How to Avoid Growing Pains When Expanding Your Business
At some point, all successful businesses will reach a point of stagnation, where expansion is essential in order to continue growing. Choosing the right time to expand is tough. Scale your business too soon and you risk unbalanced growth, but scale too late and your competitors might get ahead. While timing has a lot to do with the success of scaling a business, there are other factors at play as well. Even perfectly timed business expansions can face growing pains without proper planning. Here are some things to keep in mind as you take your business to the next level!
Reevaluate Your Software Needs
As your business grows, so will your software needs. Robust software products will help you keep everything running smoothly as you increase the size of your customer base, workforce, and inventory. Invest in tools that automate marketing and project management. Consider adopting enterprise-level technology through custom-built software solutions that align with your specific business needs. Naologic can help you get set up with a fully integrated, custom software solution so you can manage all of your non-customer-facing operations from a single platform.
Prepare for Logistical Issues
It’s hard to scale a business without running into at least a few logistical problems. The key is to plan ahead so you can keep issues to a minimum and prevent them from hampering your growth. Consider how your available warehouse space, shipping capacity, and workforce will be able to handle the growth of your business. You may need to invest in business process redesign to improve efficiency and reduce costs as you work to accommodate your business growth.
Inventory management is invaluable to scaling businesses. If you’re still tracking inventory on spreadsheets, it’s time to invest in inventory management software like QuickBooks Enterprise. Take full control of your inventory with this simple software that features cost tracking, integrated mobile barcode scanning to automate inventory updates, and real-time inventory insights so you always know how much stock you have and where each item is located in your warehouse.
Be Ready to Hire Help
Expanding your business will likely mean onboarding a few more staff members. Start considering your hiring needs in advance so you have plenty of time to vet and interview candidates instead of scrambling to fill open positions. As The Manifest suggests, you can also outsource work to freelancers. This is a great way to keep your labor costs low and access top talent from all over the world! Look for experts who can take on specialized tasks, whether it’s marketing, social media management, or copywriting, instead of hiring a jack-of-all-trades.
Keep an Eye on Cash Flow
Cash flow issues will sink your business. Growing your business likely means taking on some additional expenses, so make sure you can maintain a positive cash flow and continue paying your bills. Your ability to match your increasing financial obligations will mean the difference between scaling successfully and running your business into the ground. Try to scale your business slowly while increasing your revenue sustainably. Scaling your business too quickly—for example, in the event that a marketing campaign goes viral—will leave you cash-strapped when your revenue declines.
Scaling a business successfully is an art. It involves walking a fine line between scaling too fast and waiting too long to get the ball rolling on your growth plans. When you’re ready to take your startup to the next level, keep these considerations in mind so you can avoid common growing pains and ensure your success!
Are you looking for custom software solutions for your business operations? Naologic will unify your business through integrated apps that streamline everything from marketing to financial management. Learn more and start a free trial today!
