It’s normal to spend the first year on establishing itself, in which the growth is bound to be slow. However, the following years should witness a quick growth, otherwise, its chances of making it into the world of established businesses decrease with each passing year.
According to small business owners, here are the 6 keys to the growth of your business:
Build a strong foundation
Whether your business makes it or fails depends hugely on the foundation you’ve built. That’s the main base that protects your business; you need to make it robust, comprehensive, and well-planned. Your foundation starts with your business idea, a raw vision that you start to polish until it becomes solid. Afterwards, you develop a business plan covering every aspect of the business, from explaining this idea and its components to laying out your execution plan of how you’ll operate every day. It takes a lot of research, market study, consulting with mentors, and understanding the best business practices to develop this comprehensive business plan.Be flexible and adaptable to change.
Building a solid foundation doesn’t mean you should stick to this plan at all costs. On the contrary, your well-devised business plan will act as your guide through your journey, but once you embark on it, you’re bound to be faced with situations you haven’t fully considered. You’ll face sudden changes in the market that will require swift actions to adapt to the change. By constantly monitoring your plan and adjusting it to cope with the changes, you’ll be enhancing the credibility of this plan even more. This is how you build your experience; by being flexible and adapting whenever you need to.Manage your finances
Maximize your resources
More often than not, small and medium businesses will have limited resources. But it’s never about having a plethora of help; their success depends on how well they can manage the available ones. Many tasks can be automated, which will reduce the number of employees. You don’t have to hire an entire team at the beginning; you can start by outsourcing the development of essential services, hiring part-timers, or building contracts with freelancers.
Keep ahead of your competitors.
Growing your business means dominating the market—or at least trying to. And to do that, you need to keep ahead of your competition. This means studying them closely, analyzing their services, and listing their competitive advantages. From there, you start crafting a strategy to stay ahead of them. At the very least, ensure you compete with them and not fall behind.Expand your network
It’s good to know that you won’t be able to do everything independently. Once you realize that, you’ll understand the importance of building mutually beneficial partnerships. You’ll be able to provide help when other businesses lack resources, and you’ll get help in the areas you lag behind. This can only happen through expanding a network where you’re constantly looking for new partnerships.Owners of startups and small-medium businesses all have one critical need in common: to grow their businesses. That’s the only way they can ensure their success. To do that, they must build a solid foundation to regularly improve and adapt to changes. The way they manage their finances and maximize their resources also plays into how long they’ll be able to make it. Their chances of growth also improve significantly by expanding their network and building mutually beneficial partnerships.