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A tricky situation to be in as an entrepreneur is feeling as though your business might be ready to expand in some manner, but not quite being fully confident in it. This can be stressful and worrying, and it can mean that you don’t know whether you’re coming and going. If you find yourself in this position, it is usually best to simply try and test the waters; give your business a go at expansion, and see whether it is likely to work. But how do you do this without making permanent changes to your business – change which you might end up not wanting anyway? As it happens, there are a few creative ways of doing just that.
Trial An Office Expansion
Let’s say you currently run your business from home, and that you are a sole entrepreneur. Perhaps you feel that you would like to try expansion, but without causing too much damage if it goes wrong. There is an easy way to find out if your business is ready to expand into a full office with other members of staff – simply hire out private serviced offices and see how well it fits your business. In these offices, you will have all the amenities that you would expect, and you can fully run your business in this way – but you can simply stop renting the space any time if you decide that it isn’t quite right. This gives you the freedom to go either way, and do what you want, which is a great and powerful position to be in for any business leader.
Prototype A Product
Another common means of expansion is to bring out a new product. This is likely to be more suited to those businesses which are a little further along in their time spans. If you think your business might be ready for this, the simple way to deal with the situation is to prototype a product and see how well it tests with a chosen focus group. This is powerful, because it helps you to understand where your business really stands, which is often different to where you think it stands. Gaining this outside perspective is useful at any time anyway, but particularly if you are thinking about trying to expand our business as much as possible. It is always worth prototyping and testing first.
Partner With A Company Abroad
If it is expansion into a foreign market you are considering, you will want to be extra vigilant. If it goes wrong in any way, that is one of the quickest ways to get your business in a weaker position, so it pays to e very careful with such an expansion attempt. But if you are serious about giving it a go, tread carefully and partner up with a foreign company first. You will be able to gain important insight into the marketplace you are considering, and might even be able to test the waters a little before diving in. This is a powerful thing to be able to do at this stage, so it is worth considering.
