Small Business Growth In 5 Stages

Small Business Growth In 5 StagesSARANIntroduction Every business, even the largest ones, goes through peaks & valleys & different stages of success and frustration. What we do know is that we can learn from each other & recognize at which stage our business is and what we can do to reach the next level.5 stages of Small Business growth, Neil C. Churchil and Virgina L. lewis state that the five stages are:ExistenceSurvivalSuccessTake-offResource maturityStage 1: ExistenceA small business at this stage is challenging, especially since the owner is doing most of the work. One of the largest pain points is obtaining customers and delivering on the product or services. In order to remain alive, a new business must seek customers.Stage 2: SurvivalA business in this stage is now a more efficient working entity with some profit. The next step here is to ensure that profit remains. Therefore, again, businesses in this stage also needed to seek customers as well as start looking at the return on investment (ROI). The businesses in survival stage must be establishing systems and processes to consistently ensure that ROI maintains and grow.

Stage 3: Success Once systems are established and profits are consistent, the small business is now successful the choice becomes continue to grow or maintain the success created until this point.Having systems in place is a vital difference between survival and success stages. At the success stage, the owner is no longer doing the bulk of the work. The reason for waning the owner from major tasks id for continued growth as well as the opportunity to sell.Stage 4: Take-Off (Growth)In this stage, the small business now requires increase in capital in order to accommodate the higher volumes of customers. This means more staff, more equipment and materials and better processes. At this stage, a small business has the chance to be a big company. Stage 5: Resource MaturityA small business reaches maturity once it is ready for diversification. The company is now big and runs at slower pace. This does not mean that a mature company will be unable to react to market changes. Hence, the need for diversification and finding other, related products and markets to tap and to expand the existing customer base beyond the reaches of the original business model. This will keep the company in flux, as parts of the company will now be in varying stages of growth.Thankz da