The Do’s and Don’ts of Growing your own Business

Growing your own business is exciting and intimidating at the same time. You’re excited that your business is going well but you know you have to take certain actions to maintain the growth. Here are some do’s and don’ts to grow your business successfully.

Do assess your business

Understand the capabilities of your business by taking your budget and resources into account. Accounting records, statistics and analytics can help you to analyze what has brought you success and what to focus on in the future.

Talking to accountants, business advisors and the like can help you to make good business decisions. Their input will cost you money but will help to make sure you’re growing in the right direction.

Don’t do everything yourself

When your business starts to grow, it becomes impossible to do everything yourself. Instead of running the risk of burning out, you need to know where you can rely on others to get certain things done.

You must be able to delegate to your employees and even think about subcontracting certain aspects of your business. Your employees might have insights and help you to grow your business in ways that didn’t cross even your mind. Local business owners who have experienced growth themselves may be able to give you valuable advice.

Do set goals

Unless you have goals, you don’t know whether your business is improving. When you set goals, you know what to reach for and when you’re successful. SMART business goals are those that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound.

Do think about online security features and tools

Sign up online to a VPN (Virtual Private Network) for a small monthly charge to make sure your internet connection is more secure and you stay anonymous. Read a Surfshark VPN Review if you’re interested in a budget-friendly VPN to ensure your user privacy in the digital sphere.

Don’t rush the hiring process

If you rush into hiring more people as your business grows, you may hire the wrong people. Firstly, you need a proper job description and a list of the qualifications and skills you require.

Advertise the position and carefully interview candidates to make sure the person not only has the right qualifications and skills but also the character and soft skills you’re looking for. A hasty decision to hire can set you back as you’ll invest time in someone who isn’t a good fit or doesn’t stay.

Don’t rely on informal agreements

Relying on informal, verbal agreements will get you into trouble. Written business agreements make sure that promises are kept. Written agreements should always be in place with dealing with other businesses, lenders or business partners.

This is particularly important in developing strong supplier relationships which are crucial to business success.

Do get customer feedback

When you get to know your customers, you understand more about what they want and you can give it to them.

Their feedback can determine the direction of your business. Some ways to get feedback from your customers is to ask them to answer a survey or to submit a review. An interview with a customer can help to reveal pain points and desires.

Don’t rest on your laurels

You not only need to keep your current customers satisfied but keep looking for new ones. Conducting a market analysis can help you find out where potential customers live, work and hang out on social media. Innovate and add new products or services to attract them.

You also need to remain open to new technology and to adopt innovative practices that help to improve your internal processes and enhance your efficiency.

Adam Richards

About Adam Richards

Adam Richards is a semi-retired business professional originally from Bangor, Maine. He spent the majority of his career in sales and marketing where he rose to the marketing lead of a Fortune 1000 company. He then moved on to helping people as a career counselor that specifically helped bring families to self-sufficiency through finding them rewarding careers. He has now returned to Bangor for his retirement and spends his free time writing. This blog will be about everything he learned throughout his career. He'll write on career, workplace, education and technology issues as well as on trends, changes, and advice for the Maine job market and its employers.