Keys To Growing Your Business Pt 1

It’s Revealed…Keys to Grow Your Business (Part 1)

Are these statements familiar to you?

• I’m ready to take my business to the next level…
• How do I grow my business?…
• In 3 years I want my business to be…

Maybe this sounds familiar because you have said it or have had thoughts along these lines. Furthermore, you are just like a lot of entrepreneurs who want to get on the road to being the next multimillion-dollar enterprise that provides you with an exit strategy to riches.

The following is your guide to growing your business beyond your wildest dreams.

Is your business growing or swelling?

Let’s begin the discussion by taking a look at what a growing business is not. There is a difference between growing and swelling even though both represent an enlargement beyond the original state or status.

Swelling means something is becoming larger because it’s injured, damaged, or unhealthy, an indication something is wrong. When a person sprains an ankle it swells and becomes larger, however, the increase in size is not a good thing.

Whereas, when something is growing; the increase in size represents something positive happening, such as becoming stronger, taller, smarter, etc.

The same principle holds true in business. An acquaintance once called me and said, “I need your help, my business is growing too fast”! To which I responded, “sounds like a good problem to me, let’s talk about it.” The young man began to explain to me that he could not keep up with the volume of customers his business was accumulating and needed help in order to service them.

He went on to explain that even though his customer base was growing he could not afford to hire additional people nor acquire needed resources to keep up with demand. I then asked him what profit margin he was making and what price did he charge? Even though I had no need or desire for his products/services, at the price he was charging I wanted to buy. It was an offer you could not refuse.

The problem was not growing too fast. The problem was the business was swelling as a result of unhealthy pricing and unhealthy profit margins. Customer demand was now outpacing his ability to service it and the pricing did not render the required profit margin that would provide the money to hire more people and buy other needed resources. His business was not growing too fast it was dying a fast death due to large-scale swelling.

There are other mistakes people make in business that result in swelling disguised as growth.

Another colleague, an owner of a retail clothing store, often talked about the fact that some of his key employees were reluctant to bolster their skills or learn new areas of the business. In spite of this, he opened two other locations in an attempt to capitalize on the rapidly growing market for his type of business, only to find that those same employees were inadequately equipped to operate either store on their own.

Consequently, he was unable to take full advantage of the market opportunity. The second store was constantly hampered by poor management and the third store closed and he lost considerable ground and market share to his competitors.

When making a determination about growing your business one of the first things you should assess is whether your business is prepared for growing or is suffering from the symptoms of swelling.

In Part 2 of this discussion, I will reveal the essential components to grow your business and achieve the success you desire. Just as there are fundamentals to starting a business, there are fundamentals to growing a business.