Being a business owner is testing at times, there are lots of different conundrums that get thrown your way and need to be negotiated. Staff, Finance, Sales, Development not to mention the everyday problems that get thrown in for good measure. One of my favourite problems is growing our businesses. It’s always the most enjoyable yet challenging aspect for me.

Growth is something that every business owner craves for at some time or another. As fantastic as growth is, it needs to be taken seriously. It can easily destroy your business as well as give it that step change we all dream of, so managing it in the correct manner is imperative in my view. I am not proclaiming myself as a vastly experienced business guru who has grown companies to blue chip level. I’m not. What I am though is experienced in business failure through growing too quickly, learning from that and growing several businesses to multi-million national companies. That’s my level, and that’s what I and my partner seem to be good at. Whether your business is going through explosive growth or sustainable growth all of the same principles apply. Here are my top 10 tips on not only getting the growth but also managing it.

1. Numbers! – before you even think about growth get your financial modelling and cash flow done right at the start. Do three models. Passive - neutral - aggressive to make sure you can finance the growth anticipated.
2. Develop a critical path of what you need to put in place to support the growth, could be extra admin staff at certain milestone’s. This should all be integrated with your financial modelling.
3. Keep on top of the P&L and get reports EVERY WEEK.
4. Get your communications and network geared for growth at the get go. There is nothing more frustrating than waiting on a company to service your needs when you are raring to go.
5. Write things down! - Make your next milestone visible to all your staff to see, this will drive everyone towards the same goal.
6. Put in place a trusted person to sit “IN” the business to run it for you whilst you are out building relationships whilst sitting ‘ON” the business this will accelerate the rate of which you grow at.
7. Invest in your people, if your people buy into the journey of where you want the business to go it shows. Treat your staff well and reward them with the growth.
8. Identify companies who have the same target audience as you but not conflicting services and approach them to build a partnership, growth through partnerships I am a great believer of.
9. Aim for the stars and adapt quick. When you land that big contract adapt if you need to and make sure you deliver, whatever it takes. We have had some cases that have cost us more than the contract is worth in the early stages. Always think what having that link can do for you indirectly.
10. Get your digital game strong! - Whatever business you’re in, if customers can’t find you then you will struggle. Lean on the digital world and keep on top of the results. The world and people’s behaviour is changing, keep up to date.

This is a little snippet of what has worked for us in growing our businesses, there are other elements, of course there are. But these are the core that we follow when wanting to obtain explosive growth in the first few years of a start-up. And fingers crossed it continues to serve us well!