Have you reached the startup phase of your business growth? Congratulations! Whether you’re working at home or in a small office with a group of people, you should be glad that you’ve even made it this far. The truth is, most people don’t even survive till they’ve made their first customer. Ideas will quickly burn out and most people end up in the red before they’ve made their first penny. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common reality for people who are just starting their careers as entrepreneurs, but where do you go from here?
Although some people struggle to even begin their startups, others are permanently stuck in the startup phase. They never seem to grow large enough and they never seem to have a solid idea of what they want to become in the future. So to give you some advice, here are a couple of tips on growing out of the startup stage and into the scaleup phase.
Drawing a plan is vital to grow from startup to scaleup.
Understand the complications of growing your business
Expanding a business isn’t exactly a simple task. Just take a moment to think about what growing your business really implies. You’re going to need to grow your business by adding more staff, you’ll have to expand your locations and you’ll need to work with other businesses in order to sustain your growth. For example, have you ever hired a piling company before? If you’re going to expand and eventually build your own office or commercial property, then it’s important to understand every aspect of your growth including the construction process. It sounds like something you could just hire a professional for, but the more involved you are with the growth process the more money you’ll save and the more efficient it will be.
Understand the costs of marketing on a large scale
Marketing is incredibly expensive. In your current situation, you might be paying for Google advertisements or you might be going the cheaper route of using social media. However, if you’re going to increase your exposure, you need to realise that it takes a lot of money to get your name out there. Startups can’t afford heavy marketing campaigns and they also don’t have the reach required to get their promotions to the public. In order to use marketing effectively, you need to invest resources into strategies that are almost guaranteed to expose your company on a large scale. For instance, you’ll need to rely on trade show attendance and also invest money into influencers.
Understand the struggle of recruiting staff
Getting the right staff on your team is no easy task. You’re going to need to invest a lot of time and effort into finding the right employees for your company and you’ll have to occasionally use freelancers and outsourcing services to help you grow. You’re going to end up going through many different employees until you find the perfect team members to work with, so don’t get frustrated or annoyed if you hire someone that turned out to be lazy or lacked the skills to work in your company.
