5 Factors to Consider Before Expanding Your Business
As a business owner, you’re dreaming of big success. Expanding your business is one path to achieving that success, but it comes with a lot of risks. Luckily, there are ways that you can take the opportunities that come your way while mitigating risks!
Looking for some business advice before expanding? Start by considering these five factors!
1. Goals
Because expanding your business is a big investment, you need to have a good reason to do it! List specific and reasonable goals for your expansion, and refer to them when creating your concrete plans.
Examples of great goals are: breaking into a new market, increasing your profits, and even improving your brand’s reputation and trustworthiness.
2. Location
Whether you’re looking to open a second storefront or you just need more room, location is everything. Don’t settle for a space that doesn’t meet your needs. List everything that goes into your perfect location, and search for properties that meet most of those requirements.
Plan ahead when you pick your office space. There’s a wide variety of spaces available to rent! Leave room for even more expansion in the future, and choose the most versatile building you can find.
3. Team Members
You can’t expand on your own, you’re going to have to hire and manage new team members. Analyze your business needs to decide what positions you’ll need to fill. It will likely be a matter of creating entirely new roles with unique skills and responsibilities, rather than just hiring extra help.
Before posting job positions, make a plan for maintaining your company culture. You don’t want new faces to upset the balance you’ve already created.
4. Market Research
Look at the growth in your entire market; by looking at overall trends in your industry, you can decide whether it’s a good time to expand. If you find a lot of industry growth, strike while the iron is hot! If not, you may want to spend more time planning your expansion and wait for a boom.
After learning what you can from the big picture, don’t neglect the local market where you actually conduct your business. Just like when you first launched, you need to know as much as you can about the market you’re expanding in. Depending on what you find, you may need to adjust your business model and marketing plan.
5. Cost
Hiring new employees, paying rent, and even buying office furniture – there are so many reasons that business growth can be costly. Since your goal is to turn a profit, you need to make sure that you can manage the expense of expansion before you start.
Write a careful budget that lists everything down to the last paperclip, and decide whether you can reasonably afford to expand. You may need to research business loans as well.
Remember that expansion is a long-term investment. You’ll be paying into it for as long as you’re in business. But, it will likely increase your profits more and more over time!
Get Started Expanding Your Business
Expanding your business is a huge step, but it could be the right choice for you! Start balancing the risks and rewards now so that you don’t miss your chance to expand at the right time!
If you’re looking for a location to rent in Tampa Bay, we have the perfect space for you! Contact us now to learn about your options or to set up a location visit.
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