4 Simple Rules for Growing Your Business

I have been lucky enough to have a business that has grown every year since its inception. There have been times where things have been difficult and I have had to dig in and work all hours to steady the ship. These times helped me learn a number of lesson along the way, to help reduce the number of future mistakes and help my business continue to prosper.

Over the past nine years, our strategies have evolved and I’ve been fortunate to isolate four simple rules that will allow us to maintain sustainable growth for the next five years:

Recurring Revenue

Almost all of our clients pay us every month, this recurring revenue allows the business to have surety of income, even over the quieter months of December and January.

As long as we ensure that we sign more clients than we lose every month, the business will continue to grow and profit.

Churn

In our industry there is an unavoidable churn of clients. You can’t always please everyone and sometimes things are out of your control. However, whenever we lose a client we find out the reason and ensure we learn from it.

Keeping a client for a longer period is far cheaper than acquiring new clients, and helps minimise the expense during times of churn and growth.

Systems

I am not naturally a detail person, I prefer to have a holistic view of the business and focus on the big picture. Over the years, however, I have recognised that having robust systems in place is what allows me to do that.

We have an awesome team who have implemented and continually evolved and improved our systems. This gives us the ability to scale the business without making administrative and deliverable mistakes.

Niche

For me the adage ‘Jack of All Trades, Master of None’ rings true. There are so many people that offer the whole gamut of digital services. Without exception, however, they have their strong and weak points.

We offer search engine marketing services; we drive customers to websites and make them buy things. There is no doubt that we are the best at this in New Zealand; and the reason is because we are focussing on a niche.

Choosing a specific area to focus the business allows us to stay ahead of the game and keep evolving at the top of our industry. If you worry about doing too much and spread yourself too thin, the work required to maintain your range of services – while still remaining competitive – is far greater.

Personally, I am obsessed with sustainable growth and quality results for clients. It is what drove to me to start Pure SEO to begin with, and it is drives me and gets me up in the mornings. I surround myself with people that are smarter than me or have skills I do not have in order to delegate and reap the benefits of our mutual success. Creating a supportive and productive environment and learning the rules and strategies for your own business is just as important as this to succeed.