Some business owners are happy with running their small business as it is. However, some are more ambitious and can envision themselves growing the company, potentially becoming a larger player in the industry and perhaps even earning significantly more money.
If you have that ambition, you need to think carefully about how to start an LLC and then how you are going to scale up your business. There are many different things to consider, from the markets that you are going to enter, to the hiring decisions you need to make, and the marketing channels you want to promote.
Here we take a look at six strategies that can help you to scale up your small business.
1. Invest in business coaching
It’s difficult to scale up a business if you have never had experience doing it. And while there is no silver bullet – it can actually be extremely useful to work with professionals who do have that experience.
“Entrepreneurs and executives are increasingly coming to the realisation that a business coach is much more than a ‘nice to have’,” says Dominic Monkhouse, a London-based specialist in scaling-up companies “business coaching is now being recognised as a key tool and an integral part to help boost the company’s path to success”.
Not every business owner understands how to lead a business when it gets above a certain size. If you have had great success running small businesses, the style of management required and the focus on decision-making is different as you grow.
2. Don’t be afraid of outsourced expertise
Too many growing companies want to keep everything in-house. In fact, it can be hugely beneficial to keep your options open when it comes to getting the right members of staff, and solutions to business issues.
There is no need to think of outsourcing as something that would be better brought in-house. In many cases, outsourcing can provide you with a better quality of service for a much lower cost.
3. Learn from competitors who have already grown
Some business leaders believe that they need to forge their own path and not worry about what competitors have done or what they have achieved. There is some sense in this, but it also leads you down a path where you are missing out on some hugely valuable information. Those competitors who have grown in the way that you want to have shown you a way that it can be done.
There is much to be gleaned from competitors and how they work. Think about how they have managed to achieve success. It may be that they took the initiative and invested heavily in their website. Alternatively, they could have taken the step of hiring a marketing manager, or an in-house accountant.
These choices rarely reflect the brilliance of an individual member of staff, they simply show that if you want to have similar growth, you need to make the same investments in your team.
4. Hold onto your values
Your business values are important. In many cases, they are what has allowed you to come so far. But values can be endangered by growth. When you begin to make decisions that are purely based on improving the company, it can come at a cost.
Ultimately, it is better to take things slowly and scale your business in a way that allows you to stay true to your principles. If your company prides itself on a great level of personalised service, this needs to remain true as you grow. This might mean investing in more customer service staff and ensuring they get the right training.
5. Build a team
Hiring decisions are absolutely essential to the growth of a company. Hiring the right person can bring fresh ideas, hard work and enthusiasm. But making the wrong choice can ultimately lead to a drop in morale and other members of the organisation becoming less invested in the work that they do.
You always need to think first not about the track record of the person, but whether they are going to fit in with your team. A team the gels and works in harmony will be far more effective than one high-flying individual.
You need to hire employees who fit in with the company culture and are more than just a financial asset.
6. Identify the barriers
Think about what is stopping your business from growing. What are the challenges that make it more difficult for you to scale up? These are the issues that you need to address, no matter how difficult they are to face.
In some cases, it may be a lack of leadership or poor cash flow. You might even find that you are entrusting too much of the work to yourself and not delegating. Think closely about where the real challenges lie, and face them.
