HOW TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS LIKE AN ENTREPRENEUR.

1. Absorb a portion of your earnings as additional capital

The net income (earnings minus all the expenses and costs including employee salary, taxes, rent, etc.) arising from your business is definitely the fruits of your labor. This is the part of the income that will become yours - an amount that you can withdraw or personal use. However, there are times when an entrepreneur refuses to make a withdrawal (or refuses to make a full withdrawal). This is because they return the net income to the business as ‘additional investment’. This is how businesses grow.

 2.Make a proposal to financial firms

Having your business absorb a portion of your net income is one way to grow your business. But there is another method - borrow additional investment from lending firms. This is a good choice to make if you need a big amount of money. And if your business is corporation in structure (as registered legally), this is a safer choice.

3. Think of additional products/services you can offer

Another way to grow your business is to offer more services/products than you already do. If you are selling computers for example, you can expand your business by offering other electronic products as well (ex. Digital cameras, MP3 players, etc.). Ideally, your new products should still be somewhat related in nature to your current products. If you want to offer a completely new set of products (ex. You are selling computers and you want to start selling beauty products), it is advisable that you open a separate online store for the new products.

4. Increase your scope of suppliers

As much as you want to be loyal to your supplier/s, it is not how business really goes (unless you signed an exclusivity contract with your supplier). You should still keep your eyes open for the possibility of acquiring new suppliers. Always keep searching. Why? Because you might find suppliers that offer lower prices than your current suppliers. Acquiring merchandise at a lower price means higher income for you. Of course, there are other things to consider such as quality. Ask questions like “though this supplier is cheaper, is his products the best quality?

5. Increase your scope of target customers

Simply put, you should offer products/services that also cater to other demographics. If you are currently offering products for women for example, maybe you should also start offering products for men as well. Also, if you are currently selling to the Nigerian market only, maybe you can think of ways on how to extend your services globally. This is a good way to expand your business if you started with a rather limited scope of target customers. Of course, expansion is going to cost more money. Make sure that you calculated for the costs before making your move. Also, expanding your business is like opening a new business. This means that you will need to do another Feasibility Study before going ahead with the plan. With a Feasibility Study, your plans of expansion will surely take a better path.

6. Increase your scope of advertisement
Doing advertisement is costly. This is why newly opened businesses often limit the scope of their advertisement in order to save on costs (ex. Business chose to advertise via the net only and refused to advertise via Television shows because of the costs). But once your business has become more financially stable, you might want to start increasing your scope of advertisement in order to invite more customers. And if you have so far used only free advertisement tools, maybe you can start using paid advertisement tools (note: Facebook for example offers free and paid advertisement tools. Of course, the paid service is more effective and covers a wider scope.).