Can I Grow My Business Faster?

When it comes to launching a startup, progress can sometimes feel frustratingly slow. Despite doing 101 things every day, it can feel like you’re never moving forward quickly enough. Patience, our dear friends, is key in the early days of a business. But yes, there are a couple of things which can help kick start faster growth.

Limit your offerings

If you are busy trying to perfect 10 different products or services, it can end up slowing you down. And, this can also mean that you’re offering 10 things which aren’t as good as they can be, because you’re rushing.

Launching with a smaller list gives you a better chance of getting them perfect before moving onto the next project.

An golden example of this in practice can often be found in the food service industry. Smaller restaurants tend to go with smaller menus, as having too many options can cause problems. Smaller restaurants with large menus end up overwhelmed, and not operating very efficiently because ingredients go to waste if they aren’t being ordered regularly.

Focus on a small number of projects and doing them well; it’ll generally cost less and be more manageable for your team.

Don’t delay your marketing

It’s definitely tempting to delay any investment in marketing until you start turning over a profit. But ask yourself, how do you plan to reach those profits if your customers don’t know about you? You’ll hit those targets much faster if you’re making some investment in marketing and getting your name out there sooner, rather than later.

While you don’t have to spend thousands on adverts, spending some time and/or money developing your online presence, including social media, content creation, networking and SEO, will help you get the ball rolling.

Reduce expenses

It’s tempting to splash out in the early days. Lots of us want the slick office and the fancy accessories that make us look like a player, but in most cases it’s unnecessary and often way too soon.

It’s vital to keep your expenses as low as possible in order to turn a profit sooner. While this doesn’t mean avoiding all spending, it does mean avoiding unnecessary purchases of new equipment, or even hiring permanent staff before you can afford to. Which brings us to…

Hire remotely

Similar to the point above, staffing costs are one of the big costs associated with doing business. If you need to keep your outgoings low in the beginning, hiring remote workers and freelancers could be just the ticket.

Freelancers are handy because you don’t have to pay a full-time permanent salary. You can hire them as and when needed, working in-line with your cash flow.

Remote workers, even if permanent, can also help you save money. If everyone works at home, including yourself, this can be a massive saving on renting office space and all the furniture to go in it.

There’s always the option to get an office at a later date, but saving in the early days can help you grow faster without unnecessary expenses holding you back.

With the COVID-19 crisis, more and more businesses are realising that they can operate remotely. Whether this has a lasting effect on the business world or job market remains to be seen but it could be a good way to keep overheads low in the future.