A Thoughtful Look: Building Your Business The Right Way

In times such as these, the current economic climate can make it difficult for business to grow effectively. Millions of companies have either failed or even shrank due to depressed markets but, slowly; the economy is beginning to recover. Companies are ever so cautious in these uncertain times where success is determinate upon the solid approaches to growing a successful company. Believe it or not, there are many bad decisions that an affect the future of a business and it’s important to know, when the time comes, how to allow your business to grow the right way.

Keeping A Watchful Eye on Finances:
Growth can occur for a multitude of reasons but it’s important to allow growth that will last. You want to make sure that you’re not only growing but concurrently meeting your long-term stability and goals. Finances are the bottom line of what makes a company run.

We spend most of our efforts here on MO.com profiling successful small business owners. Many of them face similar challenges in managing their growth from day 1 on through maturity. Here’s some advice compiled from some of our best interviews:

Growing Requires Planning
Before expanding business you have to ensure that you have the proper resources in case the expansion doesn’t go according to plan. Though, in business, at times take a gamble is a part of the process but it’s essential to minimize long-term risk.

For example: if you’re thinking about opening another location or branch, ensure that you can support this growth and that there’s a market for this expansion. Simply hoping that people will be interested in your services is a bad step. Make sure your footing is secure before taking that bold step forward.

Hiring Know-How:
The employees that you hire are, effectively, the face of your company. It’s crucial for business owners to hire the right people for the job. The successes of a company can often come down to the employees that you have working for you. It’s essential to have coordinated approach whether it’s with your it management or employee relations.

Get referrals before you choose anyone because you want to ensure that your business is in good hands. Diana Richards from Vacuum Systems International recently told us, “Most of our employees come from referrals of current employees; they love their job here and want to help a friend or neighbor seeking work.”

Sometimes not having effective hiring practices will make for tough calls down the road. Just be aware that you may have to make personnel changes as your business progresses and it’s this ability to evolve that can make a break a business.

Taking Mistakes as Valuable “Learning” Lessons
This is perhaps the most important piece of advice. Too often we make the same mistakes over and over while expecting different results. This can be applied to a host of instances such as hiring practices to contract negotiations.

Introspection is essential and taking a step back and looking at what’s working and what’s not can prove a powerful tool. Knowing when you’ve made mistakes and admitting to them is the first step towards having a business that makes it and is able to grow effectively.

Don’t throw good time and money after bad and, before you take that step and expand, grow slow and grow smart.

A common maxim we’ve heard from our interviewees is that spreading yourself out thin before understanding your own approach will lead to disaster. You don’t want to grow too fast without considering many of these common pitfalls of business owners. Otherwise, you could find yourself on the loosing end of a long battle.

Best of luck!