Alain Guillot

Life, Leadership, and Money Matters

Is There Still Growth In My Business?

The road to success is long and paved with obstacles. But it’s a good thing. Overnight successes tend to fall as quickly as they’ve risen. Therefore, it’s in your interest to go slow and steady. However, going slow means that there will be periods of almost inactivity or little progress. Ultimately, in a post-pandemic world, business owners need to brace themselves for a long period of economic recovery. 

However, it begs an important question. As an entrepreneur, how do you know whether your business has still growth potential when things are going slow? 

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Keep your finances in check

Businesses are going t through uncertain times as they recover from pandemic losses. Understandable, activities can be slow. However, ensuring you keep a complete overview of your financial progress will help navigate this unfamiliar situation. The strategy you’ve designed before the pandemic is not relevant anymore. You will find it easier to monitor growth and progress by keeping your finances under control. It’s crucial for your business survival to cut down on recurring expenses that don’t support growth, such as renting out premises even though the company has moved to virtual offices. As you do, you also get a better understanding of your business needs and pace through recovery. 

Create a forecast

Ideally, it’s time to use financial modeling to define a forecast for your activities, such as https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/forecasting-methods/. Financial analysts use forecasts to predict future revenues and capital expenditure. The typical forecast model, a straight-line model that uses historical figures to predict growth, is not relevant in a post-pandemic environment. Your company is facing unprecedented challenges. Therefore, it might be more effective to use a moving average calculation method, comparing moving average calculations from 2020 for guidance. You can also use multiple linear regression calculations to compare the impact of the pandemic and the overall market recovery on your growth profile. 

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There’s growth, but it’s out of your range

Building a business from scratch is no easy task. And sometimes, you have to be realistic with your own abilities. Many companies have plenty of growth potential left in them, yet that doesn’t mean the current entrepreneur can push further. Ultimately, growing your business takes skills and money. If you are struggling to find sufficient funding to move to the next level, it could be a good idea to consider selling your company to someone who can support growth, such as https://www.thrasio.com/. More often than not, selling a business can unlock the funds you need to start anew. 

When there’s no growth left

Sometimes, you hit a wall of bricks. You’ve survived the pandemic, but you’ve learned a valuable lesson through the process. Your business can’t carry as it is. You need to change direction. There could be a variety of reasons that push you to transform your processes, such as relying too much on physical interactions, failing to adjust to growing environmental concerns, or missing an opportunity to cut down productivity waste. When your current business operation has no growth potential, you want to consider the positive impact of business transformations. 

A business that doesn’t grow, stagnates, and fails. Yet, a business that doesn’t grow visibly could still have growth potential. Perhaps, it’s too slow for you to spot it. Perhaps, you need to keep losses to a minimum to make it happen or build a long-term post-pandemic forecast plan. Sometimes, the cost of growth is unaffordable in the current conditions, but changing ownership or strategy could work wonders!