How to grow without breaking

How’s your business going? Are you growing?

With small business failure rates maintaining their 2010 highs, leading business commentators are advising business owners to plan for growth or risk failure.

Business coach, financial planner and commentator Peter Switzer says, “when your business is growing, the needs of the business change, often dramatically.”

In order to address these changing needs, businesses must plan to grow from the outset.

“I honestly believe that so many businesses don’t really plan to grow. What happens is that they find a niche and they’re very good at filling that to a small group of customers. Then more people get wind of how good their business is and start demanding their products or services – and before you know it, the business is bursting at the seams.”

The Queensland Government’s ‘smart small business’ program has also published numerous fact sheets on the issue, which can be found on their website.

Managing growth in a planned, systematic way is a vital part of business success, and one of the most important things to manage is the cash. Uncontrolled growth can lead to failure by weakening business resources - too many sales, made too fast, can sometimes spell the end of a business.

To help small business owners plan for growth, the Sydney Small Business Centre, in conjunction with Chartered Accountant Leigh Drake, will be running a Financial Management Essentials Course next month.

In this course you’ll learn:

1. How to drill down into your profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow reports
2. How to create a budget for your business
3. How to create manage the cash flow of your business
4. How and why to analyse your budget vs actuals

5.                    How to use simple analysis techniques to improve your profit

In two online modules supported by two teleconferences with chartered accountant and course developer Leigh Drake, we help you understand the numbers that count, because the buck really does stop with you.