There comes a time in the life of every young business when, like a baby, it starts to need more input than one person can give it.

It’s at this point in the lifespan of a home-based business that a different approach has to be adopted to the nurturing 24-hour-day-care required by many start ups. And like all mothers, it’s at this point that a business mum can suddenly hit a wall.

So what to do to make the transition not JUST as painless as possible, but actually a profitable success?

1. Create Systems
To be fair, these really should have been put in place even when it was just you running the entire show, but human nature being what it is, we’ll accept that this is unlikely to have happened with your first business!

Systems sounds scary, but are simply a “This is how we do it here” guide to running your business, so if you suddenly got hit by a truck someone could pick it up and run it in your absence. Or more likely, someone can step in and help you run it YOUR way without arguing and without you having to keep correcting them, stand over them or risk them taking over. Systems are the smart business mum’s way of delegating her responsibilities.

2. Introduce New Blood
Support, whether freelance or PAYE, are essential to ensure that a business continues to grow and thrive. Don’t go for the hugely experienced – they’re out of your league and will just create problems in the vulnerable structure of a small business, and any way you can’t afford them. Look for keen and inexperienced employees who have the potential to contribute instead, and train them how to do it your way.

3. Embrace New Trends
Don’t neglect to keep abreast of changes and introductions to your market. Naturally this will require an investment in order to research it and implemented effectively, in terms of both time and money, but it will make the business more efficient in the medium-to long-term.

4. Explore New Avenues
Diversification can often be crucial to the future success of an enterprise, especially once you have developed both your product and its market to their limits. Think about:

• Introducing a product or service that complements your existing offering but will appeal to new markets.

• Introducing something new that may appeal to your current customer base.

• Introducing something designed specifically for an entirely new market.

5. Be Brave
All too often in business, it's far too easy to forget how to be brave and entrepreneurial, but that's exactly what can make the difference between standing still and moving forward when your business is at the tipping point between you managing the day to day business and needing make changes.

And it’s at this point that your courage may fail and leave you high and dry. As the kitchen table entrepreneur who started your business, the dreamer who backed themselves against the odds, remember how brave and determined you were at the beginning.

Starting up is a daunting step to take, but in retrospect it is perhaps the easiest one to take because we don’t know exactly what is involved. Yet once that has been accomplished the entrepreneurial attitude can often be quickly forgotten, and the manager or artisan can take over almost completely.

Yet finding your entrepreneurial spark again is exactly what is needed to grow your business to the next stage, so don't hesitate, just go for it - and if you need any help, don't hesitate to contact me!

 

© Claire Burdett. No content to be reproduced without written approval of the author.

Claire Burdett is the Founder and Director of Funky Angel. She is a Writer, Journalist, and Editor, Integrated Marketing Expert, and Home Business Mentor.

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