Growing a business is exciting. It can also be very stressful if things move too fast, and it grows too quickly. You may make more mistakes, some of which can cause serious problems with your customers’ satisfaction, affecting future sales.
Here are some things to look for when your business begins to take off.
Too Easy to Lose Track of Your Finances
One of the most important parts of your business has to do with your accounting practices. During rapid growth, if you aren’t on top of that information, you may suddenly owe a lot of money.
You really want to track your finances carefully and be aware of the effect increasing income can have on your business. Business taxes will increase and you may possibly even need to upgrade your local business licenses, which are often based on an income range.
You May Make Cash Flow Mistakes
Earning a lot of money is an exciting thing. However, earning money comes a lot of responsibility for making good choices.
If you suddenly hit it big with one of your products, especially if it was a surprise, you will need to be very careful about controlling your cash flow. You do not want to be short of tax money for your quarterly taxes or other business expenses.
Not Paying Attention to Building Your Audience
Your audience is very important to your continued success. If you’re only focused on the sales portion, you may forget to deal with building a fan base for long term success.
Not Scaling Customer Service Fast Enough![]()
When sales increase, you will have more customer service inquiries. It’s imperative that you deal with this by improving your customer service process in time to deal with additional customers.
If you grow too fast, it might be hard to get this system in place and working the way you want it to, thus causing dissatisfaction and poor reviews. This can lead to fewer sales and a loss of revenue and customers.
Avoiding Good Business Planning and Organization for Sales
Your job as the owner of your small online business is to be the CEO of your business. That means that you need to do a lot of planning and organizing so that things go smoothly.
Even if this is something you have hired someone to do, you should be involved in studying systems, trying new marketing ideas, and keeping your business running lean and mean.
Making Human Resources Mistakes Due to Being Rushed
When you grow too fast, you may end up hiring people who aren’t right for your business needs. If you grow slowly, you can be more careful as you build your team.
Build a team that isn’t rushed and stressed. They’re going to work together better when you finally do break through and grow as big as you want.
Making Management Mistakes
If you’re in a hurry and you are growing too fast, you’re not going to have time to focus on the management issues that you need to succeed. Building a good strong team, choosing the right technology, and ensuring you’re targeting the right audience are some of the ways that you can avoid management mistakes.
Not Scaling Technology Fast Enough
Many small home business owners like to start with the least expensive technology. It probably won’t work for them when they grow bigger. Make sure you plan for new technology to make sure you afford to buy it when you need it. If you are stuck with inadequate technology, you might have a hard time servicing your clients when growth happens super-fast.
Smart and slow growth is better than overnight success. The main reason is that overnight success may not be repeatable. If it’s not repeatable after the first flush of success, you’ll have trouble doing it again, year after year. If you have smart growth that allows you to build your customer base and provide the best service to your customers, you’ll experience more long-term success.
