great idea for marketing purposes, those small businesses that look good on paper could potentially be experiencing extreme burnout. 

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Source: Forbes