The Small Business Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed in Your Small Business, 3rd Edition

Chapter 50

Developing New Channels and Multiple Profit Centers

Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire.

—Oprah Winfrey

To grow your business, you are going to have to try new strategies and tactics, meet some new people, and do things that you have not done before. There will be a learning curve, and you will make some mistakes along the way. Although that is all true, as always, I want to help you increase the likelihood of success. In this section, we will look at what it takes to get your business to the next level—whether it is increased sales or finding new and bigger clients. In this chapter specifically, we will look at how adding multiple profit centers and bigger clients are smart steps.

Preliminary Considerations

The first step in deciding how to grow your business is to figure out what is your core competency. That's business jargon for understanding and doing what you do best. When you know your core competency, you can begin to add revenue streams that are logically related to that strength, but when you don't, finding new ways to grow your business becomes more of a crapshoot. What you do not want to do is put a lot of time, energy, and money into plans that have little chance for success because they are outside your area of expertise. Defining what you do best allows you to better analyze opportunities that come your way.

So what is your ...