Growing a business

How to grow a business

Steps to growing your new business

1. Revisit your business plan

Your business plan should be a live document that evolves as your startup grows. This is particularly important if you need additional funding to achieve growth. Are there new competitors in the market? Are you facing new or different threats to your growth?  Is your current business model the right one to help you really grow? 

Keep track of how your business evolves and revise your business plan accordingly.

2. Review your team

You need the right people in place to grow your business to both deliver your product/service and support existing customers. Have constant, open and honest conversations with team members to make sure you’re all aligned and working towards common goals.

If you need inspiration for creating and maintaining a great team vibe, check out our 10 tips to keep startup employees motivated.

3. Secure any additional funding or reinvest

Growing your business may need ongoing funding to scale effectively. This can be by seeking additional funding or even just making some personal sacrifices as you continue to invest. Either way, you’ll need money to cover the costs of additional team members, product development and improvement, marketing, logistics. Whatever your growth goal, make sure you’ve assessed the costs and the return carefully.

4. Decide how you’re going to promote your business

Many businesses invest in paid advertising, in one form or another. If you’ve carried out thorough market research and analytics on any sites you’re running, hopefully you’ll have a good idea of where your customers are coming from. That’s a great place to start.

Each business is different and there are a range of ways to use marketing to grow your business.

5. Stay focused on your targets

Focus is key. And you want to make sure that your business is catering for the needs of your target market and potential customers. Regularly sense check your business decisions to ensure they’re keeping you on the right track.

6. Keep on top of your numbers

Marketing and resourcing spends can very quickly escalate, so being aware of your business’s finances at all times is crucial. Whether you’re looking to grow sales or profit margin, make reviewing the numbers part of your daily routine. And don’t forget to regularly review your business pricing strategy.

If you’ve secured investment through a business partner or angel investors they’re likely to want regular updates on how the business is progressing against any forecast you’ve outlined. Looking for investors? Find out more about funding your startup – what’s available and how to apply.