In today’s time, everyone wants to start a business of their own. People do not like the idea of working under someone and move towards business to support their dreams. As more and more people are shifting towards business, the success rate is decreasing.
There are many reasons for the downfall. The first one being insufficient knowledge of starting a business. Many people start a business because they do not get a good job or are not satisfied with their job.
They lack creative ideas and planning before working towards a business. The second reason is that people do not understand and learn much about the business world before starting. Business is an art and requires proper hard work and consistency.
However, I have seen many people who give up easily when their business goes through a bad phase. Well, I don’t have to go far to prove this reason as I had one in my family.
When I got married, my husband was a successful businessman. He had a great business, and we were living a comfortable life. As I said, business is not only about going up but also coming down.
We had two daughters and were living a satisfying life. However, our business started going down and was faced with many challenges. As things started getting bad for our company, employees started leaving, and banks started asking for the repayment of loans. Moreover, many court cases were put on our business, and my husband felt stuck in the situation.
As the problems increased, my husband could not handle them anymore. He felt stuck and decided to give up on life.
However, what he left behind was a business with hundreds of crores debts, loans, court cases, and me with my two daughters. I had no experience of business back then, yet I decided not to give up before trying.
My constant learning attitude, facing challenges with a smile, and determination helped me get through that hard time. I trusted my skills when no one else did. I had a simple attitude when I entered the business world, and it was to give my best in every situation.
Our business not only rose from the downfall, but I managed to clear all court cases, debts, and employee satisfaction. Today, I have a flourishing business as a result of my hard work and grit.
The reason I shared my life story is to tell you how extreme situations can get when you’re into business. However, giving up is never a solution. If you want your business to grow and flourish, then you need to be consistent and positive. Do not let challenges shake you from your path.
How to Grow Your Business?
Scaling a business is harder than you think. Business growth takes considerable effort and hard work. You’ll have to wear many hats and deal with many departments. You cannot limit yourself to a particular niche. To run a business smoothly, you need an understanding of sales, marketing, taxes, customer service, and many more.
When you wish to grow your business, you cannot consider the current size. To plan growth, it is best to think about the future and be ready for it.
8 Awesome Business Growth Tips
Business, like any other aspect of life, demands a lot of time if you’re looking to reap the benefits. Often people look at the short-term outcome of their work and either give up or become frustrated. However, you need to focus on the long-term goals and how you’re stepping closer to them.
Here I have discussed some handpicked business growth tips to help you expand your business.
- Shift to Technology
One thing that I’ve commonly noticed is that many people prefer to do everything themselves. Even I used to prefer doing things with my hands. However, when you’re into business, you need to rely upon and trust your employees. Maybe your work is not always right, and maybe your employees come up with better ideas. Moreover, in today’s time, things are getting automated. You don’t even have to reply to people today.
Most human works are done by machines. Well, you can depend on trust technology. If even today, you haven’t shifted to technological advancements, then your business is lacking a lot of growth. The first step for growing a business is to use optimum technology. As you’ll engage with technology, you’ll start seeing gradual growth in your business.
- Trust your Co-workers
When you run an organization, you need to work as a team. Many times, people who come to me for counseling often complain that their bosses do not trust them or they’re not respected in their office. It makes me very sad to see how young minds are neglected or overshadowed by the stronger section. If you’re a business owner, you need to treat all your employees respectfully. It is very essential to trust the people you work with. In many cases, I have seen that businesses do not grow well, not because of external factors, but internal problems. If your employees and co-workers are not cooperating or respecting each other, then it gets arduous to expand the business.
- Corporate Counselling
Many people are unaware of corporate counselling. Corporate counselling is the key to a healthy and happy organization. It not only helps the boss and managers but also all the employees. Corporate counselling is designed to bring in vibrant ideas and motivation. Being an entrepreneur and a corporate counselor, I have helped many businesses reach their maximum potential. Most people are too busy focusing on correcting others that they somehow forget what they’ve been doing wrong. Through corporate counselling, you can learn how to effectively manage your organization and keep your employees ecstatic. It can help you form better customer relations and office relations. Moreover, you learn how to stay strong even in difficult times of business.
- Optimize Your Business Plans
Optimization of your business plan is highly crucial. Running an unoptimized business is like walking on a road with nowhere to reach. Many businesses lack a proper plan or a direction. No matter what business you run, it is very important to create a business plan. When you have a business plan, you’re clear of where you’re heading. If you wish your business to expand, then you’ll have to take small and efficient steps. It is where a plan works.
Your business plan illustrates your small-term and long-term goals. When you know the goals you want to achieve, you’ll find ways and steps to fulfill them. Optimization of a business plan is about being very specific about your needs and expectations. For instance, you might plan on increasing sales, improving customer service, or increasing production. Optimization is concentrating on one aspect and getting its results before jumping to the next step.
- Understand Your Customer
One mistake that most new entrepreneurs make is not understanding their customers. When I stepped into the shoes of a businesswoman, my first aim was to understand the kind of customer we serve. If we’ll know our customer type, only then we can offer good services. The primary step towards growing and running your business is understanding your customer. For example, if you manufacture clothes for children.
You first need to understand the type of customers you’ll design clothes for. You’ll need to know the age group of the children you’re making clothes for. According to this, you’ll design different sizes. Furthermore, you’ll need to understand the class of people using your clothes. If rich people are buying your clothes, you’ll have to use premium quality machinery and threads. Also, you’ll have to keep the range of clothes high. On the other hand, if you’re making clothes for lower sections, then you can keep minimal quality and price. So, knowing your customers is very essential. It allows you to personalize your services.
- Offer Best Customer Service
No matter how big or small your business is, what takes you up or brings you down is your customer. If your customer is happy, they’ll take your business to new heights. However, if your customer is not happy, then your business can go down no matter how good your products are. Therefore, the success of your business comes down to customer service. Well, each one of us prefers to be served with respect and care. So, even in your business, when your customers buy something or use your service, then they expect you to show concern towards them.
I remember, I purchased a handicraft item from an ancient shop in Jaipur. It was a very pretty wall-hanging. As I was exploring the store, I asked the salesman how well their business works, and he told me not many people come to our shop. I was amazed as they had some really amazing items. I paid for my wall-hanging and came to my hotel. While I was checking my items, I saw a bell from the wall-hanging was broken. I went to the shop in the evening and asked them to exchange the hanging or fix it as it had only been a few hours. The salesman instantly said, “We don’t exchange items once they are sold.” I was very upset by his dealing and behavior. Since he was quite rude, I didn’t try to convince him and left the shop. I realized at that very moment why they hardly had any customers even when they have an exquisite handicraft collection. It was because of their poor customer service. The other handicraft shops did not even have great products but were stuffed with customers because of exceptional service.
Go the extra mile to provide the best customer service. Your customers will not only come again and again but will also recommend other people to you.
- Don’t Stop Looking for New Opportunities
Business is like water. If you hold it in one place, you’ll stagnate it, but if you’ll let it flow, you’ll expand in size. When you are working in any industry, you realize how fast things work here. You have to keep up with the pace of other industries when it comes to advancements. In business, you should never settle for anything.
You can take the example of Reliance. It isn’t that they’re running out of money or customers that they keep on investing in newer opportunities. It is because they want to think ahead of their competitors. Today, industries have cut-throat competition. If you have a business that’s doing well, and you leave it there thinking it is enough for you. It won’t take a year for any competitor to overtake you and your market.
- Innovate to Grow Business
Well, if you search Google, you’ll find a never-ending list of companies that were a big business failure because they didn’t innovate. Business growth can be increased substantially by adapting to the latest times. Many companies that follow the same old methods and are not ready to change according to the changing times fail badly. One example that I’d like to share is of Nokia. We all know how successful the Finland company was. But, do you see many people carrying a Nokia phone these days? No!
Even though Nokia was a global leader in mobile phones during the late 90s and early 2000s, not much is known about it today. It is because they did not adapt and change when it was required. When the Internet arrived, all the other mobile companies started understanding how mobile data works, what was the future of communication, etc. However, Nokia decided to focus on its hardware rather than grasping the concept of software. The company somehow feared that current users would not like the change.
The company did not want to lead the drastic change in user experience. However, the market was filled with the latest software, and Nokia’s phones were unable to fit anywhere. Nokia thought it could enter the race late and succeed with the strength of its brand value. In 2008, Nokia tried a lot to compete with iPhone and Android software, but it was too late now. In this way, a lack of innovation and adaptation can bring your business to the ground from the skies.
What is Business Counselling?
Business counselling is the best and most efficient way to help people who are planning to start their own businesses. I have provided business counselling to many individuals who were thinking about starting a business.
Business counselling also helps people who have just launched a business or have an old business. The existing business owners can get additional information and advice through business counselling.
Expand Business with Business Counselling
Business counselling can be very helpful to organizations to expand and grow their business. If you’re still confused about why you need business counselling, here is how business counseling can help you.
- Business counselling provides motivation, direction, and guidance to startups. Most of the time, starting a business is the most difficult part for anyone. Many people have very creative ideas but lack the motivation and confidence to give their dreams a direction. I provide start-up counselling, and I know how many people are just one step away from fulfilling their dream projects.
- Even if you have a small business and are unable to expand your business, business counselling can help you in many ways. Small businesses often take a lot of time to establish. Mostly, it is because they use the wrong business models or mindsets. It hinders their growth and evolution.
- Through business counselling, I help clients by making them comfortable and helping them find out their passion. My mentoring process goes through your background experience and ideals. A business counselor needs to understand the needs of the clients without judging them.
- Business counselors listen to your needs and help you fulfill your dreams. Not only this, but they also provide a lot of empathy and support. The corporate environment is full of stress and politics. Employees are triggered by deadlines, responsibilities, targets, and stressful life.
- Corporate counselling can help employees vent out their feelings. It directly impacts their productivity and improves their work.
- One benefit of corporate counselling that is often neglected is the development of skills in employees. As new employees join companies, it becomes very crucial to provide skills to them. Apart from training, counseling can help employees develop skills required for a healthy organization.
- Business counselling also helps in better team building and leadership roles. Many conflicts arise in organizations. Counseling can help in conflict resolution. Other skills and personality traits that can be inculcated with business counseling are anger management, stress management, and productivity enhancement.
Overall Outlook
Every business owner dreams of expanding their organization. Even if you are a start-up, you’ll want to see your business grow with time. No matter how long or hard it gets, you should never give up. Consistency and hard-work are the direct keys to business growth. I hope these tips help you give your business the right direction. Our corporate counselling is specially designed to help people grow their companies.
