It is common for entrepreneurs to be consumed by a shiny plan for expansion and to lose their vision of their day to day operations of their profitable business that they are already enjoying.
It is therefore imperative to choose the right expansion path to guarantee expansion success.
The solution begins with a start-up business strategy that is water-tight and one that is tactical. You need to ask yourself whether you are building a business with a view to selling it in a couple of years’ time or whether you would like to continue in your chosen field for the next couple of decades.
Here are three key areas to look at when growing your business:
- Take a good, in-depth look at the markets:
Markets can be defined as the trading of your current product or services to a new demographic or for a new use.
It is a good idea to identify exactly how your business can grow in a variety of areas – this is where you need to look at and figure out exactly how it can work.
- Geography:
Are you ready to plant a footprint in another location geographically? This will mean duplicating your business, as the general idea, after all, is to attract new customers.
- Ability and Delegation:
This is where you invest in new staff members to assist, incorporating brand new skills, technologies, products and practices. Here delegation is key – if you try to do everything yourself, you will never have the opportunity of making the leap to expand.
It takes time and effort to expand. Perhaps you are considering integrating with another business or you are seriously considering testing new waters of your own.
It will take at least a year before you can enjoy the fruits of your labour. Not only is expanding your business costly affair – it can also be a little chaotic and a lot more energy is expended than anticipated.
Keep on running your current business well – it is not unheard of that entrepreneurs soon become so obsessed with and enamoured by their new venture that they lose sight of their current, profitable business– if this happens, as is so often the case, the entrepreneur could find that he loses perspective and his business will soon be in far worse shape than when he set out to expand in the first instance.
When start-ups have a vision of expansion, it is imperative to ensure the path of expansion is well thought out and that various considerations are factored in the decision.
