Small business expansion is no joke. A successful expansion takes time, money, and a whole lot of planning. If the urge to expand has been itching at you a lot more lately, make sure you’re ready for it by checking these six things off:
- You have a solid customer base.
Regular influx of new and old customers suggests long term stability for your business. If you have customers who keep coming back and are seemingly satisfied with your service, then this is a great indication of growth potential. Before you expand, you want to make sure that there are people to cater to. And if there is, more than likely, that means that…
- Business demand is growing, and growing, and growing…
Is business becoming more than you can handle? There is no better indication to expand than this! If you keep finding your customers asking for more inventory, more tables, or more locations for your services, then maybe it’s time to answer their calls.
- You have a reliable team to take on the load.
As cliché and overused as it is, it stands true: Team work really does make the dream work. It’s a big and important thing to have strong leadership in place, but having a committed and hardworking staff who are invested and ready to take on the struggle with you is the groundwork for a successful business expansion.
- Your industry is moving forward – fact!
Do your research. Is your industry a progressing one? Make sure it is! Being the top supplier of a dying product is not where you want to be, and it’s certainly not an encouragement to expand. Read up on the industry you’re in, see what experts say about the future, and decide from there if expanding is the right decision for your business.
- All your initial and established goals have been met.
When you first started running your small business, you created goals and laid it out as part of your business plan. It’s important to accomplish these goals first before setting in the motion of expanding. Don’t treat expansion as a way to accomplish your original goals, it must come as a result of them. Expanding your small business is a big step, one that can’t be made without solid foundation.
- You have the working capital, or have other sources for it.
This should be pretty straightforward: Growth costs money. Positive cash flow is what usually gives business owners the option of expanding. Study your cash flow and see if it’s feasible for you to start expanding.
However, there are several other options out there for small businesses to acquire this working capital as well. Bank loans are one of them – but this will usually take time and resources that you may not have. Consider this: one of the easiest and fastest ways to get funding is by applying for a merchant cash advance from alternative lending companies, such as Ironwood Finance.