Are you expecting your company to start growing quickly very soon? Maybe you are already seeing growth and you want to make sure you are prepared for it. Sometimes, that growth can get away from business owners, and before they know it, they feel overwhelmed and overworked. Here are a few changes you can start making now to help you handle growth in your business much better.
Improve the Filing System
Business growth means more of everything. That’s more sales, more customers, more records, and more responsibilities. How are you going to keep all of that straight? You may need to upgrade your filing system.
If you are still using a physical, paper filing system, it might be time to change that. You should consider going digital for at least some of your files. If you are worried about losing records, just make backups and store them on a flash drive that is updated daily. Your physical records are much more at risk, and they could be destroyed by fire, water, or other dangers.
If you have a digital filing system already, make sure that it can handle an increased workload. You may need to create more digital folders, upgrade your digital storage system, or simply be more organized in your filing methods.
Outsource Office Cleaning
If you have your employees handle cleaning in the workspace or you do it yourself, you will probably need to change that soon as your business starts to grow. You will end up trying to keep up with a minor task that could be delegated elsewhere while you are losing focus on the major tasks that keep your business profitable and running smoothly. Cleaning is important, but it may not be the best job for your skilled employees. Why would you want them to waste their time doing something that you could hire out to a Dallas green cleaning service for less money per hour?
Consider having a third party do your office cleaning for you or hire someone just to take care of those kinds of responsibilities. Think about whether you are using your employees to the best of their ability or if you are giving them unimportant tasks that are not a good fit for their talents. If you hired them for a specific job, then keep them on that so they can be productive and effective. Otherwise, you can frustrate your employees and make them feel like they are not being valued or their skills are being wasted.
Hire a Trained Accountant
How do you keep track of all our new financial successes? You should consider hiring an accountant for that job. If the work is getting too technical for you or you are making silly mistakes, you may want to give the job to someone who is more qualified. Just having someone whose sole job it is to oversee the finances of the business will be helpful. They can handle bank transactions, make sure your books are balanced, ensure that taxes are filed and paid, and all of those other jobs that you really need an accountant for.
You might have been able to manage these kinds of duties on your own when the business was small, but as it grows, so too will the demands on your time. A trained accountant can make a positive difference and take some of the stress away from you while dealing with financial matters that might be a bit beyond your area of expertise. If you pick the right person for the job, they can be a serious asset to your business and help you to earn even more money by being smart with how the business handles finances.
Invest in New Infrastructure
Your existing business infrastructure may have worked fine when the company was small, but as it expands, you might have to change a few things. Can the shipping company you use keep up with the demand being put on your business? Do your current travel arrangements satisfy the needs of a rapidly expanding company? Can the manufacturers you work with create products you require to fulfill all of the new orders?
Be careful about valuing loyalty over business success. Yes, it is helpful to be loyal to those who have been loyal to you, but you also need to realize when your current business partners are not able to keep up with you. It may be time to work with a new printing company or a bigger shipping business. Don’t let loyalty hold you back from growing your business.
If you are interested in keeping your current partners, then you should talk to them about your business growth concerns. Ask them if they are able to keep up with the demand that you are currently experiencing or that you are expecting. If you get honest answers from them, then that can help you determine your path forward and if they might be able to be a part of your ongoing business journey.
Educate Yourself and Your Team
Another way you can prepare your business for new growth is to obtain more training. Ask yourself honestly if you know how to cope with massive growth in the business you are in. If you are not sure, then it would be wise to educate yourself and your team.
All of you need to be trained as to how to work in that business as it gets bigger. When change happens, you need to be prepared, and nothing empowers you more than knowledge. Find out what other business owners are doing to keep their business successful at that higher level. Find out how they handled growth and managed to keep from feeling overwhelmed. If you can put some of the same methods into practice, you too can make business growth happen more smoothly.
A growing business is a great thing, but it needs to be managed well, and we hope these suggestions give you some ideas that you can start using to manage growth better.