How to Scale Your Business Responsibly

Anyone who has ever started a company knows that it is the most thrilling and terrifying thing in the world to take your business to the next level and grow it. However, not scaling your business responsibly, with the right knowledge and tools, can be detrimental to your business’s success and can land you in some pretty hot water.

When you’ve had some success for a while, you may decide that it’s time to take the next step with your business. This could mean opening up new branches, taking on more customers or projects, introducing new products, etc. No matter how you want to scale, it’s imperative to have a solid plan and the resources to handle any growing pains you might encounter. Here are some questions you’ll want to ask yourself to see if you are indeed in a good position to take your business to the next step.

1. Do I have the manpower to scale?

While you may not have had any trouble managing 20 of your customers by yourself, you might find yourself gasping for air when you take on 100 of them. Making sure that you have enough employees available to maintain the level of service while upping the number of customers you have is absolutely vital to a successful business. If your existing customers feel that they are no longer receiving the quality of service they were previously receiving because you have spread yourself too thin, they will most definitely begin dropping you.

2. Do I have the finances to scale?

Maybe you have thought about hiring a few more hands to help you, but do you have the financial backing to be able to pay them? Money is probably the most important factor to take into consideration when trying to scale your business up. Maybe you will need to purchase new equipment or install new technology. Or maybe you will need money to grow your marketing campaigns online. Whatever the reason, you will need cash and lots of it. Luckily, there are small business loans available that can help you with everything from equipment financing to debt consolidation. Just make sure that you understand the terms of the small business loan (interest rate, payment amount, payment period, etc.), and that you will be able to pay it back when the time comes.

3. Am I ready for a possible setback or failure?

No business owner wants to believe that his or her business will fail. Unfortunately, growing a business is a learning experience, and mistakes can happen. Most likely, any business owner will come across at least one or two unexpected setbacks while trying to expand. The important thing is to be ready for anything and to have the strength to get back up and keep going.

Scaling your business is not easy, but it can be very rewarding and profitable if you have a good attitude, a great work ethic, and a drive for success. All the while, it’s important to remember to take things as slowly and surely as you need to, and to enjoy the journey while it’s happening.

Ready to take your business to the next level? Find out more about the right small business loan for you with Onebox Funding, here.