You’ve enjoyed steady sales for several months now. You’ve been getting orders from regular customers daily. You’re running out of time slots for your service, you had to turn down reservations.
Congratulations. Your small business is now successful. So, what should you do next?
After carving your own space in a crowded market, maybe it’s time for you to scale up and expand your business. Get a bigger boat, test the open seas. If you don’t know where to start, here are some tips you can use as a reference.
Ensure that You Have the Capital
It takes money to make money, and that rings true when you’re trying to scale up your business. It doesn’t come free, and depending on how big you want to grow, it can be a bit expensive. It can exhaust everything you’ve saved, and you may need to borrow more to fund your growth.
Everything else in this list would rely on that money, from hiring more personnel to getting the latest tech and equipment. Before you start rolling out your expansion plans, make sure you have enough capital, a cushion for your operations, because the last thing you want while scaling up is drying up your funds for operation.
Invest in New Equipment and Technology
You’re moving to a bigger market, adding more stores and more personnel. Whatever tools you have right now won’t be enough to accommodate increased market demands. If you’re expanding your bakeshop business, for example, you may want to add more industrial baking equipment even if your current set can still handle the increased orders.
Additionally, don’t be afraid to integrate new technology into your business. Inventory management, timekeeping, accounting are processes that can all be handled using management software. Nowadays, there’s an app for everything, you just need to search for that on your own, or build it with the help of a developer.
Use the internet to your advantage. Use it for cloud storage, so that you can reduce your dependence on paper documents. Launch marketing campaigns on social media, so that you can reach your new target audience. You can opt for paid or sponsored posts to ensure that you’re reaching potential customers.
Hire the Right People or Try Outsourcing
Another important aspect of scaling up your business is expanding your workforce. You’ll need more people to work on production or add a dedicated team to focus on customer service. Expanding to a larger market exposes you to bigger risks as well.
You need to have the right team with you if you want to thrive. If you don’t have the time or knowledge to hire more people for new positions, you can just outsource your needs elsewhere. Customer service, for example, can be handled by a remote team from another country.
These tips are just the basics for expanding your business. Use these as a reference when you need to adjust your plans on the fly to address issues or problems you encounter along the way.
