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A rapid growth may sound like a dream come true for most entrepreneurs out there, however, it also has a dark side that you have to be aware of. The increase in workload is a great thing if your capacities can handle it, which, more often than not, isnu2019t the case. This leads some organizations to be stretched out too thin, thus being crushed under the weight of their own success.<br>
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How To Handle Small Business Rapid Growth A rapid growth may sound like a dream come true for most entrepreneurs out there, however, it also has a dark side that you have to be aware of. The increase in workload is a great thing if your capacities can handle it, which, more often than not, isn’t the case. This leads some organizations to be stretched out too thin, thus being crushed under the weight of their own success. Fortunately, with some careful planning, timely reactions and organizational abilities, you can handle this rapid growth with great success. The reward for such a thing is simply amazing, seeing as how it allows you to reach the break-even point much sooner. So, here are several ideas for you to check out. Define growth objectives Before you even start thinking about the appropriate response to your growth, you need to consider the growth objectives of your brand. To do this, you need to ask some basic questions of precaution like are you expanding too quickly, are you hiring too fast, are your company leaders
ready for this and resolve a few additional questions. This is often hard for first-time entrepreneurs, yet, honesty is vital at this stage. Only when you have all of this out of the way will you be able to establish a proper growth diagnosis of your company. Learn how to say no The second thing you need to understand is that the rapid growth usually implies more work than you can possibly handle. This can be dealt with in several ways, most of which are less than ideal. For instance, hiring a bigger staff may seem like a great solution, aside from the fact that it may take some time to train these new employees and including them into production right away may reduce the quality of the end product. Same goes for spreading your team too thin or overworking them in order to increase output. At the end of the day, the only sensible course of action is to outsource, redirect or just learn how to say no. While the latter may lose you a client, keep in mind that this is a better alternative to the potential reputation blow that you’ll suffer from a botched work. Choose scalable options Scalability is your friend, however, keep in mind that with the expansion such a thing won’t be as easy to maintain. For instance, some companies purchase corporate devices such as laptops and smartphones that they distribute to their employees. Getting a mobile plan for 10 employees is not only cheaper but also simpler than doing so for 20 people, seeing as how their eventual replacement will be more expensive, as well. This is why it might be worth it to buy quality today and then be able to cover this expense over the course of several years, rather than having it as a recurring matter. This is why you should look for specialized telecommunication operators like Orange, in order to see what they have to offer.
Cash flow One of the greatest problems with a rapid growth of a small business is the issue of cash flow. On the one hand, the increase in a number of customers is supposed to lead to a stellar growth of profit, however, most of these will be credit payments. This means that your account receivables may be too slow to arrive, while your overhead may also increase by quite a bit. In this particular scenario, you need to figure out what to do. One option is to try and sell these invoices in order to get the majority of its value right away. Another option is to apply for another loan. Some would even suggest austerity, while this is definitely not a good course of action for an expanding business. Control your debt Lastly, as a young business, you’re bound to be in at least some form of debt, while, it is far more likely that you’ll have to deal with several at the same time. First of all, you need to watch out for the interest and don’t allow it to eat away the bulk of your profit. One of the ways to avoid this is to consolidate or refinance your credit. Aside from this, the credit rating is important for more reasons than just being able to get a loan. Namely, it affects your insurances, your financial credibility and much more. Conclusion As you can see, most of the above-listed issues are something that an entrepreneur has to deal with, either way, the only difference being that they now have to tackle this issue on a much quicker notice. Still, with enough careful planning, this shouldn’t be impossible to achieve. Original Source: https://www.digiblogic.com/how-to-handle- small-business-rapid-growth/