Things You Need to Think About When You Start to Expand Your Business

When you’ve reached a point in your business where you can begin to expand and scale up, you’ll face a series of new and exciting challenges. While it’s a lot of work, expanding your business can be massively rewarding in both personal and financial ways. Here are four things you need to think about as your business expands to ensure the process is as smooth as possible.

Hire the Right Number of New Employees

If you’re expanding a business for the first time, it can be challenging to figure out how many new staff members to add. Bringing on too many people will increase your costs and lower your productivity, while trying to spread too much work among too few employees will cause burnout, resentment and high turnover rates. Sit down and figure out exactly what each new employee will need to do for your business to reach your goals. If you’re unsure, start by bringing in only a few extra employees, then scale up as needed.

Build Your Tech and Communication Infrastructure With Your Business

When you’re expanding, it’s tempting to focus only on staff, real estate and equipment. The truth, though, is that there are pieces of basic technological infrastructure that will need to scale up alongside your business. Buying new computers, installing more servers, lining up business phone installation services and supplying employees with secure mobile devices to use in the field are all part of your company’s expansion. If you don’t already have a comprehensive in-house IT staff or a good managed services provider, the beginning of your expansion is a great time to get one lined up.

Outsource Some of Your Less Essential Tasks

As you scale your business, it’s often helpful to outsource some of the tasks that aren’t central to the delivery of your products or services. Functions like accounting, marketing and website management are usually best outsourced to experienced professionals. Once you no longer have to attend to these things in-house, you’ll have more resources freed up to focus on your core mission.

Be Ambitious, But Patient

During a phase of business expansion, it’s important to set big goals that will keep you and your team motivated. With that said, you’re also going to encounter some roadblocks that will seem frustrating in the moment. Remain patient and keep working to reach the primary goal, and you’ll be able to move past these obstacles with relative ease.

By keeping these four things in mind, you’ll be able to scale your business up quickly and sensibly. Whether this is the first expansion of a relatively new business or a move to take an established business to new heights, these tips will help you navigate the highs and lows of scaling up.