Being an entrepreneur can be one of the greatest experiences of a lifetime, but it can also be a period when you feel most isolated, anxious and concerned about the level of time it consumes. Especially when you are beginning to think about accelerating your business growth.
When we speak to business leaders they are often looking to turbo-charge business growth, even at a time of challenge and change – but are unsure as to the best route to take.
The road to that accelerated expansion, even for a successful business, starts with a top to bottom audit of operations and opportunities.
This should look closely at channels and sales – which are often overlooked in traditional business reviews that focus narrowly on strictly financial markets.
The audit should also ask three important questions:
- What were my beliefs around the original purpose of my business?
- What is changing in my market and why?
- What would you like your business to be?
Think different
Business traditions are being turned on their head, and we have seen that the fastest-growing, forward-thinking 21st-century companies:
- Know exactly where their real asset is located, whether it be within its product, reputation or people, and are brand, not sales, led.
- Focus on communicating company purpose to find their profit streams.
- Recognise the value of emotional connections to customers and clients are key in the modern business world.
They also project corporate personality along with individuals’ personal brand to attract employees as well as trade, therefore drawing in the market.
Our growth team can work alongside you – using our tried and tested methodology – to help you business take growth to the next level.
Think digital
Despite the enormous opportunities from being digital, many businesses are still stuck in the pre-digital age.
We have seen in some cases that entrepreneurs are unsure how to move forward online, or even unaware that they should or could. The modern business is both on and offline.
For any firms, moving more of their activities or processes online can produce significant savings, profits and efficiencies.
Think structure
How your company is put together, including financially, can be a drag on resources, profitability and more importantly your time.
Your corporate structure and day-to-day operations can often be adjusted to spur growth and help to scale the business into areas that would not have otherwise been considered.
The right structure also helps to mitigate the entrepreneurial risks you take on a day-to-day basis, helping to ensure that the hard-earned value you have created in your business can be leveraged in the long term.
Equity funding
Once the journey to greater growth is clear, consider bringing in outside money with expertise attached.
Although equity funding involves surrendering a stake in your venture, this can be more than justified by the greater returns the investor will help deliver through their direct involvement.
Getting the right investor is always vital, and the chances of doing so are enhanced if they can see tax advantages, as well as profit down the line.
There are key tax reliefs to register for before seeking support which helps make a company more attractive, such as the Enterprise Investment Scheme.
Employee motivation
Keeping your staff motivated is also very important, especially for service-led companies where people are the business and vital to its brand. The Enterprise Management Incentive is a share option scheme, among several, that encourage employees to do more for your business. The scheme is tax-efficient for all sides.
Options can be tied to performance and only realised when, for example, certain targets are reached, or when the company is sold. This, therefore, obtains employee engagement through the fact they now own part of the business with no impact on current cash flow.
If you are looking to accelerate your business growth and would like some expert guidance, contact us to arrange to speak with one of our specialists in London, Kent or Sussex.
If you are looking to accelerate your business growth and would like some expert guidance, contact us to arrange to speak with one of our specialists in London, Kent or Sussex.
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Contact our experts - Accelerating my business growth
If you are looking to accelerate your business growth and would like some expert guidance, contact us to arrange to speak with one of our specialists in London, Kent or Sussex.
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