Tuesday, March 20, 2012

THREE WAYS TO TAKE YOUR BUSINESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL



Sometimes its difficult to see the way forward or how to expand. These quick tips will rejuvenate your business and help you go from mediocre to amazing. Get the 3 strategies here!
INC shares…
Dealing with the same old growth problems? You may not be thinking big enough. Follow these “must do” steps to grow your company to millions in revenue.

1. Evaluate your financing, and ready your business for expansion.

“Women come into our program thinking about getting to 25 or 30 million,” says Engert. “We want them to get to 100 million and beyond.” He notes that access to capital and funding alternatives and how a business owner navigates and negotiates that process is one of the biggest issues facing entrepreneurs today, especially women. “We try to connect women in the program by tapping into our larger ecosystem,” he says. “There’s lots of capital out there to be deployed.”
Lisa Bair, founder and president of Hobart Group Holdings, a healthcare marketing and advertising agency, participated in Entrepreneurial Winning Women. She says: “To be honest, before Entrepreneurial Winning Women, I was so involved in running the business on a day-to-day basis, I hadn’t thought about its life cycle beyond $20 million in annual revenue—and we will cross that line this year. I completely revised my business plan after the Strategic Growth Forum.”
Engert recognizes that access to angel investors, small business loans, and a greater variety of financing alternatives are crucial for entrepreneurs. “It’s important to leverage your networks and advisory boards,” he says. “Tap into the variety of resources available, like larger organizations that would be teaming partners to you and your company. All large organizations are looking to tap into innovative entrepreneurial businesses these days, so explore that avenue.

2. Think big and be bold.

“Thinking big boils down to part confidence and part awareness,” says Engert. He advises that business owners step outside the box and think about where they can take their business. “Think about scaling, not only your service and product offerings, but also vertical opportunities that you could move into. Think outside the box about partners that you could team with to be innovative. There are a lot of conversions happening across sectors, don’t think in only your one particular sector or about just your product and services. Lots of large companies want to include young, innovative companies in their collaborative innovation networks.”
Bair put managing directors in place at the head of her marketing services businesses in New York and New Jersey and formed a third company devoted solely on product development. “I am now 100 percent focused on a three-to-five year vision,” she explains, “that includes building out our expertise, the possible acquisition of complementary companies and investment capital to allow us to scale.”

3. Build a public profile.

Studies based on past award winners show that women tend to be modest about their achievements. Many of the applicants for the Entrepreneurial Winning Women Program have company websites that don’t include anything about the leader. Revise your site to include information on your achievements, vision and insights. Press can put you on the map, what are you doing to increase your visibility?
Get more information at INC!

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