The underlying goal of any business is to earn money. The best way to increase revenue is to grow and expand the size of the business, increasing profit by simply handling more business. However, you obviously need to ensure that your business is capable of handling whatever level of growth you achieve. There are several steps you can take to facilitate expansion.
Seek Specialist Advice
It can be a good idea to seek advice about how best to approach expansion. Your accountant is one good place to turn for advice about financial and legal matters relating to your growth plans. It is common for accountants to provide business and financial advice alongside their pure accountancy service. You may also seek advice from fellow business professionals in your network or from specialist business advisors.
Employing Staff
Often, the way to handle an increased workload is simply to take on more staff. If this is your first time employing staff, make sure you understand all your obligations and can provide a full, compliant payroll system. Often, it is best to outsource this to a specialist payroll bureau. Once again, accountancy firms can be useful here. This is a service that is frequently offered by accountants, so you may be able to simply use your current accountancy service provider.
Outsource Unnecessary Processes
In fact, outsourcing services that fall outside your specialism can be a good idea in general. Young businesses in particular often handle all processes in-house as a result of keeping down costs in the earliest and most uncertain days. If your business is nicely established and looking to grow, it may be time to start outsourcing some tasks, particularly specialist ones. For example, if you don’t have a current accountant to turn to for advice or a payroll service, it may be time to get one. This will free up time within your business to take on more paid work.
Branch Out
Sometimes, the problem is not so much in your business’ ability to handle more work as in the availability of new clients and customers in your market. In these cases, the best way to create a situation where your business can grow is often to cast a slightly bigger net. Are there any new products or services you can introduce, which are different enough from your existing options to capture a new audience but similar enough to sit neatly within your business? For example, if you are a web design company could you also offer graphic design or content writing? If you do not currently employ any specialists in a related field, you can either take on new staff or subcontract this portion of your business to an external provider.
