Is your small business expanding? Tips for choosing space to grow

By Henry Brown

When you get to the point that you haven’t got enough hours to deal with all of your clients, you need to work through the night to ship orders – or you need to hire more people.

Your business is growing.

One of the first concerns for most people is that they can no longer work from home. The stock is beginning to take over the storage, and it’s simply not big enough for a team to work comfortably in.

Most small business owners dream of the moment that they need to look at office space. But there are a few considerations you should make before you sign on the dotted line.

Cash flow

Before you jump into renting office space or storage space, you need to see a positive cash flow for more than a few months. The commitment to a rental agreement isn’t something you should take lightly because even if your business starts to do badly – you need to stay on top of that rent payment.

Culture 

The culture you foster within your company should be something that you can sustain and feel authentic to your business.

The culture will cover how your employees interact with each other, their happiness (which relates to your retention), and what their productivity looks like.

Comfort 

While you may have no issues working in a cold environment or somewhere without windows – you need to think more like a business. What would be the best option for your team?

You’ll need to make sure you know the HVAC is clean and in working order, which type of induced draft motor you need – or at the very least where it is in the building, and ensure you have a regular cleaner.

Quality

As you grow, it can be effortless to lose the high-quality output – or feel like your staff isn’t doing it how you might do it. Quality control becomes one of the most important things when you are growing.

The standards that you have set for your small business should be something that remains as you grow. Make sure that high quality is part of your company culture – and that everyone is striving towards the same goals.

Innovate

Your MVP has got you this far, and most likely, it will continue to be your big winner. But as you grow, you need to be mindful that you will not stagnate. Innovation in your products and services will offer long term clients something interesting,

Although you should be mindful not to innovate too far away from when it makes the most profit, it is essential to expand your offerings. Diversifying your income streams is one of the most important things you can do to grow your business forward.

Limits

In an ideal world, you will not be limited by cash flow, people power, or skills. However, approach this as a realist, there might be some bottlenecks as your business grows, and one of the most vital things you will need is a strategy to overcome them.

Are you already considering how to arrange your new office space? Read more: Choose an office layout that shows your small business means business.

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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.

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