The worlds’ 1%, as recorded byForbes’ 35th annual rankingsof the wealthiest people in the world, showed that there was one thing in common among all the Americans on the list. They were all self-established businessmen that used their business scaling skills to get to where they are today.
And whether you’re the second coming of Jeff Bezos or just a regular Chad trying to find his way, knowing business scaling techniques can help your venture go a long way. With that in mind, here are four important tips that you should remember to ensure the success of your business’s growth.
Plan for the long haul and prepare for a long and tiring journey.
As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Building a commercial goliath doesn’t happen overnight. You have to remain patient even if the journey gets frustrating, or even worse, exciting.
Keep in mind that no matter how thrilling upscaling could be, taking shortcuts would mean compromising more than one aspect of your business. Taking the easy path can make it easier for you to overlook your ethics and the integrity of your enterprise.
To avoid this from happening, make sure that you are financially ready before submerging your business in the big leagues. Prepare an emergency fund to back your business up in case the cash flow comes to a halt. Prepare to be financially ready when the demand exponentially grows bigger than you have planned for.
It’s also better to conceptualize possible problems you’d face as early as possible. It’s okay to hope for the best but never forget to prepare for the worst.
Know the value of investing in people.
This one is evidently underrated in the traditional business industry. But as the world develops a more progressive mindset towards human resources, companies like Google are redefining people management. From an unlimited food supply and bouncy beanbag couches to unlimited sick days and college tuition reimbursement, these companies offer a lot of perks to their employees that have proven to help improve workforce productivity.
But don’t worry. That doesn’t mean you have to offer the same perks on that scale. You can start by focusing on your core team’s development. The best way to build a team of loyal and skilled leaders is to develop them into becoming one yourself.
Hiring experts, no matter how pricy it could be, is also a great investment. Remember that even when you’re scaling a business, quality will still trump over quantity. A small team of specialists can prove to be more efficient and effective compared to an army of mediocrity.
Keep in mind that once you upscale, you would have to focus more on delegating tasks. There are process automation programs that you can use. But at the end of the day, it’s the people around you that you’d have to count on.
Take advantage of your competitor’s history.
There’s no denying that there are already those who had established their conglomerates even before you were even born. But the goal right now is not to reach them. It’s to make your mark in their world. And to do that, you’d have to learn from them all.
Don’t underestimate the efforts of those who didn’t make it. Instead, learn from the mistakes of those who have failed before you. Don’t be intimated by those who are dominating the big leagues. Instead, capitalize on their success. Look for what’s missing and find where you can come in.
Banner Solutions is a great example of this. Instead of competing against the thousands of hardware manufacturing businesses that their local offices used to compete with, they found another way. They chose to wisely capitalize on their digitalization. They builtbannersolutions.comand became a wholesale hardware distribution company that handles 75% of the hardware brands in the country.
Don’t stop elevating what you can offer and stay consistent with your branding.
One of thepitfalls that entrepreneurs facewhen they upscale their business is the sudden change in the level of marketing consistency. It’s easy to get swept by the rush of your venture’s growth. And with all that rush, staying within the lanes of your purpose, vision, and mission could be difficult.
Focus on staying consistent with your customer service, quality assurance, and the work culture you’ve cultivated. Don’t compromise the things that got you there in the first place.
And if you can, fortifying your marketability as early as possible can also make a ton of difference. Focus on cultivating SEO strategies that can help your digital presence. Your social media relevance can positively affect your marketability as well. And it wouldn’t hurt to invest in paid ads from time to time.
The bottom line
Scaling up a business doesn’t happen overnight. A lucrative enterprise isn’t something that just magically grows. If you want to make it work, you need to spend time, effort, and everything else that you can offer. Because at the end of the day, success is sweeter when you’ve worked hard for it.
