The 5 Stages of Your Small Business Growth
The team at Payleadr have outlined the 5 stages of small business growth to help your venture succeed. Read our blog to find out more.
The team at Payleadr have outlined the 5 stages of small business growth to help your venture succeed. Read our blog to find out more.
Turning your small business into a more prominent brand requires the appropriate marketing strategies. Hence, to get started, you must understand where you currently stand within the marketplace and how you can grow effectively using the best techniques.
The team at Payleadr have outlined the 5 stages of small business growth, to help you understand where your business is currently and where it should be heading.
Read on to find out more.
You’ve thought of a great idea and started your own business. Now that your business is set up and rolling, you’re looking to get more customers.
You’ll need to ask yourself some common questions before taking the next step with your business, including:
Many small businesses fail in the existence stage as they have not conducted enough research regarding the market and whether people want what you’re selling. Only once you understand the market can you move onto stage #2.
While your business had made it into stage 2 of the process, it is still relatively small. However, you have the potential to grow as you have found a customer base that supports your products or services and is willing to make purchases repeatedly.
Questions to ask yourself in stage 2 include:
Your business may fail at this stage because you cannot correctly maintain your cash flow. Therefore, your primary focus at this stage is to build a stable business model that will allow you to break even in both the short and long term. Once breaking even turns into generating profit, you can move to stage #3.
Your business has started to generate a profit, bringing it into the success stage. However, you should be using this money to keep your business afloat by finding new resources.
Key questions to ask yourself during this stage include:
Businesses can fail during this stage because their profits decrease – reverting them to stage 2. If you’re looking to grow your business, you’ll need to use your profits to find resources to help you create a more sustainable business. Once this is completed successfully, you can move to stage #4.
In stage 4, your business is taking off and growing exponentially. Hence, managing your growth should become your top priority. Your business is no longer considered ‘small’ as it now faces more significant challenges that up-and-coming companies do not.
For example, questions to ask yourself include:
In stage 4, your business is growing so rapidly that it can fall apart quite easily if it is not managed correctly. As a business owner, you’ll have to understand that you can no longer be involved in everything as it is just too hard to manage. Instead, you will need to delegate activities to fuel expansion. Surviving rapid growth means moving on to stage #5.
Once entering stage 5, you’ve realised that the growth of your business has started slowing down. Your small business has now evolved and uses well-developed systems and resources to generate profit successfully.
However, like all other stages, resource maturity also involves considering key challenges, including:
As a stage 5 business, your goal is to find ways to innovate your business. You’ve proven that you’re no longer a small business; however, you must keep dreaming as a small business would.
Looking for more information on small business growth? Our team at Payleadr can help. Contact us about a payments platform tailored to the needs of small businesses.
