More customers, more clients, more sales, more calls, more e-mails—sounds good doesn’t it? But in a small home business, does “more” always mean better? Is it always a good omen and a welcome change when things pick up?
It all depends on your definition of success and your capacity for expansion. Too much of “more” and you could find yourself over-taxed and over-stressed. Sometimes this can be temporary—business picks up and it takes you a month or two to adjust to the increased volume and then things level out again. Other times, it can be so stressful as to make it tough for a sole proprietor to carry on with the basics of doing business.
Make sure that more calls and e-mails also don’t mean trouble—sometimes if complaints pick up or you get behind, it will prompt people to make more contact and this can further add to the over load.
If you have a long-term plan, you can project growth into that plan so that you anticipate how you will adjust to the growth. Of course, a plan is not a promise or a guarantee and many small businesses can get caught off guard by a sudden spike. One person I know who operates a small business in a mid-size town was recently blind-sided when her main competitor closed up shop and went out of business. While this sounds like a wonderful opportunity (and it is), in reality it increased her business so much so quickly that the repercussions were massive—increased staff time, increased supply expense, more lag and production time, which also affected existing customers. While growth was a goal, this kind of quick expansion was way out her realm of expectation.
When opportunity comes knocking, make sure that you have the capacity to answer the door—it is perfectly okay to try to manage your growth and try to keep your business at a size that is suited to what you want. There is no “law” that says you have to get bigger if bigger doesn’t mean better to you.