For owners of a small business in water damage restoration, the second phase of growth is the survival stage. Your business is growing and that isn’t without challenges. Preparing yourself to face the unique struggles of each stage is crucial if you’re going to keep your business alive and growing.
While the beginning of your business was all about getting things running, this second stage is where the growth really starts to happen. It is called the survival stage because, in order to survive, your business has to grow. And for many owners, this requires some uncomfortable steps like delegating all of that hustling you’ve been doing and stepping back to think about the big picture.
The survival stage is all about preparing your business to run without you. Let’s take a look at the challenges you will phase, the opportunities this stage presents, and how to move forward to the next stage.
The Challenges of The Survival Stage
The biggest challenge of this stage is getting to the point where what you’re making is more than you’re spending, You need healthy cash flow to grow your business and that is what your main focused will be at this point in your business.
For many, this will be a mindset shift. While you may have gotten used to operating in debt or relying on funding to get by, this is the stage when you stop thinking that way. This is the stage when you start thinking about how to operate on the money you make while making enough profit to keep growing.
This means careful budgeting and cautious spending. Like the last stage, it also means your business and its success relies heavily on your ability to keeping finding water damage restoration work.
Opportunities of The Survival Stage
For a new water damage restoration business, the survival stage is when things start to get exciting! At this point, you should be working for yourself full-time without worrying about not making enough money to support your family.
You should also be able to hire a few staff members, building your team appropriately as you grow and find new clients. This will also allow you to transition away from heavy involvement in the day-to-day operations. As the owner, your ultimate goal is to be spending less time working IN your business and more time working ON your business and making it grow.
At this point in the game, you should also be taking advantage of opportunities to meet other professionals in your industry. Creating a reputation for yourself as a growing company will allow you to connect with professionals in your area who are also working in water damage restoration or are in related industries like plumbing or insurance.
Moving on to the Next Stage
The survival stage is exciting, but be careful not to get stuck here! To move on to the next stage, make sure you are chasing down leads for more work day in, and day out. In addition to more work, you need to be certain you are making enough on the work you are doing. This might mean adjusting your pricing to make sure your revenue is more than what you are spending on labor, equipment, and any other essential aspects of a job.
At More Floods, we help new and seasoned business owners strategically approach company growth. With access to our operational resources and marketing materials, specialists in the industry can adopt effective systems that will help them move forward toward their goals. To learn more about our network, click here or call 1-866-667-3356.