24 Nov 8 Dos and Don’ts for Entrepreneurs Experiencing Rapid Business Growth

Can a business really grow too fast? Every business owner or entrepreneur hopes that their idea will explode and take off, naturally propelling them to success.

Such growth takes a lot of work and effort. Still, the momentum of growth can sometimes get away from us if we’re not prepared for it.

For example, what would you do if, in a matter of months, you had outgrown your available office space and need to double your staff to keep up with customer demand? Would you have the bandwidth to onboard so many people at once in order to keep that momentum going? Would you open a second office or move to a new, larger space that can house the entire company?

These are just a few dos and don’ts to consider when your company’s growth takes off like a shot.

Don’t Fail to Reinvest in the Business.

Turning a profit is exciting. But in order to make a company sustainable, the profit should be reinvested into the business, not pocketed by the CEO. Don’t get greedy at the expense of your business’s stability and growth.

Do Find a Mentor.

If you’re feeling like a fish out of water, don’t hesitate to ask for advice. You’ll need to talk to someone who has experienced the same rush of growth. Learn from their mistakes and their triumphs.

Don’t Promote or Keep Employees for the Wrong Reasons.

When you first launched your start up, you had a small but loyal team of people helping to develop your website or ship your products. Should that same team be the core team throughout your growth? Sometimes it works out fine this way, but other times it’s just not the right move for the company.
For example, let’s say you hired a guy named Bob to handle all the shipping of your orders. Bob is good at making sure the right thing gets shipped to the right person, but Bob isn’t cut out to be a manager. And yet you feel like you owe it to Bob to promote him now that you need 5 people packaging orders instead of 1. Making Bob a manager out of a feeling of obligation or loyalty is not going to help your business grow if he is really not cut out for the job. Give Bob a raise and use his expertise to help train the new employees, but choose someone else for the managerial task.

Do Keep Your Finger on the Pulse of Cash Flow.

It’s easy to assume that finances must be OK if the business is growing so rapidly. But be careful; scaling a business costs money, and you don’t want to get ahead of yourself and land in the red. Let finances play a role in key decisions.

Don’t Be Reluctant to Expand Office Space.

Whether you want to keep the company under one roof or operate it out of multiple locations is entirely up to you. But when you find yourself turning broom closets into offices or drawing up detailed maps to see where you can best cram the new jumbo copier, it is way past time to expand.

Keep a flexible lease option on your office space if possible, so that you can vacate quickly if things really start booming. At the same time, it doesn’t make sense to buy an enormous, multi-level office if you can neither afford it nor use it. A good middle-of-the-road plan is flexible or on-demand office space, offered by companies like Regus.

Do Know When or How to Outsource to Contractors.

Are you ready for an in-house marketing team? What about a graphic designer? If you’re on the fence about whether a certain position is needed, consider outsourcing the job first. You can save on overhead (such as the cost of a benefits plan, the cost of additional office space) by hiring contractors or a specialized agency. If outsourcing these positions turns out to have more drawbacks than advantages, then you know you’ll be making the right decision when assembling an in-house team.

Sometimes it’s obvious that you just need someone for a one-off job; for example, you might need an interpreter for a meeting with a potential client. If the deal goes well, you can re-hire the interpreter on an as-needed basis.

Don’t Set Only Long-Term Goals.

When your business is experiencing accelerated growth, long-term plans can change quickly. It’s better to set medium-term goals, such as what you can accomplish in a year or two, and see where the road takes you from there. Of course, have plenty of short-term goals that can act as stepping stones to those medium-term goals!

Do Keep Customers Happy.

Despite any of your internal growth struggles, it is critical that you keep your customers happy. Is your customer care team so swamped that some customers are waiting on the phone for ages? That’s enough to ruffle anyone’s feathers. You need to keep a good reputation, especially so early in the company’s life. Be prepared to offer discount coupons or to make other amends if customers directly feel your growing pains. Letting your customers know that they are appreciated is an easy way to earn a repeat customer.

Have you been fortunate enough to experience rapid growth with your start-up? What advice would you give if someone asked you to be a mentor? Share some of your thoughts in the comments below!

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