By Henry Brown

Improving your small business and taking it up a level is always exciting. You don’t want to let yourself get too excited just yet, though. It’s important to take a levelheaded approach that can carry you through and serve you well. Part of that is making sure you don’t make mistakes commonly made by entrepreneurs going through this growth process.

Read on now to find out which mistakes you need to avoid and how you can do just that.

Growing faster than the company can handle

Some companies can’t simply grow and grow. And if you try to force more growth on your business than it’s capable of handling, you’re going to run into problems before long. Don’t try to move too fast; there is no need to rush your business. If you grow your business steadily, it will be more sustainable in the long run. That has to be a good thing, and it’s something that you should embrace. Your company shouldn’t be forced into unnatural moves that simply cause it unnecessary problems. Grow at a viable pace and make sure that you don’t trip up along the way.

Not involving everyone

Everyone’s going to have to be involved if you want to advance your business properly. If employees don’t understand your growth plan, you won’t get far. It’s important to bring people on board and share your vision for the future with them. Your employees are the ones doing the hard work day after day, so it makes sense to talk to them about all this. By failing to involve the right people in this whole process, you will just limit the potential for success these plans ultimately have. That’s certainly not what you want.

Relying on technology at the expense of a human touch

If you dive in too deep when it comes to making your business more technologically advanced, you could do more harm than good. By relying to heavily on technology, you could lose the human touch that so many people like when dealing with businesses. It’s a balance that all companies need to get right in this modern era. You don’t want things to come across as too cold and computer-oriented. It’s still important to have people offering a face of your business that customers can speak to and relate to. That’s never going to lose its importance.

Not being detailed enough with the planning

Taking your business to the next level is not something that just happens spontaneously. It requires detailed levels of planning, and this process can’t be skipped over. If you don’t plan things out properly, you will take steps that aren’t right and aren’t thought out. You should be as detailed as you possibly can be when it comes to planning these changes. This gives you the chance to think things through, get input from others, and ensure you’re going in the right direction with your proposed changes.

Following tech & equipment hype too closely

Upgrading your business’s equipment and technology is a good idea when you’re trying to take it up a level. Whether your business requires new precision cutting tools or updated computers, making the switch can really help you achieve more. However, you should also be careful when thinking about what kinds of trends you follow. To put it mildly, there’s plenty of hype when it comes to new technologies. You need to be careful not to be duped by all that hype. Look at the cold, hard facts, rather than being tricked by what other people are saying and talking about.

Doing too much at once

You don’t want your business to take on too much at once. If it does, you will simply create more problems for your business, which is not a positive thing. Doing too much at once can have a disastrous impact on your ability to run the business properly. Things can quickly spiral out of control, and you can be left wondering what the best way forward is. You should have a few key focuses. Don’t spread your business’s capabilities too thin. It’s a mistake that often gets made, so be sure to avoid it.

Listening to people who claim to know what’s best for you

When you run a business, often a lot of people around you are trying to tell you what you should do next. Of course, it is important to listen to people whose judgment you trust. However, you shouldn’t listen too carefully to every bit of advice that flies your way as you take on this big transition for your company. You should be suspicious of anyone who claims to know exactly what you should do or claims to have a shortcut to success. These kinds of promises rarely ever come to fruition, and it’s often better to trust your own instinct.

Thinking debt is necessarily bad

You will struggle to advance your company adequately if you don’t take on a little debt. This might sound like a strange piece of advice. After all, isn’t debt always bad? The simple answer to that is no. Debt doesn’t have to be bad, even if it can be in some instances. There is nothing necessarily wrong with wanting to borrow to invest. It can be a good way to help your business grow when the time is right for it to do so. You should always be sure to borrow responsibly and compare deals and interest rates. But don’t rule out the idea completely.

Your business can improve, but it needs to improve in the right way. These are all mistakes that can be highly damaging to your business if you’re not careful. Don’t let them happen to your company.

____

Henry Brown is an online marketing executive. When he isn’t talking shop he’s roaming the streets of London, uncovering the extra-ordinary in the ordinary.