A growing SME is a very different animal from when you first launched it. So, what do you need to bear in mind to scale your growth?
The simple fact is that a business needs to make money. Whilst it’s tempting, in the early days, to think that profitability is less important, in order to attract investment, you have to be able to demonstrate that your concept is profitable. Or, has the potential to monetise as it grows. So how do you grow your business whilst being focussed on the bottom line?
- Focus on growing the business and get someone else to worry about the detail. Outsource any non-core activities eg: telephone answering, to avoid wasting time and money on non-essential activities.
- Add expertise, not people. Getting the best expertise can often take longer than anticipated. Balancing quality with speed is a difficult challenge and the skills you need on start-up may be different from the skills you need when the organisation is larger. Plan ahead, what will your business need in 3-5 years’ time, how do your current employees stack up?
- Maintain your culture. Be determined to build a company you want to work for and make the culture the defining way people work. When everyone embraces the values and culture, you will truly be working as a team.
- Be prepared to change. Sometimes you need to change your business model in order to make it profitable and sustainable.
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