Ready to Grow?

 Think you’re ready for “the next level”? Growth requires different systems, management skills and financing and a new mind-set, among other things. Before you take the next step toward expansion, consider the following:

Know Your Financials
Will your current growth rate run up your accounts receivable and dry your cash reserve? Will your credit line cover any shortfalls? Do you know the difference between your projected cash flow and profitability? If you can’t answer these questions, get someone who can.
Know Your Outside Financing Options
Companies primed for growth know how, when and where to get outside money and what type of financing to tap before they need it. They know the appropriate financing option (e.g., debt vs. equity) for each point in the company’s life cycle, and are well-informed on how their company will be valued.

Consider Non-Organic Ways to Grow
Acquisition can be an ideal way to grow, but you need to evaluate what type of company is a good fit with yours. Another, less formal way of gaining a marketplace advantage is to team up with another company by forming a joint venture or strategic alliance. Relationships such as these are easier to implement and can be designed to end easily if they do not work out.

Move from Micro-Management to Macro-Management
Business owners often have trouble letting go and turning matters over to subordinates. But it’s critical that you do so, because you can’t do everything yourself. If you won’t let go, you won’t grow.

Reap the Rewards of Technology
You can improve your business through access to timely, critical information about performance. It’s equally important that you identify and utilize technologies that help you reduce costs and increase productivity. Invest in systems that can be integrated with each other and are both scaleable and flexible.

Protect Intellectual Property
Products, technologies, business methods, patents, trademarks, copyrights and other forms of intellectual property can significantly enhance a company’s ability to secure and defend sources of marketplace advantage. Intellectual property is a means of creating a proprietary, defensible market advantage.