10 Ways To Grow Your Home-Based Business

Home businesses are a dime a dozen. But very few of them make it to the point where they’re earning enough to support the family. So today, let's find out how to grow your home-based business so that it can become a viable source of income, covering topics such as marketing, product development, audience acquisition, and more. By the end of this post, you should have a better idea of how to take your home business to the next level.

1. Review Your Business Plan

First of all, if you have not created a business plan, you really should because it will give you a roadmap to follow as you grow your business. Your business plan should include your;

• Business goals at the end of each month, 6 months, 12 months, X years as you see fit.
• Strategies for achieving each goal.
• Financial plan - borrowing, repayments if applicable, and reinvesting.
• Target market.
• Competition.

Review your plan at the end of each period (month, 6 months, and so on). If you were unable to achieve what you had planned, perhaps you can either;

• Lower the target,
• Shift the following target dates to later dates, or
• Review the method you’ve taken and change it.

For example, you originally planned to build 1,000 subscribers within 6 months. You used a freebie as a lead magnet and successfully built over 1,000 subscribers. However, very few of them turned out to be responsive to your newsletter campaigns. 

In this case, the freebie-giving method you used wasn’t working. Your next target is 3,000 subscribers in the next 6 months, but now you know there’s no point in building a large number of unresponsive subscribers. You may want to delete your existing subscribers and start collecting them using a different method by providing more valuable information in exchange.

Reviewing your business plans this way can seem daunting, but there are plenty of resources available to help you get started. Keep reviewing a solid plan, and scaling your home business will become much easier.

2. Delegate and Outsource

When you start to make profits and you are ready to scale up your business, you can consider hiring people to help you with the day-to-day tasks of running your business. It is necessary for growing any type of business.

By hiring virtual assistants or freelancers to handle tasks like customer service, social media marketing, bookkeeping, etc., you will save a great amount of time and money. Because you'll be able to focus on the parts of your business that you're good at and essentially, that will help you make more money.

Of course, delegation doesn't mean giving up all control. You'll still need to manage and oversee the work that's being done for you. But by learning to delegate, you can take your home business to the next level.

You can find people doing a variety of jobs for you from Fiverr;

3. Hire Employees

When you're ready to start growing your home business, you'll need to decide whether to hire employees or contractors. There are pros and cons to both options, so it's important to weigh your choices carefully.

If you're leaning towards hiring employees, consider the following advantages:

4. Invest in Advertising

Start investing more money in ads and you can reach a larger audience and promote your business to a wider group of people. When individual online business owners talk about using paid advertisements, the most popular ones are always Google Ads, Facebook ads, or YouTube ads, but there are other ways to invest, and you should be choosing the option that best suits your needs.

Purchasing an ad space on websites or in magazines is one. This can be an effective way to reach potential customers who are already interested in the types of products or services you offer. 

Another way to invest in advertising is through sponsorship. You can sponsor events or programs related to your business, which will give you exposure to a new group of people. Sponsorships can be a great way to build brand awareness and generate new leads.

Needless to say, if you sell products online, you can use targeted advertising on social media platforms such as Instagram's sponsored posts and Twitter ads to reach potential customers who may be interested in what you have to offer.

5. Use Premium Online Tools

You must be already using some online tools such as social scheduler, autoresponders, and project management tools. But the busier your business gets, the more automation you may need to use.

If you are using free tools now, it’s time to review them and see if it’s worth upgrading your accounts, investing money in better services, or switching them to more reputable service providers.

Also, it’s worth considering automating some of the more time-consuming tasks associated with running your business, you'll free up more time to focus on other areas of growth. After all, the cost you invest in automation may still be cheaper than hiring a person.

6. Lateral Communication

Lateral communication, also referred to as horizontal communication means team meeting. When you delegate tasks to more than one person online, the communication tends to be vertical, and your team members or contractors never communicate with each other. Not that they need to, but it’s a good idea to have some opportunities to exchange ideas.

Meeting tools such as Zoom can help you improve communication and collaboration within your team. Consider using video conferencing or chat tools so that everyone can stay on the same page and easily share files and ideas. By taking advantage of all that technology has to offer, you can set your home business up for success as you scale it up.

7. Get Feedback

When you're running a business, it’s hard to receive feedback directly from users about your service. After all, who are you going to ask? Your family and friends may not be the best people to give you honest feedback.

One way to get around this is to set up a focus group. This is a group of people who agree to provide feedback on your product or service in exchange for some kind of compensation, such as a free sample of your product or a discount on your service.

You can also reach out to online forums and groups related to your industry. These people are more likely to be honest with you about what they think of your business because they're not personally invested in it.

Social networks - reach out to your followers and get their thoughts on what you're offering. Using a Twitter poll is one way. Just be prepared for both positive and negative feedback. Be sure to communicate two-way; as much as you are expecting feedback from them, they may be expecting your comments on their posts, too.

8. Join a Professional Organization

There are quite a few benefits to belonging to a professional organization, including networking opportunities, access to resources and information, and discounts on products and services.

When choosing a professional organization to join, look for one that is relevant to your field. 

For example, if you own a home-based business that provides accountancy services, you might want to join the American Financial Services Association (AFSA) or the Association of Finance Professionals (AFP). If you are a travel writer, you might consider joining SATW (The Society of American Travel Writers) to stand out from the competition.

Each organization offers different benefits that you can take advantage of, such as online and offline conferences, forums and discussion groups. And of course, you can stay up-to-date on industry news and use the resources available to you to help grow your business. 

And perhaps more importantly, your membership adds credibility to your business. By promoting your membership, you can show potential clients that you are a serious and professional business owner.

9. Grow Your Network

As well as professional bodies, there are countless online communities - from social media to online networking events - that let you connect with people in the same industry all over the world. Without a doubt, growing your network is a good way to help grow your home-based business. 

Online support communities related to your industry will help you connect with potential customers and partners, as well as get valuable feedback on your business. Unlike attending offline networking events, online communities are free to log in and log out at any time of day. If you prefer live chat, you can choose to log in at the most optimal time. Otherwise, you can leave a message or question, and reply to the other members’ response at your earliest convenience. 

If you’ve been successful as a self-employed but don’t have a platform where you can get extra support from experts, this is a great chance to find out the way to take the profits to the next level.

10. Give Back

Through volunteering, donating money or goods, or simply offering your time and expertise to help others… Giving back can not only help the people or organizations you support, but it’s great for brand recognition purposes. It can help you build relationships, expand your network, and get exposure for your business. Plus, it can simply make you feel good knowing that you're helping others.

There never seems enough time in terms of boosting the level of success, but whenever you get a chance, give back in some way. It will be a great way to accelerate your growth.

Grow Your Home-Based Business: Conclusion

I hope that you have found this guide helpful and that you now have a better understanding of what it takes to successfully scale up your business. Now is the time to put all of your newfound knowledge into action. Remember to start small and scale gradually. Don't try to do too much at once or you will risk overwhelm and burnout. Take things one step at a time and be patient as you grow your business.

If you stick to these principles, you’ll be able to confidently push ahead of the game and keep your business a sustainable one.