Your forecasts look good, the revenues are soaring and the sales are picking up. Congrats, you’ve made it through the tough startup phase, but the growing pains are just beginning. You have more responsibilities to shoulder, a bigger team to handle and most importantly, more clients coming your way. As you make plans to scale your business, let this article be your guide to some common pitfalls to avoid.
Making a bad hire
Entrepreneurs usually go with their instinct when recruiting the people in their team to get their business up and running. They tend to hire an all-rounder who can help them with operating and managing the business. As your venture transitions into the growth phase, you have to hire new people in order to cope up with the increasing needs of the business.
Before you recruit new people to your team, make sure you have a hiring plan in place to avoid getting the wrong person onboard. Making a bad hire can impact clients, revenues and the overall productivity of your team. Hiring the right person for the right job takes an incredible amount of time and money, but it all becomes worthwhile when you see great results.
Losing sight of your goals
You had a clear vision of the goals you wanted to achieve when starting out. This is the very reason why you succeeded. But as your business grows, you start juggling responsibilities and may lose focus. You may want to take your business in a completely new direction or take on work you’re not quite ready to take on. All of this ultimately leads to an untimely downfall of your business. To avoid going down that road, take one step at a time and expand only if you think you’re ready for the challenges that lie ahead.
Not investing in security
Investing in security may not seem important while you’re expanding your business, but this might turn out to be counterproductive. While copyrighting your inventions and protecting your online privacy is critical, securing your office premises with CCTV monitoring is just as important. Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of using a CCTV monitoring system is the security and savings it provides.
Initially, the installation of the system requires an investment. Reducing theft means taking a small hit to your inventory expenditures. Improving productivity means you can get more work done. All in all, a CCTV monitoring system simply makes sense to your bottom dollar.
The entrepreneurial journey is tough but rewarding. Every decision you make will have an impact on your business – good or bad. The growth stage can make you complacent as the sales start picking up, but remember to stay focused and steer clear from these mistakes to run your business smoothly.
If you can think of more mistakes that entrepreneurs commit when scaling their business, share them in the comments below!