- Welcome to The Journey.
Is it time to expand your business?
If so, here's how!
Expanding your business can be
a really exciting time for you as an entrepreneur
but it doesn't just stop there
it can also be exciting for everyone else involved.
I mean, think about it you got more money coming in,
so you can hire more staff,
you can do some upgrades within your business
and it's even great for our country.
- Yeah. Not only does it benefit your employees
but it benefits our economy.
I mean, small businesses are the backbone
of the great U S of A
so it's great for everyone all around,
but it's important to not get ahead of yourself
and go into it with some planning and preparation.
- So, are you ready to take your business to the next level?
If so, first answer these four questions.
- Question number one,
have you conducted enough market research?
And established a timeline?
- Well, let's say I'm a business owner.
I gotta say Alex, I don't know.
I don't think I need market research
or I need to go and do the research.
If I'm getting so much business
so much, I can't even keep up.
I can't even handle it like that to me is
duh, I expand.
- So glad business is booming,
but unfortunately you do need a better reason than just
being busy for expanding right now.
- All right, so what you're saying is,
even if I do have a booming customer base
or high-priced products and services,
it doesn't necessarily mean I need to like go and start
opening up storefronts all over America.
I guess what you're saying is
I need to start conducting research.
- Absolutely. - Okay, got it!
- So, some things to consider when you're doing
that market research is your customer's
demographics or their location.
So, if you have a lot of customers that are seeking you out
in a certain area or city,
maybe that's where you need to open up your location.
- That reminds me of when I was a barista
in Long Beach, California
and we would have customers come from all over
outside of Long Beach.
And I gave the owner that feedback was like,
look, some of our customers drive really far.
I bet you could succeed
if you opened up a location closer to Seal Beach.
Sure enough, they did.
And sure enough, it succeeded.
- Look at you doing some market research.
- I know back in the day.
So the second question you can ask yourself is,
do I have a bestselling product or service that maybe I
could add on to or diversify.
And if so,
there are two strategies on how you want to do this.
- Yeah, you gotta switch it up a little bit.
So one, you can either add new products or services
or two, you can kind of diversify some of your products
that already exist that may not be doing as well as some
of your other popular items
and make those a lot more popular.
- So let's say you take on one of these strategies or both
allow you to increase the revenue streams
and your customer needs.
- But keep in mind, Emma,
don't get crazy. - Okay.
- No adding new products or changing something up.
That's gonna take some time.
So, definitely account for that in your timeline
when you're thinking of your expansion plans.
- Now the third question you need ask yourself, be honest.
Can you actually afford to expand?
Because it's really critical that you,
before you go in to doing this,
that you are actually financially prepared.
- Yeah, think back to whenever you
first started your business
and how much money you put into that.
So if you don't have the funds,
you may need some extra capital.
- So good thing to do though,
is look into actually how much money do you need
when you're talking finances
and also how much can you afford to pay back?
And that's really important because you do want to make sure
you set yourself up to be a good candidate for loans.
For one. - Yeah
remember all eyes are gonna be on your credit
so make sure you're on your best behavior.
You're making those timely payments.
And you're really on top of your game.
The last question to ask yourself is can I establish some
mutual partnerships with other like-minded businesses?
- Yeah, and that's a great idea.
Partnerships can truly help you to expand
and get in front of a new audience.
Spread more word of mouth about your business.
I know a great example.
Sorry, pizza is always on my brain.
Let's say you have a pizza restaurant and next door,
there is an ice cream shop.
I mean, what's - Match made in heaven.
- Dessert, exactly.
So, you at your pizza shop, you do like,
hey, if you buy two sizes of pizza or two full pizzas,
you get 10% off your ice cream
(whistles)
next door.
And then obviously the ice cream joint,
you know, they're going to do something back as well
to drive traffic over to the pizza joint.
Great news.
You're ready to expand. Now what?
Communication.
I always talk about the importance of communication.
So, you got to let
your team know
you got to get it out there on sites, social media.
So everyone's on board
with your expansion.
- Exactly. So, not only letting all of your employees know,
kind of updating them on the situation,
but also letting your customers know
that will be so excited. - Yeah, both.
- Exactly. So, like you mentioned
spread it out on your social media platforms.
You can send out an email newsletter,
anything to let your loyal customers know
about your expansion plans.
- In that way, when you do open your doors
in this new city, new location,
you're not just waiting for customers to show up.
They know about your grand opening.
- Last but not least make sure
all of your information online is completely updated
with like correct hours, locations, all of that,
the nitty gritty details,
make sure they're correct.
- Yeah. And that's Facebook, your Twitter, your website,
your Google, don't forget Yelp.
- So if you're ready to take that leap
and expand your business,
now you know how to get started.
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This is The Journey.