The thrill of succeeding in business is nearly unmatched in the professional world. Expanding your business might seem quite scary especially if the business struggled before it thrived. Expansion can put a business in financial peril as funds are spread too thinly to operate normally. A restaurant could open up a new location that ruins the reputation of the original location. Growing slowly with a focus on the customer/client is imperative as growth shouldn’t alienate the current customer base. Retaining as many customers as possible during expansion will help a business receive that ROI on the expansion they wanted. The following are tips to expand your business without breaking the bank.
Designate Certain Employees as Remote Then Hire In-House
The office space that you rent is likely one of the higher fixed costs the business has besides wage costs. Being able to downsize an office space or hire without worrying about growing too large oozes convenience. Some employees can work from home and actually will do a better job when working remotely. Others you have to keep a watchful eye on to make sure they are being productive instead of distracted.
Use Freelancers To Scale Projects Instead of Hiring
The truth is that too many businesses hire people in-house for the wrong reasons. A founder might want to brag about how many people they employ while a manager might want less work for themselves. The ability to enlist the help of a team of freelancers can allow a small company to do massive amounts of work. Freelancers can be great to bring on full-time after you have ensured their quality of work. Freelancers that provide quality work and hit deadlines need to be compensated more than average freelancers. An added bonus is if you have a freelancer that prides themselves on communication throughout the duration of a project.
An Addition To Your Current Location Can Work Wonders
Metal buildings can be a perfect place to expand to or store certain materials. Restaurants across the country expanded into parking lots utilizing tents due to social distancing restrictions. Your current location might need to be expanded rather than opening another location. Usually this will be far less risky as you know your current location can produce healthy amounts of revenue.
Do Test Expansions on a Case By Case Basis
Testing an expansion to a new city for a marketing agency might not take a huge financial investment. The new location will likely generate some income and be able to upsell current clients in the new location. Doing a 6 month test of a restaurant opening in a location can get locals excited about the restaurant returning after a successful test expansion.
Expanding a business should be done after carefully planning this and considering what could go wrong. You do not want to ruin your current successful business due to trying to do too much too quickly in terms of growth. Take time to ask staff what they think as they could provide quality insights.
