Seasoned Professionals When It Comes to Growth Challenges, Expect the Unexpected

If you want to keep growing your company, don't get discouraged!Expect and make plans for the inevitable obstacles.

As a small business owner, you run across all sorts of challenges but think it’s smooth sailing after you’ve hit your stride. The reality is that each time you successfully take your business to a new level, you discover a whole new set of unexpected challenges. As you grow, you need to develop new skills, solutions, and attitudes to maintain your success and develop a plan for the future.Help WantedA common challenge for business owners in the process of growth is building the staff needed to handle additional demand, which allows the owners to continue to work “on the business” rather than “in the business.” Belladeaux Events’ Kim Sayatovic, New Orleans, certainly found this to be true. She describes a common concern, saying, “One of the first big challenges in growing your company is the need for additional help, because you are too busy, but not having the money to hire yet.”Sayatovic addressed her need for staffing in stages. “Before I could afford full-time help, I relied heavily on college interns. They are eager to learn the business and can be paid a lower rate than someone with more experience. Once I could start paying someone, I hired independent contractors to help with specific jobs. I then started my first employee as part time and eventually did well enough to hire her full time.” If you “have the money to invest right from the beginning, bookmark some of your investment for a part-time helper,” she adds. It not only allows you to spend time building your business, but gives you a backup person in case you become ill or cannot personally complete a job in an emergency situation.For Christi Lopez, Bergerons Flowers, Washington, D.C., the human resources function of an expanding business is particularly challenging. “I went from a three-person crew to having over 15 on payroll at any given time. Definitely, turning into the HR person was the biggest hurdle in our growth over the past five years.”Lopez recommends being patient as you hire, and trying not to grow too quickly. “Hire as needed in the beginning until you have enough business to bring someone on, then make sure you give yourself 90 days to determine if you are a good fit for each other. Hiring an employee is expensive, and you want to make sure everyone gets along, especially in a small business.”Be a MotivatorJennifer Taylor, Taylor’d Events Group in Seattle found that motivating her staff was an unexpected challenge. “Not everyone that comes into the company is as motivated as you are to grow it,” she says, “so figuring out what does motivate them and putting a plan in place to provide the motivation is critical.” In 2016, Taylor took her team out of the office for a weekend to recap the year and look forward to 2017. “Our over-arching theme was, ‘What is Your Ultimate Life Vision?’ We broke that down and created 2017 goals to help get there, identifying actions to help grow the company and get employees closer to their own vision.”New staff members will have a different set of motivations than you did when you began your business. Recognizing that you have to build and nurture your corporate culture will help you grow successfully.Relinquish ControlMany business owners fear what will happen when they no longer monitor all business activities and, instead, trust others to act in the company’s best interest. For Turner Photography Studio’s Jamie Turner, based in Frederick, Md., “Giving over tasks to employees was the hardest part of growing.” Turner feared “that things wouldn’t be done in the same fashion that (he) did them.” He learned to delegate small, then large tasks to employees. Doing so freed up time that he could use to devote his energy to finding new ways to grow.Jamie Chang, Passport to Joy in San Francisco, agrees, saying, “Delegation and understanding what you should delegate and what you shouldn’t,” are real challenges of growth. “For me,” he says, “it took time to realize what activities are more important and valuable to the business over others, and thus what I should take care of versus delegate to someone else.”Both Turner and Chang ultimately realize, and emphasize, the need to focus on business growing activities more than running day-to-day operations. Start delegating your least critical functions first, and with time, build relationships with your staff that allow you to delegate more.Grow Your Own WayJames Berglie, Be Photography, Fallston, Md., tried growing his business the traditional way. He brought on other photographers and found that he quickly became “a manager, a sales rep, an HR manager, and even more of an editor. All things that were not the reason I became a photographer in the first place!” He had to explore different ways to incorporate his goals and opportunities. He found that it was not that he “couldn’t grow his business—it was that he had to explore different ways to grow, and choose the ways that suited him.”Berglie recommends that other business owners think outside the box. “Just because every other company grew their business a specific way, doesn’t mean you have to.” Every growing business faces its challenges, but anticipating what is likely to happen and preparing as best as possible to address issues as they arise will serve you, and your company well. WPM__Meghan Ely, OFD Consulting, Richmond, Va.