It's fair to say that most businesses are trying to grow.
Of the businesses that are trying to grow and failing to do so, what is the reason? One of the reasons we hear most consistently is that the business owner or business overall is lacking in either time or money or both.
Is the lack of time, money, or both preventing your business from growing or something else?
Could a lack of strategy and confidence be at the core of your business stagnation?
Let’s take a moment to challenge your perceived notions on why your business isn’t growing.
“My Business isn’t Growing Because of Lack of Time.”
Are you sure that your business isn’t growing because you don’t have enough time to put into it?
Everyone who owns a business has exclaimed, “I wish I could…”:
Go on vacation
Work without interruption
Invest in employee recruiting and retention
Sell my Business
Attend leadership training
Invest in marketing
Grow sales
Grow product offerings
“But I don’t have the time to do those things!”
We know that’s what you have said because it’s what every business owner faces at some point in their journey.
In reality, time is one of the only places everyone is on a level playing field in business. The big difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is their time use.
Pandemic Funding Made One Thing Clear
During the pandemic, there were plenty of small business funding options to help small businesses make it through the hard times.
These helped compensate for small business costs, like paycheck protection or tax credits.
It took a decent amount of time for everyone to figure out how to garner these funds, but once they did, one thing became crystal clear - it was nice to have money taken care of.
For once, the biggest excuse for your business success was handled. “I wish I had more money” became less of an excuse.
Avoiding Small Business Debt Will Lead to Slow Growth
It’s tempting to view debt as something to avoid. Take a minute to examine how you feel when you consider taking on more debt. It’s daunting.
In reality, debt means money right now at the cost of paying more for that money over time. So, how much can an infusion of cash help your business right now? If we look at how much the pandemic relief programs helped small businesses, an infusion of cash right now can help a lot!
The alternative is not taking any debt, which will mean a much slower ramp-up period. That lack of money will mean that your earning potential will be lean for a longer time.
That’s not necessarily bad, but it is essential to consider. So many successful business owners have taken on debt because it works to ramp up the profitability of their business (if applied correctly) faster.
Funds from small business loans can be used to hire employees, create effective marketing budgets, purchase products, or even secure a better or secondary location.
There is a good chance that money now will mean more money faster over time, so keep that in mind.
Develop a Strategy and Make Sure to Execute
So, time is something you wish you had more of. Money is another factor that is very important to the success of your business. In that case, you have to have a solid strategy.
This means sitting down and looking at your strengths and weaknesses and where you should spend your time and money to mitigate both. We can help!
Here is an example. Let’s say you own a pond supply store, and you are just great with customers. Not only are you great with customers, but you also have a staff that you can rely on for everything you ask of them - great! Let’s also say that keeping your books in order is one of your greatest weaknesses, and it’s everything you can do just to look at your accounting software every month.
If you are great with the customers, your time is best spent with them. If you can rely on your sales staff to accomplish the day-to-day operations of your business, leaning on them is a godsend. But for everything you aren’t great with, like the books, consider hiring a professional to help you keep your business running smoothly in those areas.
If you have to take on some debt to pick up the slack, that could mean the difference between hiring more help now and only being able to afford to hire new help in a year or two.
Laying out a business strategy will help you to see where your time is best spent and where you should accept debt to best help oil the gears of your small business.
It’s Daunting to Create a Business Strategy
Creating a business strategy can help to make it crystal clear where you should focus your time and money, but if you've never made one before, it can be daunting to make one. We know how to help small businesses hone in on their strengths and weaknesses and can give you insight into how we have seen similar companies apply their borrowing power effectively to grow faster.
This is where TenKey comes in. We can help you to see your goals. Give us a call at 971-220-6416, and let us help you to bring your business dreams to life!
