If you have recently launched your home startup from the comfort of your home office, expanding your business might be the last thing on your mind. However, if you are ambitious and want to see your venture grow into something bigger, then you need to think about how you will use your cash flow to fund expansion.
There are many ways to expand a business. If you currently have a pleasant set up in your home office and work alone, the thought of hiring staff and securing business premises can be terrifying. However, this will be necessary if you expand your product range, expand your services or head to the international market with your wares. Take a look at how you can expand your startup in three easy steps.
Home Startup Tips: Secure More Funding
Even if your business is doing ridiculously well and you are surpassing your targets every month, you will need to secure more funding to expand. Expansion is expensive. You may need to hire new staff that cost a small fortune in wages, you may need to conduct market research before switching demographic and you might need to outsource to enhance your online presence. To secure more funding you could choose to revisit your bank manager, or now might be the time to pitch to a business angel.
With your drive, enthusiasm and exceptional business plan, you can dazzle an industry expert with your facts and figures. A business angel will bring funding with them as well as a book of contacts and their industry knowledge. They are useful individuals to have onboard so investigate their input a potential impact. It may not be the right avenue for you but is certainly worth exploring.
Home Startup Tips: Skill Up
As you expand, you will need to focus on your own professional development. I cannot stress this strongly enough; your business will only grow if you do. While you will hire staff to carry out new duties, you will still need to be aware of what needs to happen to make your business more profitable. As a new employer, you will move from sole trader to boss. You need to learn to delegate and not micro-manage. This is why you need to look into leadership development qualifications for your own benefit. This will make you a better line manager and will help your employees see you as a bona fide leader as well as a manager. Being a decent employer will help to boost employee morale and will prevent absenteeism and a high turnover of staff.
Home Startup Tips: Go International
To tap the international market and go global is the stuff of dreams. Becoming a household name across the world could see you making more money than you could ever imagine. However, what works in one country may fail spectacularly in another. This is why you need to invest in international market research. If the international climate isn’t favourable to your product or service, you need to tweak it, aim for a different niche market or scrap the expansion plans altogether.
Expanding your business is nerve-wracking. However, harness your ambitions, tread with caution and walk before you can run to ensure safe and measured growth for your home startup. If I’ve learned one thing from my business, which I continue to scale up, is that the saying “Go big or go home” can be very relevant for small business owners and even freelancers.
