If you want to grow your business, you’re going to have to identify a few problems first of all. Mainly, what could hold you back from achieving your goals across the next year, thanks to just how unsustainable these practices can be. 

If you're suddenly panicking about the problems that could crop up within your organization, let us be the first to put your mind at rest. Every single company has their issues that need smoothing out at some point - this is just your turn! 

So, if you want to grow your company over the next 12 months, you’re going to need to look inward and figure out where you could be going wrong. The more you know about the way your company works right now, you’re less likely to need to run damage control later on. 

No Insight into Your Operations

If you don’t even know the way your company works, this is the first thing to work on. And don’t feel bad if you don’t; it can be quite hard to figure out the day to day when you’re only working in a supervisory position. 

But you're going to need to see how things work right now, and how things can be improved in the near future, that’ll make cross location (and even cross country) expansion even easier. 

So look into software solutions that’ll help you envision a new way of working without needing to do much else. If you’re in the manufacturing industry, you can use a factory modeling program to test out different conditions and how they could be better for you. 

A Lack of Proper Safety Training

Safety risks are in every kind of workplace. If it’s been a few years since you last had a safety inspection, or it’s been a good few months since you last ran a fire drill, these are the processes you’ll need to be sure of before anything else. 

If your employees have no idea where to go in case of a fire, or just stand there without knowing anything about what to do next, you could be in trouble when it comes to further coordination. 

Safety training is also some of the easiest training programs you can put in place. It really won’t be hard to find a provider or come up with the cash to pay for it. 

Poor Cash Flow Management

When you look at a profit and loss sheet, do you only see the greens? Small businesses owners tend to wear tinted glasses when it comes to their incomings and outgoings. 

As such, you should also start looking at the reds too. Poor cash flow management can be easy to ignore, especially if you’re turning a profit on a day by day basis. But the better you can understand the stats, the easier it’s going to be to start planning your financial opportunities in the long term.

A small yet positive cash flow is the best thing to aim for; you don’t have to have a perfect top-heavy equation between your earnings and your costs, and never forget to factor in your tax obligations as well. This will provide you with a very healthy level to build on. 

No Research into Your Competitors

Who are you up against? If you want to move into bigger and better markets, you’re going to have quite a few competitors all looking to capitalize on the same customers. Make sure you’re aware of who these companies are before you make any moves. 

You need to know what your competitors are up to and what decisions are open to you. You can fill in the gaps they leave behind and even generate better ways to pull off their marketing decisions. You won’t be able to do any of this, however, if you have no idea what’s going on around you in the first place. 

No New Sales Leads

If you’re thinking of expanding, thanks to a very healthy interest from your current customer base, are you sure there are more customers out there to sell to? You’re going to need to be sure of these sales leads before you throw any money at your growth campaign. 

Thankfully, there are quite a few ways to find these sales leads and secure them ahead of time. Most small businesses don’t put in the effort until it's too late, but if you plan proactively, you won’t fall into the same trap. 

A Lack of a Diversified Skill Set

Who makes up your team right now? Maybe it’s just you; if you’re going to expand for the very first time, there’s a strong chance of this. 

You probably already know you don’t know everything, but you’re going to need to work with people who can fill in for the skills you don’t possess. Social media management, for example, or shift management if you plan to build an entire team. Hire management material before you do anything else and build out from there.

Low Long-Term Focus

You want to expand right now, but how much time and thought have you put into what comes next? Say you have a plan to open up another location; you’ve got eyes on the perfect premises and you’ve put together a budget, but what will you do once it’s all up and running? 

If there’s no long-term focus in your growth plan, you’re not going to get very far. That’s really the long and short of it. Make sure you’re thinking outside of your next 3 to 5 steps for a better chance of success. 

Slow business growth can be a pandemic in the small business world. You can avoid suffering from it by looking out for the issues above and putting efficient processes in place. There will always be the chance to grow, so don’t feel you’re going to miss out if you don’t try to expand right now. FOMO can be a killer in many industries, so keep an eye out for it!