Should you expand your pole business?

Growing is a business is at the top of many pole-preneuers goal list! How do you know when it’s time to expand your business?

Check out our top three indicators that it might be time to level up your business.

Your reoccurring revenue exceeds your expenses and profit goals

Yup! We’re starting right off with the money. If you have reoccurring revenue, such as from an automatic wholesale agreement of products every month or a membership-based virtual or in person studio, and that revenue is exceeding your expenses (including desired profit for you), then you could definitely start to expand. Can you expand your business without this guaranteed revenue? You could, but you take on more risk. Make sure your core services or products are paying your bills first.

If you don’t have reoccurring revenue, can you still expand? Absolutely! Keep reading for more suggestions on when to know it’s time to expand.

You’re running out of space

Is every class booked solid? Every inch of space in your “warehouse” (maybe your kitchen) taken up with product? Make sure you’re really using every minute and every inch of your resources as efficiently as possible. Could you rent out your space during the day? Could you offer more classes than you already do? Could you segment your existing space and run more than one class at the same time? Maybe you could clean out your garage and find more space to produce or store your products. Make sure you’re really running out of space first before you look to expand to a new location, a bigger location, a second location, another product line or some combination of those growth opportunities.

You’ve got access to more time and money

If you already feel maxed out dealing with your current business set-up, how are you going to get to the next level? Take a look at improving or creating more efficiency in your business. Can you get better tools to run your business with less time? (Check out this webinar about how to “auto pilot” your studio.) Can you hire new folks, either employees or contractors (what’s the difference, read this post) to take on some of the tasks you’re doing to free up more of your time? If time isn’t the issue, what about money? Do you have savings that you want to invest? Have you considered taking on business partners or investors? Can you talk to the bank about a line of credit? If you are an existing business, consider funding through a bank or investors rather than constantly maxing out your credit cards. Self-funding can be a great way to get started, but over time can literally drain your personal finances and your mental/emotional energy. Be creative in how you fund your business and its potential expansion.

Growing your business is exciting! You can offer more products and services to really help your customers. Following these guidelines can help you know when expand your business or when to look more closely at your existing business structure to find more opportunities and efficiencies without the potential risk of further expansion.