8 tips to prep your small business for expansion

As a small-business owner, you should always be on the lookout for areas of growth, but you also need to make sure your company is in a good position to take advantage of those opportunities. While it wasn't necessarily intended for the world of small business, there's a certain amount of wisdom to the old adage: "Look before you leap."

With that in mind, there are a lot of things you can do to ensure your enterprise is adequately prepared to move forward, whether that's as small as hiring one extra person or as big as looking at new facilities where you can move your operations. The following examples are just a few of the ways you can smooth your path to that next level of growth and success:

1) Cut your debt balances

Any time you are trying to expand your business – no matter what type of growth you plan to pursue – you need to make sure your company is on solid financial footing, according to Mulligan Funding. Just like you would pay down your own credit cards before you seek a mortgage, you shouldn't be adding new business debts to your outstanding principal balances. Failing to do so greatly increases your margin for error and could imperil your entire operation.

2) Maximize your physical space

If you're thinking of physically expanding, you might first want to see if your current floor plan is giving you as much efficiency for your space as possible, Mulligan Funding added. If by rearranging where desks, shelves, filing cabinets and more are located, you can free up 100 square feet of space, the need to invest in a new property with higher rents could drop significantly.

Your small business may be ready to grow, but have you set it up for success?

3) Strategize for growth

No doubt, when you started your business you had a comprehensive plan to do so – and it should be the same way when you intend to grow, according to Bplans. Knowing where you should place your feet when you take that all-important next step is critical to finding the success your company needs to hit the ground running whenever you make a growth decision.

4) Reexamine your hiring process

One of the most costly areas of growth for any business is in the hiring process, Bplans said. Bringing aboard any new talent costs quite a bit – both during the process itself and then, of course, on an ongoing basis. Obviously the hope is that you hire the right person, right away. If you find that your hiring efforts yield ineffective employees as often as they do great ones, that's something you need to seriously reconsider.

5) Do research on your local market – and beyond

Especially if you're a relatively small business, there's a big difference between knowing when you are ready to expand, and when your current market is ready for you, according to Small Business Trends. In some situations, there may be too much competition for a big investment in growth to really pay off, but if you can find a niche to fill, or branch out to a wider audience via the internet, you may be in better shape to grow than you realize.

6) Create new services or products

Along similar lines to understanding market potential for your company, it's also a good idea to see if your current operations can be expanded to offer something you don't currently, and which could give you an edge on your local competition, Small Business Trends noted. Even one exciting new offering could be enough to attract the business you need to support your plans for growth.

7) Make partnerships with other local businesses

Even if you're not able to gain a competitive advantage in your market with new ideas, you might be able to grow your base of customer support by partnering with a local business that is tangentially related to your industry, according to Thrive Hive. If, for instance, you own a car wash, making a deal with a nearby dealership to provide a free wash for anyone who buys a vehicle from them could help you find more than a few drivers who become loyal customers – and that could pay off time and again.

8) Make sure you can reach new audiences

In much the same way you should be proactive about continually trying to find and connect with new customers or clients, make sure potentially interested people can find you, Thrive Hive advised. If you don't have a comprehensive web and social media presence that helps grow your standing and increase engagement with your customers, you may be leaving plenty of opportunity on the table. Even a few posts per week could go a long way toward ensuring you have a solid platform for success.

Categorised in: Starting a Business in Arizona

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