This contributed post is for informational purposes only. Please consult a professional before acting on any business decisions.

When you start your own business, you often do so from the confines of the spare bedroom in your home. It’s not practical in terms of space, but it’s free, so many business owners begin their beginnings at a spare bedroom desk and with a tablet or laptop. The less overheads that they have to deal with, the better. As your business grows, you can find yourself thinking about where you want your business to go next. You can’t always stay in the spare bedroom, and if your own success surprises you and begins to rocket upward, you need to think about how your business is going to grow.

Before you race into a decision about growing your business from the seedling it started from, you need to think about whether you are actually ready to expand the business. Your recent successes are one indication of whether your business is ready to grow, but there are other factors to take into consideration. We’ve got five of the best ways you can decide whether your business is ready for that next step into the industry. Have a read through and decide whether you are sitting on the potential to be a big fish in an even bigger pond.

Regular Custom

Choosing to grow your business is going to be dependent on whether you have the customers that push you beyond your own boundaries. A steady and loyal customer base is one thing, but you really should have a customer base that is expanding before you decide to expand yourself. A regular flow of interested and loyal customers is proof that your service or product is of interest. The repeat customers that you get who gush about what you can do on a regular basis are the best kind of customers when judging whether you should be expanding. If you want to move into a bigger workspace, looking at WorkSocial can help you choose whether you share an office space with a business address – thus looking more professional – or whether you move into premises of your own. Growing customer interest may require far more space than the spare bedroom, so you need to consider this! The recurring and growing revenue from your customers who are loyal to you already can make your business far more stable, and mean that you can afford the rent on a commercial space.

Demand For Growth

We’ve talked about having a regular and steady customer base, and usually you can get a good gauge as to whether you should be growing as a business based on their feedback. If your customers are demanding more from you and telling you that you need to be bigger than you are, then that’s a pretty good indication that your business deserves a little more of a push. Your customer loyalty will help you to see where you need to grow the most. If customers are the ones demanding more from you in terms of product or service development, then you should pay attention. If you have a physical location that isn’t a spare bedroom, it may be worth opening a second location for your customers to attend and take advantage of your services. When you ask for feedback, you should take on board everything that you have been told. Market research and feedback are essential for continued growth; so, pay attention.

Regular Profits

When you look at your bottom line, how do you feel? Do you feel like you understand your expenses and incomings in the way you need to, to know whether your business is actually financially growing? Looking at your profits is going to really help you decide whether expansion is worth it. If you have regular profits that are steadily increasing, it may well be time to take the leap and grow your business. The one thing to remember here is not to look at your short-term successes. If your business is following the plan that you had originally set out in your business plan, then you should have some confidence that your profits will continue to grow when you take the chance for growth. Long term success will mean a lot to your bottom line, and if you can feel secure that you will have that continuance, you should go for it!

Industry Growth

As a business owner, you’ll hopefully be aware of the trends in your industry. Hopefully, your industry will be fairly buoyant and not the kind of industry that will fail and start to crash just as you grow. By reading the industry trends that are specific to yours, you can ascertain whether you may end up losing money rather than making more. Even if there is a current stagnation in your industry, it doesn’t mean that you will not be able to grow successfully. What you can do, though, is future-proof your business so that you can gain a serious, stable income in the face of adversity in the industry.

Too Much Of A Good Thing

Well, it’s not too much of a good thing really, as it’s amazing to have more business than you can handle. If you are bringing in that much that you need extra pairs of hands or space, then you need to look at moving into a bigger office and consider all that it entails. You can manage demand more easily by growing into a new location. A larger space can keep your business growing at a rapid pace, and having a professional address for your business can really make a difference to the way that your customers see you. Their recommendations are going to matter when it comes to growth, so make sure you look at every angle before you decide to press the accelerator pedal!

You have to be sure that your business is actually ready to grow, and if you push it too soon you could fall flat on your face. Have some confidence in your company and look at whether you have what it takes to maintain the growth.