Expanse & Expense – The 3 Things You Need To Think About During Upscaling

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22 September 2017. It’s a question that many entrepreneurs will ask themselves at some point, at what stage in the expansion of the business is it best to upscale and to physically expand your business, either to accommodate another property or to build on your existing location? It’s a veritable risk, whichever way you look at it, not just because the business expenses you once had are more than likely to go towards this second location, but the additional legwork in finding extra staff and resources can be a big strain on your current success if you let it.

Ask yourself: do you need to expand?

This is the first thing you need to ask before taking on the challenge of expanding your operation. Are you merely expanding your operation because of the demands in your current location, or has demand for your product been a recent occurrence? A lot of businesses who feel that they can expand to take advantage of growing popularity can drastically underestimate the drain on their current resources. Have you thought about the current business trends, and is this a passing thing? The important thing to think about before expanding your operation is to do a market forecast and really spend some time considering if it is the right thing to do right now.

The physical construction

If you have weighed up every factor and have decided on expanding your operation in your current location, the physical construction of the building can detract from the productivity of your workers. In this instance you need to make sure you are compartmentalizing effectively, to ensure that the construction doesn’t get in the way of your workers, and vice versa. You also need to make sure that your employees have safe access to the building, and there are companies like http://northernmat.ca/ that specialize in safety equipment such as temporary bridges and access mats, so people can get in and out of the building safely. You may also want to think about remote working capabilities for some, if not all, of your staff. And as the option to work remotely is highly desired by people who have busy lives outside of work, so this could work to your benefit by increasing productivity in the short term.

Recreating the same feel in the second location

Depending on the business you run, you may want to emulate the same feel so you can attract the same type of customers and clients. This is especially difficult if you are setting up a location far away from your current building. It can be a very difficult process to transfer the same vibe from one place to another, but the best way to do this is to make the staff the key ingredient. Have a look at https://www.forbes.com/ for an interesting article on how a small business keeps its authenticity in its brand, and how it should be part of the philosophy. Authenticity is what will keep your business operating effectively, and so you may want to move current staff to that new location or spend more time on creating a great workplace culture, one that encompasses many different locations.

The process of expanding a business in a physical sense is a major challenge, so you need to think about these three aspects before going ahead with it.

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