The mistake many new business owners make is to try to grow too quickly. Impatient to make it to the big time, they cut corners and often lose touch with the reality of their situation as it currently is. Much better to consolidate at the beginning, taking all appropriate care to ensure that the business is build upon firm foundations before attempting to move on to the next level.

Nevertheless, as the old truism has it if things don’t change they stay the same. At some stage as an entrepreneur new to the market you are going to want to take your business onto another level, and there are some basic rules to follow with this in mind.

Tip #1: Understand Your Customer Base

Probably the very first requirement of any successful business is to understand the nature and demographic of the customer base. If you don’t know who is buying your product then how are you going to know who to target with your strategy for expansion? You may wish to consolidate your influence within your existing client base or try to broaden your appeal beyond it, but either way you need to be familiar with it.

Tip #2: Stay True to Your Existing Clients

Remember these are the people who believed in you when you were starting out. They are the ones who took a chance on you when others were too tentative or doubting to do so. It is the doom of many businesses to abandon their traditional support base in the hope of reaching out to new clients. It is nearly always a mistake to cast aside loyal customers, better to take them with you and encourage them to be the third party messengers who will bring new ones on board.

Tip #3: Attend Networking Events

The authoritative Small Business Trends magazine lists what it calls the 59 Commandments of Business Networking. If there are even half this many good reasons for mixing it with other entrepreneurs and proprietors of SMEs to provide mutual encouragement, exchange anecdotes and pick up helpful advice then this is more than worth doing as an integral part of your business growth strategy.

Tip #4: Seek out New Business Finance Options

There is little point in saddling your steadily expanding new business with a whole bunch of unwanted debt, but it may well be that a strategic injection of capital will provide it with the boost it needs to move onto another level. There are a number of sources through which investment capital can be found with reasonable terms of repayment. If business funding or low-interest loans are available it may be worth taking advantage.

Tip #5: Utilize Social Media

The full power of social media has yet to be realized and yet already platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have transformed the way the world does business beyond all recognition. Not having a social media presence is a massive wasted opportunity. If you haven’t got time to keep it updated employ somebody who has – the returns are sure to make it worthwhile.