Scaling up your business is a sure sign of success. As you are building your reputation, the physical components increase alongside it. This means that you will end up going for a larger office, having to hire more people, and purchasing more sophisticated equipment.
But when you are going in the right direction, there can be teething problems. Scaling up your business can mean that you operate in a hinterland of sorts between your business and what you want your company to achieve in the future. So how can you navigate this tricky period successfully?
Being Ready To Grow
This can comprise of the financial aspects, workers, computer systems, or a combination of all of them. But you have to make sure you are ready for growth. When you look at your cash flow, you may think that you have to spend money to make money, so you need to purchase an office right away!
But if you haven’t grown to fit that new space, literally and figuratively, there could be a distinct problem with cash flow in the interim. The great thing is that you can rent an office space for large teams, and while you are looking to build up your business by getting more employees on board you need to ensure that you are taking baby steps in the right direction. Part of it is about having robust processes in place but also, not overspending before the cash comes in!
Look After Your Core Values
When cash is being thrown at a situation, or you have grand plans for the next phase, it can be so easy to compromise your original values. Because there are so many aspects of the company that will compete for your attention and time, you may find that you are spinning many plates.
Something can fall by the wayside as a result. You may find that you have to focus on the financial aspects or improving the marketing, and deducing that in order to grow, certain things need to be shaved. But if you are betraying your core business values, it will be in vain, and you will only end up going where the money is. You have to remember that you have been successful up to this point by following your core values, not betraying them.
Focus On Quality
Consistency and quality are both enablers of growth. We have to remember that our business has got to a point where growth is necessary because we have a quality product, process, or service. If the quality deteriorates, we will lose our customer base.
When we scale up a business, we will find that there are teething issues, but it’s important to learn from these mistakes and not repeat them. Growing a business can mean hiring more people, which can result in a “fly by the seat of your pants” approach to training them up.
If you had a skeleton staff, but now the business has increased threefold, this can be a shock to the system because the original processes are not fit for purpose anymore. Having the right processes in place is one thing but having the right staff in tandem with the culture means that the quality will maintain itself.
Predicting What Will Happen Next
In one respect this is impossible, but as you set up a business for the purpose of expansion, it’s not always guaranteed that the next phase of your plan will “land.” There will be difficulties during your ascendancy, but you can still spot these problems in advance before they cause damage. You can set up alerts to spot numbers that can predict a downturn.
Part of the reason that businesses fail is that they didn’t recognise the signs at the outset. A lot of signs can make themselves evident way in advance, especially when it comes to finances or cashflow. But also, putting the right processes in place to measure performance on a regular basis gives you countless opportunities to rectify issues. Rather than measuring your performance on a monthly basis, consider doing it daily. This gives you ample opportunity to set things right.
Navigating that tricky period between one business phase and another result in various sticking issues. Ambition is a fantastic trait to have; after all, it is what got you where you are today, and you have to focus on where you want to be. What type of company do you want to be? Once you have a clear vision of this, realising that image can be easier because you will start to put the right things in place. Your business has been successful to this point, but when you are scaling up, you need to start thinking like a business that has a bigger turnover. Fulfill your ambitions.
