How to Grow Your Small Business

by: BMA Editorial Team A

Whenever one starts a small business one has illusions of it becoming a huge multinational with offices in 123 countries and is one of the world's biggest employers; something along the lines of Coke, IBM and McDonalds. The reality is that not only do most small businesses not reach these heights but they don't reach any heights at all closing after less than a year. If you are to be the exception as opposed to the rule than you need to be very careful and show a lot of discipline.

When you are starting off and things are going well, the cardinal error you can make is to expand too quickly too soon. What you need to is consolidate on every level before you can even consider expansion on any level. What this means is that you need to be so ridiculously busy filling customers' orders that expanding is nothing but a necessity because to do so prematurely would be counter-productive. This is what you need to be cautious of.

To hire employees means you need to be sure that their salaries can be covered. That they will pay for themselves via the work which they do. It just isn't their wages you need to be concerned with but all the other expenses that come with having employees. They need to have computers and desks. You need to train them and you need to have all the other resources they need in order to fulfil their duties.

Maybe in the beginning you can start out of a room in your house but there is only so long you can do this for. It isn't fair for your family, your customers or anyone associated with your business. This means finding and moving into an office. You want to find a nice location but one which isn't too costly.

You then are going to have to outfit the office with everything that requires. You will need desks and stationary. Maybe you won't need Managed Print Solutions or large scale copiers in the very beginning but it is something you should definitely consider for later on. You will also need to look at having some sort of secretary to meet and greet people.

Will you have a water cooler that gives people fresh water? What about a kitchen with facilities to make tea and coffee? These are the types of things you need to think of. Once you get to a certain size you will hire an office manager and it will be their job to handle and deal with all queries and issues of this nature. Until then you will be the one to have to come up with an answer for everything.

This means that you are the HR person, the Fire Marshal, the Social Committee and the Board. But over time as your business grows you will have more people you can delegate to so you will be less hands-on. This is an aspect that many founders miss but it's also a reality. You can only do everything for so long.

Stuart Grayson is a freelance writer who covers news and events in the business world based at RICOH Europe. He is known for his commentary on good business parctices and his experience with Managed Print Solutions for companies of every size.

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About the Author:
Stuart Grayson is a freelance writer who covers news and events in the business world based at RICOH Europe (http://www.ricoh-europe.com/). He is known for his commentary on good business parctices and his experience with Managed Print Solutions (http://www.ricoh-europe.com/solutions/managed-solutions/index.xhtml) for companies of every size.

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No. of Times this article has been viewed : 401
Date Published : Jan 26 2010

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Small Business Management Articles

How to Grow Your Small Business