Small Business: Look to the Future, Prepare Today

Whether you are just starting out or have been in business for a year or two it is important to look to the future, imagine what your business will look like in a few years. Will it have grown, have added products and services? 

There are a lot of opportunities for you to prepare your business today to meet future growth. 

1. Educate yourself - Whether you are a service or product based business, now is the time to begin learning more about how to operate your business, and new innovations in your product or service line. Adding skills to your personal business inventory will prepare you to grow your business. Consider other areas of your business such as accounting practices, supervision/management, marketing, or learning new skills to make you more productive and efficient. 

2. Look for opportunities to upgrade - Do you have a production machine that is nearing it's productive life cycle, or have business technologies that are nearing the time for replacement? Consider an upgrade that will help you improve your business rather than replacing with the same equipment/technology. Having the infrastructure already in place will help you meet business growth with little effort. 

3. Build capital - When you start seeing profits, put some away for a rainy day and for when you are ready to expand your business. We call these funds our "Fall Back, Fall Forward" money. Having the necessary capital without having to borrow is a safer, not to mention a less stressful way to invest in your business. Building capital, business savings, will help you in so many ways. Also, investing in your business before you grow can provide some interesting economics for your business. Consider taking on new product lines without having a large upfront investment because you already prepared for it. 

4. Be mindful of "pop-up" opportunities - Depending on your business, there may be opportunities that just materialize. Maybe a competing consulting service is going out of business, or a local retail competitor. This may the opportunity your business needs to grow. Some call it environmental scanning. Take a few hours to scan your business environment to identify opportunities, and of course risks so you can plan accordingly. You might be able to take on clients from failed or closing businesses, or buy up supplies from a competitor to help you grow your product line. 

Overall, practice, "Think Now for Tomorrow" - As you navigate the business world, thinking about what you are doing today, as compared to what you will need to do tomorrow, will allow you to make strategic planning decisions. 

For example: One of our clients who had been in business for about a year ask us to review their existing technology and business infrastructure to determine what it would look like when their business expanded. We provided a picture of what it would look like. As service contracts expired, they upgraded, they invested more in their marketing, and technology. We assisted in developing company policies, mapping key processes, employee training programs, and procedures that would accommodate growth. Eighteen months later their business did grow exponentially and they were prepared. One employee that had been with the company since the beginning commented, "It's really hard to remember what it was like the first year we started because we always new it would be like it is today."

We think the key to their growth was their vision that they would in fact grow their business even when they were small. They never considered they would not. Keeping your vision on the future while keeping an eye on what you can do today to prepare is a great way to grow.