How to get a business expansion idea off the ground

Here at Alexander & Co, we work with a lot of established businesses to help manage their accounts and offer guidance and advice on tax and VAT. Our team of specialist accountants for entrepreneurs have seen businesses grow from small startups to fully-fledged businesses and in that time, many of these businesses chose to expand and grow exponentially. When you’re thinking about how to start a business, you need to be prepared to take risks.

Choosing to expand your established business is not an easy decision to make. It means leaving your comfort zone and taking risks with your already successful business. So how can you make sure this is the right path to take and take that final leap into growing your business? After all, all this is key to business success.

Advantages of business expansion

There are many advantages to expanding your established business; not just to increase your profit margin, butto challenge yourself as an entrepreneur and allow you to explore new avenues within your industry. Here are a few benefits that will keep you motivated as you grow your business

• If you increase production, you may actually bring down costs and achieve savings. You could get discounts for purchasing in bulk or reduce overheads by spreading administrative costs across a greater output.
• You could increase your resources and stock
• You could access new markets or audiences that you couldn’t before
• You could put more money back into the business

Expanding your business could refer to creating a partnership, finding new revenue streams or even investing in new offices based in other cities around the world, helping you take things global if your businesses is already well-established in the UK.

It’s down to you to decide where your business is currently at and what the next steps would be for its growth. Try not to think too big too quickly, refer back to your original business plan and re-align yourself with your initial growth plan.   

What is your business expansion strategy?

Every business should start with a business plan, so make sure you have your original business plan to hand when planning your expansion. This original plan can remind you what you wanted to achieve in the beginning and help you to align your current expansion plans with your original ideas.

Start to create a new business plan, documenting your original ideas and expanding on them, making them bigger and more adventurous. Your new business plan should be a sequel to your original plan, not a replacement.

I have a business idea, but I need help!

You may have an idea of where you would like to take your business, but no idea how to make a start. With the number of small businesses and startups increasing every year, referring back to basic business advice websites like Small Business or Great Business can help you to get back on the right track.

Expanding an established business can feel like going back to the beginning, but by reminding yourself of the basics of starting a business, you may find that your expansion starts to become clearer and you can start to put actionable tasks in place.

Accounts for entrepreneurs and planning ahead

Once you have your expansion plan written down and you are sure it is the direction you would like to take your business, speak to your accountant to see if it is something you can start planning for, financially.

Your accountant will help you better understand how to prepare your business for a realignment. They can’t offer advice on how to invest your money, but they can help you understand whether your business can afford to take on the task of expanding.

If you’re looking to switch to a professional and experienced entrepreneur accountant, we can help. Find out about our accountants for entrepreneurs service right here and get in touch!