Growing a Recently started Business 1

Have a read of these previous topics:

There are lots of books about this topic, so I recommend reading a bunch of them. They have actionable ideas.

My quick tips:
1. Priorities: Focus on important stuff, not urgent stuff. Important things are for long term growth. Urgent stuff can be handled by your employees.
2. Networking: Need to do it consistently, and follow up. You never know when you meet someone.
3. Branding: It's important to make your company seem respectable and larger. Things like custom domain email address, website, logo, phone system, and paperwork.
4. Goals: Set your goals to be the best geotechnical consulting company in your area, not just one more option for bidding. This will get repeat business and referrals, which is good for exposure.
5. Expenses: Profits can be increased with operational efficiency, not just revenue growth. This is a whole huge topic itself.

I'm on year 3 of my own business as well. I find the growth just happens, its just exponential, and almost with no effort. All the effort was in the first year. Word of mouth about good service just spreads like wildfire.

Finding good people is the hardest (impossible) part. I'm still alone. I've got the work, and the money, but just can't find the people.

JohnTerry4 said:

What are some good ways to meet developers, architects, and engineers who can assist in this growth?

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Based on what the business development types do at my engineering firm (pharma industry specific), I'd say go to industry events on a consistent basis to build rapport with potential clients. Give some presentations if you can so people can build confidence in you. This mirrors milkshakelake's point on networking. Also, to further milkshakelake's point on branding, make sure your LinkedIn, website, Facebook, etc. are all speaking the same design language; spend a little money to make things look nice, because it gives people confidence to reach out when the "packaging" doesn't look odd.

In terms of getting people to remember your name, try to help people even if you can't give them the final answer. If people come to you with questions often, it increases the chance you'll get a question you can answer (and charge for). I know this technique has helped me as an employee with building relationships with my colleagues over the years, hopefully it scales up.

@jari001 I was wondering what value would branding on Facebook and LinkedIn give? I think of branding as a resume or portfolio of sorts. In a B2B setting, it's showing that you're serious but not actually a sales form like with something like online shopping. I have the impression (though maybe I'm wrong) that my clientele don't use those services, and even if they do, they wouldn't be using it for business deals. They'd only use someone from a referral. I'm the same way myself; I don't Google search lawyers or accountants, I get a referral.

One salient aspect might be the younger folk who work in those companies. They're not decision makers, but I can see them being more active on LinkedIn and Facebook. Once they're project managers, they could have more sway.

@milkshakelake

For Facebook, I think of it as claiming internet space so that it's under your control - pre-emptive protection against brand dilution. You never know when someone will Google your name (one person shop) or your company's name even after they get a referral. I see some individual consultant types use LinkedIn to essentially advertise their services by writing short case studies or the like and posting them. To me, it helps keep your name out there because you can get a little help from the website's algorithm if you post things prospective clients find interesting.

Shameless personal plug......on behalf of structural guys and gals in my area, please make it a habit to not use a factor of safety of 50 or more when providing the allowable bearing pressure....the building owners will thank you. . (Ok, so maybe 50 is a little exaggerated, but you get the idea).

Good luck with growing your practice.

FB is important as its the modern version of the yellow pages. I would never use it otherwise professionally, but have used it many times to locate the contact info for small companies. Most business recommendations dont come with contact info and small business websites are often impossible to locate, so FB allowing you to easily search a business name and location is very useful.

MotorCity said:

on behalf of structural guys and gals in my area, please make it a habit to not use a factor of safety of 50 or more when providing the allowable bearing pressure....the building owners will thank you. 2thumbsup. (Ok, so maybe 50 is a little exaggerated, but you get the idea).

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Structurals like to trash talk when they use a factor of safety of two to three on man-made objects that are routinely tested for their properties. That's after applying a live load that won't be seen more often than not. I bet the average factor of safety for allowable bearing is around three to four for a product placed by mother nature. Get off your soap box.

JohnTerry - Have you ventured into construction services? It's good revenue and a great way to stay in touch with current clients and meet potential new ones.