Top 5 Ways to Grow Your Business

There are a lot of things that keep small business owners up at night, and one of those fears is growth.

Growing a business beyond the capabilities of one individual can seem impossible and more than 70% of small businesses consist of only one person: the business owner. Growth requires new skills, more work, and potentially other employees or partners. QuickBooks recognizes how exciting and stressful business growth can be and decided to speak to small business owners to ask for their advice about ways to grow your business. The community had a ton of really helpful tips around managing your time and money, as well as tips for collaborating and finding a work-life balance.

Manage Your Business

By understanding things like profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements thoroughly, you are more likely to be successful when running your business. By keeping track of these things, you can manage your money better. You should also know what business-related expenses can be deducted when it comes time to pay taxes. Lastly, you should have responsibilities in proposals and contracts drawn up formally to avoid any legal issues.

Market Your Services

Marketing tactics are important in order to reach your target market. When sharing photos and videos on social media, the quality should be above average. This is more attractive to viewers and shows professionalism. The content you create should be meaningful and published to professional websites. Next, you should build your network by attending events and creating relationships. This can be done online or within your community. To get your business more recognized, you must invest in search engine optimization. This will draw in more people to your website.

Another way to bring more people to look into your business is using a CRM platform. This is a way to gain leads due to strong customer service. In order to stay connected to your clients or potential leads, you can send out marketing campaigns.

Manage Your Time

To be especially efficient, you can integrate your calendar with employees, so you can keep track of not only your own schedule, but theirs as well. You should also be aware of how much time you spend on every project, so this should be documented. If you are having trouble eliminating repetitive tasks, it might be worth looking into hiring a virtual assistant. Another way to manage your time involving social media, is by using automation programs. This way your posts will be consistent and once you put them in the program, you do not have to worry about going back to post them.

Lastly, to maximize efficiency, you want to block out all distractions. One way this can be done is by blocking access to specific websites that may cause you to stray from your work.

Stay Healthy

Most small business owners work more than 50 hours a week. Working constantly is draining and can result in negative effects on your health. This is why it is necessary to take a day off every now and then to ensure you are giving yourself the rest you deserve. Next, not only is it necessary to have a positive and uplifting environment at home, but within your work life as well. This goes with having a supportive network, and working with those who do not consistently add stress to your life.

Collaborate With Others

In order to avoid back and forth emails, try to stick with real time messaging to work more efficiently and save time. Another effective way to collaborate would be screen-sharing or video conferencing in order to avoid wasting time on travel to have a face to face interaction. Lastly, sharing files with clients or your team can be done so everybody is on the same page.It takes a lot to run a business, so being aware of of how you can work efficiently goes a long way.

Stick to these tried and true tips offered from entrepreneurs and small business owners and you’re halfway there to success!

Source: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/growing-your-business/the-top-5-waystogrow-your-small-business/