When you stake your claim in a market for the first time as a small business – whether as a sole trader or with a couple additional staff members – it’s always immensely gratifying to watch your business grow and expand.
Growing as a small business isn’t always so cut and dry, however. There’s a lot to consider when you’re looking at effectively growing a small business.
It goes both ways, too. You don’t want to grow too quickly and risk instability, but nor do you want to grow too slowly and risk feeling pressured and overworked. Often, businesses can use specific support services to help grow at a better, more manageable pace, and there are many ways that these kinds of support services can help a small business.
Freeing up time
Small businesses with only a small handful of staff might often feel a little pressed for time during the workday. You might even be a sole trader who handles everything themselves. This might mean that you or your staff are often dealing with several different business issues each and every day. No day would be the same, and there might always be another business issue that could use your attention.
This could create added stress in a business. In cases such as this, you might benefit hugely from using dedicated business support services. For example, if you’re a sole trader, think about which business issues you dislike handling more than others, which take longer than you’d like, and which you have less experience in handling.
It could be, for example, that you outsource all of your accounting responsibilities. The extra time this gives you during a week will let you focus more on managing and growing your business, while still safe in the knowledge that all your bookkeeping is in good order.
A professional safety net
However well your business is doing, it’s always hard to predict and prepare for every eventuality and continue operating as effectively as you can.
For example, say your few additional staff fall severely ill, and you’re left working at a reduced capacity for some time. This can really hinder your growth, as you’re left unable to meet customer needs effectively, if at all for some.
On the other hand, it might be that you have to handle a sudden and wholly unexpected rush of business. You and your staff are rushed off their feet, and phones are ringing off the hook. This could be a fantastic opportunity for your business, but you just don’t have the capacity to handle it as well as you’d like.
In both of these kinds of cases, business support services could be just what you need. They could handle certain key business needs for you or provide temporary additional staff, which lets you better see through a business emergency or business boom as effectively as possible, letting you continue growing as a business.
Smoothly adding additional services
One major way that many small businesses grow and expand is by adding additional services, which can let them bring in new customers with new needs. However, it’s also the case that adding new services will often require bringing in new staff who focus on that new area.
These hiring processes may take time, however, and it might take more time than you initially expected. You’ll need to spend time and effort looking for the right staff members, with the right skillset and experience for your new service.
In cases such as this, rather than delaying the launch of your new service, you could use outsourcing services to bring in qualified and dedicated staff. This will help your new service go live smoothly and on schedule.
You could do this in a number of ways, too. For example, your outsourced staff could handle everything initially while you look for dedicated full-time staff. You could train up existing staff in cooperation with outsourced staff until they’re ready to take on the responsibilities themselves. Or you could even operate it entirely with outsourced staff long term. How you make use of outsourcing in your small business will vary depending on exactly what you need.
This sponsored article was provided by Stuart Jameson
