Small Business Advice — 6 Ways To Scale a Business | Hostdedi
Scaling your business can be an easy task if you know how to do it. But you may have a hard time if you’ve never done it before.
According to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in every five new businesses fails to survive till its anniversary.
You should know how and when to scale to prevent your business from failing. Besides that, you need to scale your business in a way that ensures its security for the future to come.
Read on to learn about how to scale your business:
Scaling a Business
Scaling is growth, but scaling is a different aspect of growth.
To scale your small business means you increase your revenues without significantly increasing your business costs. In other words, you have an exponential increase in your revenues and only a marginal increase in costs, if any.
As an entrepreneur, you often require more resources than before to maintain sustainable growth in your business. But scaling involves optimizing your costs and increasing your revenues and customers to help you grow without extra resources.
For example, ByteDance scaled TikTok and made it one of the most popular social apps in the market today.
Using various growth and scaling strategies, TikTok went from 55 million monthly active global users in January 2018 to over 1 billion monthly active global users in September 2021.
ByteDance achieved this massive feat with a workforce of 1,294 in Europe and 1,400 in the U.S.
Finding the Right Time To Scale Your Business
You can scale up your new business at any time. But you can maximize your efficiency and profits by scaling at the right time: You’ll reach a point where you’re no longer a startup but aren’t a large corporation either.
That’s not the only way to tell. Here are other things you can look out for.
Overshooting Your Quarterly/Annual Goals
You should scale your business if you smash your quarterly and annual goals way before the due dates. Overshooting your goals early-stage means you’re successful at your current level and need to push harder.
Minimal Risk Around Business Growth
A single quarter with outstanding results doesn’t guarantee risk-free growth in an online business. Assess your business model’s risk and only scale when you’re ready.
Proven Business Concept
Does your new idea do exceptionally well in the market? Have you proved that your solution will sell? If so, consider scaling your business model.
Your scaling exercise will likely succeed if your business concept enjoys market support.
Strong Revenues and Increased Sales
Consider scaling If your business sees increasing revenue streams for periods exceeding six months.
A positive cash flow in your business can help you project new revenues and expenses in the future. It also enables you to prepare for setbacks and protect your business from threats like bankruptcy.
Owning the Right Technology
If your company takes the initiative to use automation, it may be time to scale. Also, consider scaling if you own or develop cutting-edge technology with a unique advantage in the marketplace.
Another way technology can help you scale is data analytics. If you can collect and leverage customer data, you can identify trends and patterns to help you scale.
How To Scale a Business
1. Know your business goals and purpose.
2. Benchmark similar companies that have scaled successfully.
3. Develop a business plan.
4. Establish your team.
5. Improve the quality and consistency of your product.
6. Connect with your customers.
1. Know Your Business Goals and Purpose
Goals help track your progress, motivate you to do more, and keep you accountable for success. To scale, keep yourself and your team up to date with business goals that clearly illustrate what to target.
2. Benchmark Similar Companies That Have Scaled Successfully
Identify businesses within your community that have experienced rapid growth. Find what they did right and use that to guide your scaling activities.
Benchmarking also helps you learn how to address challenges the previous companies faced. You can avoid common errors and other undesirable outcomes to scale as smoothly as possible.
3. Develop a Business Plan
Think of your business plan as a map that directs your internal processes and spending towards a goal. A business plan helps you see the big picture, scale systematically, and reduce your risk of failure.
You always have guidelines for success with a business plan. It brings you back to your main focus whenever you get off-track with your scaling efforts.
4. Establish Your Team
Your team members play a pivotal role in scaling your business efforts. As you scale, hire new employees whose values align with your company culture. Your new hires will use their skill set and work with enthusiasm to help you scale.
Your team isn’t just your workers. It also includes your suppliers and other partners essential for your growth. Create strong and lasting partnerships with them, and they will help drive your business into a bright future.
5. Improve the Quality and Consistency of Your Product
Whenever scaling, many small business owners focus on other functions and forget one vital aspect: product quality. To scale successfully, improve the product quality. Standardize your production processes to ensure your products are uniform and consistent across all batches. You can also offer new products or create varieties to keep your customers hooked.
6. Connect With Your Customers
For efficient scalability, communicate with your customers. Social media is an excellent way to engage your current and new customers. You can also use new media like podcasts and webinars.
Or you can switch to customer relationship management (CRM) software for your growing business as you scale. Using this software-as-a-service (SaaS) and social media integrations, you can communicate and collect feedback from all your product users.
Final Thoughts: 6 Ways To Scale a Business
Scaling is better than growth as it costs less in the long run. Once you figure out when to scale your business, you can do it the right way.
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