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Planning Your Business Growth

If you've got a profit-making home business on your hands, the

next step is growth -- expansion into new markets and new

products. But how can you grow when the physical space you have

is so restricted?

So if you're going to grow, you need to figure out if:

* it's right for you; * your business is up to it; and * you

and your fellow owners and management will rise to the challenge.

Above all, you need to understand the challenges your company

will face as it goes through the various stages of growth.

Outsource More

A typical problem when your business starts to grow is that you

find yourself spending a lot of time on all the small

administrative tasks your growth creates, leaving you with less

time to do all the extra work you're getting.

The answer is to start outsourcing those small, time-consuming

tasks, like bookkeeping, invoicing and the rest. Outsourcing

lets you concentrate on what you're best at while getting the

other things done by professionals. They'll have a system in

place that lets them do what you're taking hours over in a

matter of minutes -- after all, it's what they do. Don't forget,

though, that you need to hold outsourced work to the same

standard of quality you hold your own to, since your customers

won't be making the distinction.

Create a Growth Plan

Remember that business plan you made when you started it all?

Well, growing your business isn't that different to starting a

new one: you still need to plan ahead, and know what you're

doing. Take out your existing business plan and look at what

needs to be brought up to date, what still stands, and what

needs to be added.

The most important thing to keep in mind when you turn your

business plan into a growth plan is this: don't forget your core

focus. Tempting as it can be to diversify into all sorts of

areas as a way to grow, you don't have experience in these areas

-- try to do more of what you know, and keep new things to a

minimum.

Financing Your Growth

While running your business, you might have become frustrated

with how much more you could do if you just had a little money

to invest. Equity finance is a popular way to raise money to

invest in a business. It involves you selling a small share of

your company to someone who is interested in investing. They

don't have to have any involvement in the running of the

business, necessarily -- the only real condition is that you

agree to give them a percentage of your profits equal to the

percentage of your business that you sold them, known as a

dividend.

But Don't Grow Too Fast

One thing that can be fatal for home businesses is trying to

grow too fast. Some people have a tendency to let success go to

their head, and will borrow tons of money to expand their

business at an amazing rate, only to have a breakdown when they

realise that they just can't manage a business that large.

Have You Considered Raising Prices?

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If you've got more business than you can handle, that's not

expansion -- it's overtrading. You might be doing more work than

you need to, when you could just raise your prices. Try out a

few different levels, and you'll find the one that gets you a

manageable amount of business. It's a simple question of supply

and demand: you should be earning the same as you were before or

more, but doing less work.

Remember that growing your business doesn't necessarily have to

mean getting more customers. You can expand your business

financially just by selling more to your existing customers, or

providing extra 'premium' services on top of the ones you

already provide.

Could You Franchise?

This obviously won't apply to every kind of business, but if

you've found a successful formula, you could consider

franchising it. Franchising is especially common in the food

business, where risk-averse people starting new businesses often

want to do something that's tried and tested. You can,

effectively, sell your business plan, marketing materials and

the experience you've gained in business so far to these people.

Even though you should wait a while before you actually do it,

it's worth at least considering whether this could be an option

for your business, and starting to standardise everything and

get it down to a formula and assets that could be sold on.

About the author:

Original Source: Articles-Galore.com

Information supplied and written by Lee Asher of The Home Income Portal

Home of Serious Online Business Options.