The Challenges of Growing a Business and How to Meet them

Growth is crucial to the long-term survival of a business. I found a great article that tackles the challenges of growing a business and how to meet them. Here are some highlights.

Growing businesses face a range of challenges. As a business grows, different problems and opportunities demand different solutions. What worked a year ago might now be not the best approach. All too often, avoidable mistakes turn what could have been a great business into an also run.

Keeping up with the market

Business conditions change continually, so your market research should be continuous as well. Otherwise, you run the risk of making business decisions based on out-of-date information, which can lead to business failure.

Planning ahead

Market conditions continually change, so you need to revisit and update your business plan regularly. As your business grows, your strategy needs to evolve to suit your changed circumstances. 

Cash flow and financial management

Good cash flow control is important for any business. For a growing business, it's crucial - cash constraints can be the biggest factor limiting growth and overtrading can be fatal.

Problem-solving

As your business grows, you also need to be alert to new problems and priorities. Every day brings new challenges that urgently need resolving and management spends most of their time troubleshooting.

The right systems

All businesses produce and rely on large volumes of information - financial records, interactions with customers and other business contacts, employee details, regulatory requirements and so on. It's too much to keep track of - let alone use effectively - without the right systems.

Skills and attitudes

To grow your business, you need to learn to delegate properly, trusting your management team and giving up day-to-day control of every detail. 

Welcoming change

Complacency can be a major threat to a growing business. You need to be fully committed to your strategy, even if it takes you out of your comfort zone. This may involve hard decisions.

If you’re interested, head on over to the full article here for more ideas and perspective. Afterwards, why not drop me an email to share your thoughts at [email protected]; or call me on 0467 749 378.

Thanks,

Robert