How Can You Expand Your Business?

How Can You Expand Your Business?

Dr. Linda Hancock

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Hancock has written a regular weekly column entitled “All Psyched Up” for newspapers in two Canadian provinces for more than a dozen years. Over the years, her readers and clients have said that they have benefited from her common-sense solutions, wisdom, and sense of humour. Dr. Linda Hancock, the author of “Life is An Adventure…every step of the way” and “Open for Business Success” is a Registered Psychologist who has a private practice in Medicine Hat. She can be reached at 403-529-6877 or through email office@drlindahancock.com

Published

January 12 2011

Some business people state that they would like to expand their business but have not defined the word "expand" or put a plan in place to do this.

Are you interested in adding more clients, increasing your inventory, realizing a larger profit or hiring more staff. You see, sometimes people work at building the business but end up being disappointed or stressed or exhausted because "expanding" just places more demands on their time and energy. I know many people who invest most of their waking hours into enterprises that do not give them the rewards and results that they want. They often feel "trapped" or "burned out" instead of satisfied with what they have created.

It is therefore important that the first thing you do is sit down and write out a very detailed description of what you would like your business to be like. Focus on "what" and not on "how" you would do that. For example, you might write "I would like to have a business that generates $100,000.00 per year" not "I would like to have a larger business".

The more clearly that you can describe what your ideal business would look like, the more likely that you will be able to realize that with planning and focused effort.

Schedule two hours when you can have totally uninterrupted time. Use blank paper and a pen to record your thoughts. At the top of the first page write: "My ideal business would" and then list as many things as possible, numbering each one as you go. Two hours sounds like a lot of time but you will likely find that just when you thought you were out of ideas another one comes to mind. Keep writing every single one without judging or editing.

Once you have completed the full list - with as many details as possible, use a coloured marker to identify the three that you feel are the most important to you. Now you have some goals to guide you over the next few years. You need to be realistic about this. It may take more than a year to accomplish the things that you want. In fact it may take several years so you will need to break these three goals down into timeframes for accomplishment.

Say, for example, that you would like to have a business with $100,000 profit and you are just beginning. You need to remember that income does not equal profit as there will be business expenses to be paid. Perhaps you will therefore set goals that you will have $60,000.00 profit in the first year, $80,000.00 profit in the second year and $100,000.00 in the third year.