Given enough time, you will see your business flourish, but ask yourself whether you (and your team) are ready to take on the new challenges. Growth in business is always the objective but is your business primed and ready for a sudden influx of new order, higher service demand, new competition, and the myriad of challenges (and pains) of the rise?
The best offense is a good defense and in our case it means knowing what lies ahead and what to do about these situations when it comes time.
This is going to hurt…
You can learn a great deal from other entrepreneurs who have taken their business from small startups to the international scene because almost all businesses go through similar growing pains.
Here are but a few you and the business could stumble upon:
1. Funding – Knowing the right people (and how to pitch them) so your business gains additional capital for the things that matter like product development, hiring, service, and expansion.
2. Culture Clash – When you bring on new people and the teams have trouble working together because each define the business culture differently, thus causing tension (and miscommunication).
3. Stalling Tech – Not being able to scale technology with the growth of the business further limiting your team from having the necessary tools and resources.
4. Sporadic Goals – Trying to keep up with the speed of the growth resulting in new goals being made that aren’t entirely achievable because they change on a constant basis.
5. Emotional Overload – Putting in too many hours, doing too much work, and stressing entirely too much over the little things which results in burning out before the real progress is made.
But there are solutions…
Like reading about others’ success in their marketplace you too can overcome these challenges of growth by taking similar actions, as they did, since these problems are quite common.
Facing a bit of growth pain? Try these:
1. Tap into your business circle and start funding from within so that you may learn the ropes of pitching well and secure an initial amount that will look enticing to larger investors.
2. Keep open communication among your team through team management software, culture training at the workplace, and setting great examples for the new recruits.
3. Implement smart communication systems that are built around a familiar architecture so that programs and hardware are easily interchangeable, easy to learn, and easy to operate. A reasonable approach is to seek these services by cross comparing the professional profiles of these companies on LinkedIn; here you can qualify the services based on their reputation, connections, and proven experience.
4. Set goals in stone and don’t allow scope creep to push project beyond the due date so that you keep the team happy (making progress) and so your business can push products out the door.
5. Take some time away from it all when needed, set redundant tasks on automation using tools, or divvy up the workload to the experienced members of the team so it’s a group effort.
One more thing…
Not all growing pains of business are ones which you can simply throw money at and hope that it all works out (as per examples). It’s not just you that needs to be ready for these changes but each and every individual at the business. Sit down and lay out a plan of action, now, so you can be ready. Take charge when you hit the ceiling and use the solutions to break through. Keep at it and you’ll see you small business transform into a dominant player in the market.
Your turn. What growing pains have you experienced in your business and what actions did you take to overcome those challenges?
