Welp MagazineStagnation is an unfortunate word to hear when you run your own business. Normally, we imagine that stagnation can only lead to failure, but that isn’t always the case when you’re a business owner. Whether your salon has stopped seeing growth or you can’t get new customers to your restaurant, all businesses have periods of stagnation. We’ll talk about what you can do when your business starts to stagnate that can help start the growth back up again.
Search for Ideas From Others
If you run a small business, it can start to feel a little like your child. When you feel this way, you can start to get overprotective and think that only you can handle the issues you’re having. It’s important to remember that businesses need more than one person to run efficiently. If you’re starting to see stagnation, ask your business partners, employees, or customers for ideas on opportunities they see that you might be missing.
Adapt Through Specialization
A lot of smaller businesses try to be everything all at once. When you’re just starting out, this isn’t so difficult. However, as your business grows, trying to be perfect in every aspect is a much larger undertaking and isn’t feasible for any business. Specialization can take your business to the next level by helping you find new customers and catering your offerings to what they need the most. As you grow even more, you can take on more specializations with different branches of your business.
Extend Your Social Connections
One of the best things you can do when your business starts to stagnate is expand your social media and create more connections. Of course, you want to reach as many potential customers as possible through your social media channels, but don’t forget that you can also make professional connections with other businesses. Not only can you attain new ideas and insight from a larger pool of people, but you’ll also have more customers and partners talking about your business to people in their own social circles.
Hold Off on Side Projects
It’s tempting to start experimenting with new products and services once you begin to show some growth, but you can dive too deep if you’re not careful. The core of your business is not self-sustaining—it requires care and development, just like any side project. If you’ve been distracted by other projects, take some time off and refocus your efforts on growing the part of your business that got you to where you are today.
