You have made it through the startup phase of your business and want to investigate the future to grow it to something bigger! Struggling to find the right direction can be frustrating. There are so many ways you can push your business to achieve that vision, although some roads are better taken than others. Allowing your niche product or service to connect to your overall customers should be your focus. Setting more short term and long-term goals to bring that dream into a reality. Marketing can be tricky so concentrating on social media to bridge the gap to big business. Networking and attending trade shows where you can spotlight your business and win over new clients. Handing over control of pieces of the business to team members along with expanding locations or products and additional funding opportunities to make this vision a reality.

Let Your Niche Pave the Way
You have found a way to connect your business to a specialized group of customers achieving a piece of the markets pie. Finding ways to get more customers to desire your niche small business is sometimes tricky. Leaning on your customers that choose your small business over the others including that of big businesses is how you will be able to grow.

Goals
Your current short- and long-term loans should always be assessed regularly. When you ride out on current goals and lack the ability to achieve that race to a new goal, you become stagnant. Growth occurs when businesses lean in on new ideas, streamline procedures, hit the pavement each day making each one a step closer to the next goal on your list. Hitting several small goals lead up to the vision of the larger ones.

Social Media Marketing
We live in a world where “following” and “liking” and “sharing” all have new meanings than they did 10 years ago. Jumping in with the availability to pinpoint your niche customers through their social media apps is an amazing tool. Connecting with current customers and giving them freebies or discounts for sharing your social media pages, helps you to get in the face of their social media friends. Think of it as being invited to their home for a party. Your business can accomplish several obstacles using this new aged marketing machine they call social media.

Network and Trade Shows
What better way to connect to your customers than directly in a setting housing people from your market and industry? When you network, the relaxed social setting brings out the relationship side of getting new customers interested in your small business. Don’t oversell yourself into a lean mean overpowering sales junkie either. Recognize social etiquette techniques like basic manners and solid but not forceful handshakes along with not hogging and taking over every conversation. Your end goal is to walk away with more contacts and possible clients than you came into the event with. Trade shows also allow for you to bring a visual display and possible products for new customers to see firsthand. Picking prospective customers for details on what you can provide them with while engaging them in your business is a skill that successful entrepreneurs use, and it pays off with higher sales and new business. Growing your business to the next level takes getting out of your comfort zone.

Handing Over Control of Some Control Small business owners sometimes hold the business so tight; they squeeze the life out of it. You cannot be a one-man rodeo for very long and expect to prosper and grow your small business. Hiring on some additional support from sales, inventory control, and back office accounting personnel allows you to run your business. You can do the fun work now. Take this growth step very seriously because bringing on conflicting personalities and visions to work together can sometimes be more of a headache. Building this portion of the business can be overwhelming so write down a list of things that you want in your perspective staff and try to find exactly that. Finding new clients and allowing your face to be out there grabbing new ideas and connections through events your business is sponsoring. This is where all great entrepreneurs gain that momentum to build more to their small businesses.

Expanding and Funding
Since growth is the overall goal you have set out, is there any better way to do so than having more locations and staff to supply your niche to the masses. With a good expansion project securing funding options to give you the ability to fulfill your goal of multiple locations or increased product supply in new locations. Looking at opening business lines of credit and viewing the best small business financing available will help you navigate your vision to the big business you are wanting to achieve.

You have created this small business from scratch and should be proud of its success so far. Don’t stop now. Get your goals written down in your business plan. Let fresh new marketing ideas bring your niche to the masses. Embrace change and do so while encouraging the handing over of the reins to other members of your team and getting out there networking and mingling with people in your industry and new prospective clients. There is no better way to become a bigger business than to take that leap of faith with additional funding options to grow and establish a larger piece of the market pie.