Five top tips for growing your business

Being an entrepreneur takes guts. It doesn’t matter if you’re setting out on your own for the first time or have been maintaining your business for many years – successfully managing a business is a scary but exhilarating undertaking. Everyone’s experience is unique, but it’s rarely easy. It’s even more difficult to begin on the high-risk journey of growing your business.

Here are some tips on how to make sailing a little smoother.

•Fake It Till you Make It – we would never advise you to be misleading to your clients about what you can do for them. However, until your enterprise becomes a bit more established, it is important to instill an air of confidence. Run the business you want, even if you’re not quite there yet.

From the language you use for your marketing materials to the way you interact with perspective clients, if you project a sense of poise when dealing with new customers, you can make a great impression that offsets your lack of size or experience. Think big when growing your business.

•Don’t express Doubts – even the best of us have our doubts; but it’s important to develop a game face when things get tough. Growth requires resources, and resources may require outside investments. Anyone who may potentially invest in your business is looking for confidence. Further, your employees need to know that you’re a leader and they can put their faith in you. For your business to work, you need to inspire confidence in those around you, so take heed in how you express your disappointments.

•Get Used To ‘No’ – this tip is closely tied to #2: making your entrepreneurial dream a reality is an uphill battle, you’re going to encounter negativity along the way, but it’s important to ooze confidence. As a green business owner, people are going to tell you ‘no’ – a lot. Prospective clients will tell you they’re not interested, investors will pass on your plan, and banks will turn you away.

If you want your business to grow, normalizing ‘no’ will be a way of life. Each ‘no’ is an opportunity to improve upon your product or service; and it helps you to develop a thicker skin and a more compelling pitch.

•Stay Out of the Business Account – it’s tempting to consider your business as an extension of your checking account, but succumbing to this temptation will debilitate your company’s ability to expand.  Growth requires resources. Every time you take from the business fund, you’re robbing your company of resources. Make sure you’re compensating yourself appropriately, but make reinvesting in your business a top priority.

• Accept That You Can’t Do Everything – as an entrepreneur, you’re going to get used to wearing a lot of different hats – bookkeeper, marketing guru, sales agent – but that doesn’t mean you can (or should) do everything yourself. If you want your business to grow, you need to accept that you can’t do everything all of the time. Seek out talented individuals who share your vision and values and can allow your company thrive.

You won’t need to give up the reins entirely, but realize you are only one person.