So, you’ve been spending every dollar that comes as profits from your small business? Or are you finding it impossible to save for the future?
In this article, I’ll be sharing with you how I grew my small business how I achieved the feat and how you too can do the same.
Some years ago, I was wondering why it was difficult to save part of the profits I made from my business. I always dreamt of growing my blogging business from small to big business, though.
Always dreamed of employing more qualified content writers; I mean writers who could work without or with less supervision; writers who I could publish their works without having to check for plagiarism.
It was a big dream. To make this work, I needed money to pay them, saving was a very difficult decision. A nearly impossible one.
But two searches I made changed my perception about saving and growing one’s business:
1) why is it difficult to save money?
2) what percentage of my profit is ideal to save to grow my business?
It isn’t really easy to save unless you can break the barriers that are limiting you from achieving a saving goal.
After maintaining a consistent saving culture for at least five months, I had to battle with what percentage of the profits should be re-invested in my business.
Here are some of the best ways to reinvest 20% of your monthly profit to grow your small business into a big one.
Work with Best Business Strategy
At the initial stage, I thought I could do everything: research, write, edit, optimize for SEO, publish, monitor the metrics and divert the money meant to employ more hands for myself.
I kept the money for myself. Unfortunately, I was overworking. I fell sick often because of sleepless nights, and lack of rest.
The first month I paid out $400 to my two writers was like robbing myself of what I should have used in buying a new set of shirts, a wristwatch, and new perfumes.
But a few months after my first tough decision, it paid off. My revenue grew by at least 9%, that something significant for me. There was an incredible increase in the number of advertisers.
Though, entrepreneurs and small business owners do not have a consensus answer to reinvest in their business, micro business investment experts at Fifth Third Bank suggest that at least 20% to 30% of your profits is a good goal to set for growing your small business to a big one.
You may not be in the content industry, but whatever your line of business is, reinvest part of your profit into business growth. You shouldn’t be where you were four years ago.
By the time you start reinvesting part of your profits into your business, you’ll be amazed by how your business will expand thereby increasing profits
Bottom line: Choose the best strategy that works for you. Don’t hurt yourself by doing it all alone.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing has grown exponentially during and after the pandemic. Depending on the size of your business, have a small budget for marketing.
Even multi-billion dollar firms like Alphabet, Inc, owners of Google buys advertising spaces on Facebook.
If done rightly, no spending on marketing is a waste. Surprisingly, some free tools work better for home-based small business owners. Google My Business is one of the free tools to get turns of customers.
In my case, My Business Profile on Google turned in five customers on average every day. If you don’t know where to start, there are numerous digital marketing resources online to start with if you’re ready to implement the strategies to grow your small business to a big business. Alternatively, you can outsource a digital marketing expert.
Invest in yourself.
Transforming a small business into a big business isn’t done overnight. It is a continuous strategy of moves and actions. As you work to make this a reality, you have to continue to invest in yourself.
Some of the ways to achieve this include exploring your creative sides and developing your skills, says a Creative strategist and consultant Royale Scuderi.
Begin to take courses in the field of your business. If you have a degree in Medicine, but what put food on your table is a financial advisory role, consider taking a course on financial management.
Expand your knowledge, invest in your skills to grow and take your business to the level. It may be a difficult decision; you have to create time for self-development.
How do you plan to transform your small business into a big one if you can’t invest in yourself? You are the driver of the business, as such, you must be updated about trends in your line of business.
Motivate your employees
One of the ways to boost productivity is by motivating your employees. They are your help even though you pay for their services.
The way you treat them matters. Incentives you give them for a good job well done, encourage them to put in their best in future tasks.
Hire a professional
Transforming a small venture into a bigger one requires expertise. To this end, you must be in control and deploy the best strategies to make that achievable.
And of course, don’t expect yourself to do everything. There are some skills that can be implemented faster by employing professional hands than doing it yourself.
Hiring a professional to manage the technical aspect of your business will help. It will also save you unnecessary headaches. If you know little about website design, it’s better to hire an expert.
Understand how SEO works
SEO means Search Engine Optimisation. In simple terms, it means the effort you put in your content or product to make it easily discoverable on the web. Are searchers finding your website on the web?
SEO can be tricky. As a business owner who has a business website, you need to create content based on searchers’ intent. Optimise your pages using ethical methods. Avoid keyword stuffing.
Use keyword tools. Some of the best keyword tools you can use to create SEO-friendly content for your business include KWFinder, Google Keyword Planner (free to use), SEMrush, GrowthBar, Ahrefs, Majestic, Moz Keyword Explorer (limited free access), and Keywordchef.
Of them all, I love keywordchef because you only pay for the keyword credit, meaning you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription. The units remain in your account if you don’t use them.
Emergency fund
In online business, being offline for a 60-second may mean losing thousands of dollars and you don’t want to miss out on opportunities. To prevent glitches that might arise from your end, here are some of the tips to help you:
- Choose a reliable host and registrar
- Monitor your traffic. You want to make your business website offline when you exceed your bandwidth.
- Make sure your site is secured by buying an SSL certificate
- Protect your site from hackers by using the best security measures
If you experience a legitimate boom in traffic on your site, it means more revenue, but what happens if you exceed your bandwidth? That’s exactly where the emergency fund comes into play.
As an online business entrepreneur, you need to have an emergency fund to meet unforeseen circumstances. Your site must be at least 99.99% active and accessible.
Avoid early diversification
Many startups make the mistake of diversifying early. Diversification is a brilliant idea as you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. But what about taking good care of the hen that lays the eggs?
Grow the existing business, and stabilize it before nurturing a new business. The new business will take a lot of your time.
Diversify when the existing business has found its foot firm on the ground and it’s bringing in enough to fund itself and a new one.
Be accountable
You are your boss, that’s fine. Nobody asks you if you implemented the necessary tasks. You are no longer accountable to anyone except you. Don’t abuse the privilege of being the business founder or owner.
Some of the ways to hold yourself accountable are to eliminate procrastination, have a to-do list and make sure you implement them at the end of the day.
If you like, you may get a trusted accountability partner who will tell you the truth without mincing words.
Self-care
Transforming a small business to a big one may be a mirage if the brain behind the business idea isn’t healthy.
Self-care is a process of paying attention to your health, your mental health, what you eat, what you drink, and the relationships you keep. Find things that make you happy. Stay away from negative people.
Growing a new business faster
Below are the strategies you should employ in growing a new business venture into a successful one and expanding::
1) Don’t diversify when you should be working to grow the existing one.
2) Don’t live an extravagant lifestyle when you haven’t made so much.
3) Don’t buy what you don’t need. Have a budget and stick with it.
4) Embrace different marketing strategies
5) Employ professionals in implementing technical tasks, this way, you to concentrate on other important things.
6) You also need to bring to the fore your creativity.
7) Stay focused, and eliminate distractions.
8) Track your spending.
9) Be accountable because you are your boss.
10) Above all, exercise, eat well and relax to stay refreshed.
Conclusion
Growing a small business into a big one is one entrepreneurial task you must strategically plan and implement. You mustn’t spend your profits on things that will not add value to your business growth.
If your business is turning in $2,250 every month, reinvesting $450 USD (that is 20%) in its growth will be something you’d be happy about later in life. It may be tough, but it is worth it.