When you are an entrepreneur, it’s often the case that you get started on your own. It’s normal for you to come up with ideas and maybe begin with a side hustle before jumping into business full-time. However, when you have been an entrepreneur operating solo for some time, it may be the case that you come up with the desire to do something bigger. Every corporation has to start somewhere, and perhaps you’re now looking to create something like that. However, bridging the gap from where you are as a solopreneur to a larger corporation may seem hard to visualise. So in this post, we’re going to take a look at how that might look.
1. Create a Business Plan
The number one thing that you will need to do before you do anything else is to write your business plan. Whether you’ve started with one in the first place or not, you will find that approaching the company from a very formal perspective makes a difference here. After all, if you want to be a big business, you need to act the way bigger businesses do. This will also give you the opportunity to focus on every element of the business and what you might need to put in place in order to grow.
2. Build a Brand Image
Another thing that you may find valuable in this process is ensuring that you have a strong brand image. If you didn’t take the time to create a brand in the initial stages of the business, it may be time to do it now. Bringing in a specialist branding team to come up with the right visuals and ensure that you can project the right brand and personality into the world can make a difference for you here.
3. Structure the Business Well
Alongside that, you also need to make sure that the business is well structured. When you look at things from an organizational structure standpoint, you need to make sure that you have a solid approach that feels right for you. It will no longer just be yourself, and at some point, you may have hundreds, if not thousands, of people working for you, so you need to focus on what that may look like.
4. Implement Key Software to Support You
One thing that you may find quite challenging to navigate when you’re looking to grow is the idea of expanding your operations smoothly. To do this, you need to make sure that they are operating efficiently as they are right now. Bringing in key software specific to the way you work, such as waste management software, can help you to do this. When you know that everything is running smoothly, you are then in a better position to expand from there.
5. Measure and Analyze
You also need to make sure that you are able to measure your activity and make sound judgements off the back of it. Analytics are very widespread in much of what we do in business these days. However, you need to make sure that you’re bringing them into play and that you are consulting them regularly. This is going to help you to keep track of what’s going on and make decisions going forward.
6. Be Strategic
With that in mind, you may find that taking a very strategic approach to what you do can make a huge difference. Remember, you want to be a big business, so you have to start thinking like a CEO and not a solopreneur. Every decision you make should feed back into the success of the business to ensure that you’re heading in the right direction. Ultimately, you will find that having the right mindset can really help you to change the way you approach the business and start reaching those higher goals.
7. Hire Experts
It’s also a great idea for you to think about hiring people who can support you in the business growth. There’s a great case for outsourcing certain areas of the company to ensure that it’s done more effectively and that you get better results. Having experts on your side as you’re growing can really be a valuable step to take here. This can be in the area of finance, marketing, sales, or even consulting, just make sure you know what specific support you will need.
8. Build a Team
Alongside working with key experts, you also need to make sure that you have great people working in your company. Hiring your first employee may seem daunting, but it can also be a great step for you. Depending on how quickly you are looking to expand, you may want to hire more than one person, ensuring that you have enough people in your team to carry out activities across the board. Make sure you are aware of what you’re looking for here and hire accordingly.
9. Expand on What You’re Doing
It’s also really important for you to focus on expanding what you’re already doing. Oftentimes, when we think about growth, and we want to go from working solo to building out that bigger business, we think about all of the things that we need to do differently. However, we still need to carry on with the fundamental elements of business that got us to where we are. Scaling what already works for you is a simple strategy that will help you to do more, generate more revenue, and expand the business.
10. Take Calculated Risks
Ultimately, one of the biggest things that you need to focus on in business will always be looking to take calculated risks. Now, the idea of risk can scare a lot of people. This doesn’t mean being careless or doing things frivolously. Instead, it’s feeling nervous about expanding or taking on more, understanding that it’s going to work out, and mapping how that will happen and then going for it. It’s really important that you focus on strategies that will support your growth and have the confidence to execute them.
