For those of you who have survived make and built successful
businesses, you may be wondering how to take the next step and grow your
business beyond its current status. No matter how small your
business, there will come a time when you need to think about expanding. According to statistics, most small businesses will fail within the first five years of operation. But if you are ready to grow, we are ready to help.
There are various possibilities, 6 of which well define here.
1) Advertisement
2) License your product
3) Win a government contract
4) Target other market
5) Going into new market
6) Watch your cash flow
1: The first idea is to advertise. Most people scared from advertising because they feel that its too expensive. Keep in mind that there are several kinds of advertising, and many of them are very low cost. For just a few dollars per month, you can market your services worldwide. A well-designed web site can extend the range, size and scope of your services.
2: Licensing also minimizes your risk and is low cost in comparison to the price of starting your own company to produce and sell your brand or product.
This is the best way to minimize the risk of losing control of your service or product.
3: A fair amount of tolerance is required in working to secure most government contracts.
The good part about winning
government contracts, says Bennett, is that once youve jumped through the hoops and win a bid, youre generally not subject to the level of external competition of the outside
marketplaces.
4: Understanding your
market also means getting to know who is challenging for that
market and using this information strategically. If your consumer market ranges from teenagers to college students, think about where these people spend most of their time. Another policy is to take a retail-oriented product or service and sell it wholesale.
5: Many small
businesses are founded on a single good idea or invention. If you are seeing your
businesss profits level, now is the time to think about expansion into new products, or a move into new markets perhaps overseas.
6: It is common among small
businesses to struggle with rigid cash flow. This is all the more true when a business starts to rapidly expand. As growth happens, it is easy to loose scene of your costs. Since a lot of money is being directed outside of the business for new equipment, new supplies, or higher payroll expenses, a cash loss is usually unavoidable.
