How to grow your business
Is it time to take your business to the next level? Find out how to do it correctly.
Written by the Freelance Business Community
You’ve started freelancing and you have a few clients. Or you’re running a small business and you’ve managed to stay afloat for a few months. Congratulations! Give yourself a high five!
At some point, though, you might start thinking about taking the next steps: they may be hunting for that big client, hiring that extra help, or moving into a bigger office. That’s when anxiety starts creeping in. Is this the right time? Have I got enough resources? Am I good enough?
Sounds familiar? Mental hurdles such as impostor syndrome and decision paralysis can make it difficult to begin, but with the proper strategy — both business and mental — you can scale up your business and reach new heights.
1. Have the right mindset
Growing your business can provide many opportunities: you can offer new services or products, work with more clients, have more revenue to invest back in the business. But it also comes with a lot of risks, and you need to balance between the two by having a growth strategy.
It’s no use blindly rushing towards growth, if you don’t know why you want to grow.
Know what you expect from growing. Would you want X amount of clients? Offer a new product or service? Automate your workflow so you can have five days off per week? Each of these goals would require a different approach. Knowing your goals will make it easier for you to measure them in the future, and will make sure you’re spending your time and resources on the right things.
As you’re growing, you’ll become more of a leader and take on roles your employees, clients and subcontractors are not willing or capable to take on themselves. This may include sales, client relationships, admin and financial tasks, or networking with other freelancers. This free workshop from The Futur will teach you why what you do matters and how to scale up in a smart way. It will be the best 2 hours you will invest in your business growth today!
2. Plan plan plan
Once you know where you want to go, it’s time to set the strategy for how to get there.
Start with an audit. Take a look at the past 12 months. If your numbers aren’t improving, then maybe instead of looking forward, you need to look back and figure out why you’re underperforming. Which area needs the most resources? If you’re having trouble finding clients, hiring an assistant for automation may not be the wisest use of your resources.
Every business has eight elements: leadership, finance, operations, growth, product, service, sales and marketing. Take a look at each one and determine if it works or it needs to be improved.
Next, start filling the gaps between your current state and your projection. Growing an e-commerce business is a different process than growing a law consulting business, so think about what will work for you.
Consider how your business can increase in the future and make projections. Imagine your number of orders, clients, or subscribers doubles overnight. Would you be able to handle it? No? Then what would you need? More employees? Can you afford them?
3. Define what you do well and what you need help with
Growth equals more work, and that can eat at your time for making an awesome product. This is why learning to delegate is an essential skill for independent professionals.
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Check out our upcoming masterclass about Scaling your freelance business (free registration).
Or you can rewatch our past session: How to break 7-figure in revenue in a business staffed only by the owners with Elaine Pofeldt.
