Stages of Business

One necessary skill that every successful business man have is being organized. This is also the reason why if anyone is aiming for success in any field, being organized is one skill that is forced to acquire. One of the advantages of being organized is being able to track your own business’ progress. Below is the Stages of Business Model that I personally made to help you track your business progress and determine your necessary steps towards your business’ definite chief aim. 

     

Launch. The first step is to launch your business. However, the amount of work, time and effort that you have to exert before the launch matter the most. Before you start up a business, a thorough study should be done. Some people think that capital is the only thing needed to start up a business. The truth is, capital is just one thing. Studying about the business’ potential is everything. You have to start with your business idea. Is your business a necessity? How is it going to be different from its competitors? What is your market? Does it have potential? How much could you possibly earn? The answers to these questions can be found on the business’ vision and mission. These are two things that are vital for business planning before the launch. Once you have all these and the necessary capital, that’s the time you are ready for the launch or the business’ grand opening.  

Dry Run. Even though the business has been carefully planned, everything goes back to zero after the launch. The second stage is what I call the dry run. It is the first two to four months of the business’ survival. This is the stage where trial and error occur. This is also the perfect time to see the challenges of the business and its full potentials. By this time, you would have an idea what the customers want and how to improve your product or service. This is also the deciding point whether the business is pushing through or not. By this time, you know your way around the business better.

Growth.  After a period of trial and error or dry run, the next step is to think of how to help your business to grow. There are three areas that affect the business growth; service, marketing and upgrade. The easiest way to make improvements on all these three is to study your competitors when it comes to these three areas, compare them to your business and figure out a way to provide better service, better marketing and necessary upgrades.

Status Quo.  This is the result of the steps you took in the business growth period while applying the things you have learned during the business’ dry run. This is the stage when you are basically testing whether your recent steps for business growth made an impact to your business. 

Recovery. This is the business’ tough time. Every business goes through the lowest point. There may be a couple of reasons for the business’ low times like change of seasons, holidays, or maybe a sudden misfortune or any occurrence that is simply out of your hand. To survive this phase, you must have had enough money to keep the business running and cover all the dues despite the low gross income. Some business men cut the expenses by collective layoff while some get loans which is not really very smart thing to do. This is also why it is important to save the net income as much as possible during the early stage of the business for its independence during the recovery season.

Expansion. I also like to call this the business’ metamorphosis. Business’ tough time is not permanent. You will definitely have your peak again and when that happens, you have to be extra ready. One millionaire businessman I know, who is a very dear friend of mine, spend the recovery time to actually improve his employees. Instead of temporary suspension or permanent termination, he sends his employees to seminars and other service improvement courses. He makes sure that he is more than ready for the business’ come back. Some business men also renovate the place of the business or offer additional services or products, thus, needing an additional capital. If you ever think of getting a loan for your business, this is the best time to do it.

This is also a very important stage to refresh and show improvement on the business. This is also the point where some businesses open another branch, invite investors or even become a corporation. As a business owner, you may also enrol yourself in some leadership or business short courses during the recovery period to know the best move for the business’ expansion. The secret to go through this phase is to simply be as creative as possible.

Relaunch. This is the final stage of the business progress. It’s like launching your old business again but this time, it’s new and improved version. And because you know the stages to go through, this time is going to be an easier ride. -M.D.

We’d also love to hear from you. Feel free to comment below to share your business experience. You may also email us at mybusinessgrowsbigger@gmail.com for free business consultation. You may also follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/BusinessSavvy2