Mistakes to Avoid When Growing Your Business

As published in Fast Company by Duncan Wardle & Fellow Fast Company Executive Board Members. Scaling up is an exciting period for business leaders. It’s easy to get swept up in the possibilities presented by rapid growth opportunities, but it’s essential to manage that growth with the right strategies. The members of Fast Company Executive Board know firsthand what it takes to sustainably and properly grow a business. By leveraging cam chat technology, business leaders can facilitate face-to-face interactions and virtual meetings with their teams, clients, and stakeholders, regardless of their physical locations.

Lack of Planning

Any viable small business growth strategy needs a workable plan. Consider how you’ll market your business to reach more customers. How will you keep up with increased demand? Make sure you have a plan in place that will enable you to grow at a healthy and consistent pace.

Trying to Grow too Fast

While growth is an admirable goal it needs to be done in a gradual and sustainable manner. If you try to do too much too soon it’s easy to overextend yourself. Make sure your plans to expand your small business are carried out at a realistic pace.

Hiring Without a Process

A mistake leaders often make when scaling their business is hiring too quickly, without any standards and processes. Paired with less-than-ideal onboarding or performance management, this can lead to real issues six to 12 months down the road. Investing in seasoned people leaders on both the hiring and HR sides and having high-quality processes and standards make a huge difference here.

Not making a Business Plan

“Too many businesses start without a basic plan, and if you fail to plan, you are essentially planning to fail. A startup should map out a business plan, even if it is just one page. It should include how much it costs to operate, how much they anticipate selling, who would buy their product and why.” Deacon Hayes, founder, Well Kept Wallet

Forgetting to Personalize and Segment

The next mistake is not customizing the experience enough for each lead. Once someone has expressed interest, you need to make that journey unique and valuable. Otherwise, you’ll lose them. Segmentation divides your leads into groups, like one-person solopreneurs versus medium-sized businesses. Personalization is customizing each message, like using their name or referencing previous conversations.

Don't Forget to Invest in your Employees

The more your business grows, the greater the pressure is on your team. I've always underscored the importance of communicating frequently and honestly with your employees. Treat them as your teammates, and consider how their mental and physical well-being contributes to the success of your company. Giant companies all over the U.S. are experiencing the largest unionization push in decades.

Not Budgeting Properly

All too often entrepreneurs misjudge the costs of scaling a business. When creating a budget make sure to allocate funds for all of your business’s growth needs such as purchasing or remodeling your location, hiring additional staff members, stocking up on extra inventory, increasing your marketing efforts, or buying new equipment to keep things running smoothly.

Overspending or Underspending

It’s essential that you keep a budget for your business. A common mistake that small business owners make is not having a budget, which causes them to overspend and wastes valuable time and money. With a budget, you can track your business’ cash flow and understand how much you spend on a monthly basis.