[Question] New User, looking for some advice on Growth? Long Story...

[Jpaul25]

Hi All.

I thought today I would take the plunge and start seeking some advice to help grow my small business.

A bit about me first:

Im British born and been living in South Africa since 2012, moved over on secondment with my firm from London, but left last year to pursue my own business, which has been running for 12 months now.

I dont want to give to much away, but my business specializes in the application of a protective coating onto vehichles, to aid our customers in giving their vehichle, bike, truck whatever a new look and feel. We have also recently pushed into the corporate vehichle branding world and starting to grow that side of our business.

The business started at home last year and within a few months I was able to move us into a small workshop, shared with a larger pannel beaters and we have thrived under them, to the point now I have 3 staff and a huge social media prescense (15k Facebook followers and 11k Instagram followers)

We dont do much proactive selling, apart from the information on projects we work on where we share them on Facebook and Instagram and the work pours in from there.

We are at the point where we have to much business and are booked up 3 weeks in advance and cant take on more work, so we do need to expand, move out of our small shop into a bigger workshop, take on more staff and equipment. However having my head switched on I am always scared of failing if we were to move into a bigger workshop, increaing our overheads and not being able to cover our monthly bills.

So im here asking for advice on how I can grow.

Im not sure how to get investment into the business, or if I want to have someone investing in the business and then requiring a monthly payout or a % cut of the business.

I am also struggling with the financial side, in making sure we properly account for everything coming in and out of the business. At the moment, i use a spreadsheet showing the money coming in and the money leaving for bills on a monthly basis, so I need some advise there.

Im also struggling with the idea of bringing more people into my business, I need a strong minded workshop manager and someone to proactively go out and start selling, but im worried about placing my trust in them.

The 3 guys I currently emply are all young and eager car enthusiasts so they all love there job, but there not always focused on the main goal, however their workman ship is the highest standard in our industry and we are told by a lot of people in the industry that no one comes close to the finish and care that we put into finishing a customers car which is great.

So all in all im looking for a lot of advise.

How can I grow my small business and take it to the next level, we need to expand, we have reached the point where we cant fit any more work in to increase our monthly profits, if we were to expand, take on more staff, bigger premises, we would be able to double or triple our monthly income and profit very quickly.

So anyone else been at this turning point and able to help?


As I mentioned earlier I am British, so not so clued up on getting financing in South Africa, and other business practices and the way things work in SA, so any advice would be apprecaited.

Thanks

JP

[HR Solutions]

I dont want to give to much away,

Why is this ? You have so many FB followers and are doing the work at the mo aren't you ?

[Jpaul25]

Why is this ? You have so many FB followers and are doing the work at the mo aren't you ?

Yes we have a large following, I just don't want the company to be seen as being run by a moron with little business experience which may drive away our customers. (Im not really a moron, but hope you understand what im saying )

I have also found, when posting on forums about my company can sometimes been seen in a negative light as im trying to advertise my business when I'm not.

At the moment just trying to get some solid advise to help me grow.

[GillianW]

Hi JP

The easiest thing to sort out first is to employ a company/ bookkeeper to do your books. This will give you a better idea of your financial position and you would also need a proper set of books to encourage investment - if you decide to go this route. Accountants can also often give guidance on how to manage money better.

Good luck.

[Jpaul25]

Hi JP

The easiest thing to sort out first is to employ a company/ bookkeeper to do your books. This will give you a better idea of your financial position and you would also need a proper set of books to encourage investment - if you decide to go this route. Accountants can also often give guidance on how to manage money better.

Good luck.

Hi GillianW

Thanks for this.

When I set up the company and registered the company, I did have an accountant who set this all up for me and gave me some advice. He is also the accountant for the panet beating shop that we work out of.

However he is proving difficult to get hold of, rarely returns emails and its getting a little frustrating. One concern I currently have with him is that when we bought a shelf company the end of tax year showed February, which has obviously been and gone now, and im worried that we havn't prepared or submitted a return to date.

Can anyone recommend a book keeper who would be able to come and meet with me and discuss our requirements, we are based in Randburg.

Thanks

[HR Solutions]

Yes we have a large following, I just don't want the company to be seen as being run by a moron with little business experience which may drive away our customers. (Im not really a moron, but hope you understand what im saying )

I have also found, when posting on forums about my company can sometimes been seen in a negative light as im trying to advertise my business when I'm not.

At the moment just trying to get some solid advise to help me grow.

Aaah I get it ..........

[HR Solutions]

Yes I would agree with Gillian. Get an Account from the beginning otherwise you will fall behind trying to do everything yourself. Perhaps if you can handle day to day stuff like the invoicing etc and the monthly vat and paye returns then the accountant has less to do and will charge less. Get a good package - I use Quickbooks - a lot of people like Pastel, but I don't and do everything right from the start. A spreadsheet is all very well but it is more for yourself to think you are doing it right and the longer you go the more difficult it is going to be.

[Jpaul25]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will seek out a book Keeper asap, any advice or recomendations would be apprecaited.

Moving on, I would like to pick peoples brains about how I can move my business forward and grow it.

As I mentioned above we are booked 3 - 4 weeks in advance, we get a lot of requests for smaller jobs which take 2 - 3 hours, however we have no where to put cars and work on them, so we do need a bigger premises to fit these cars in. Which will therefore increase the amount of money coming in on a daily basis.

The problem with our industry and products is that when people want the work done they want it done asap, they dont want to have to wait 3 weeks and will go and find someone else to do it which ultimatly looses us a customer.

So what due dilligence do people do to ensure they are making the right choice to move to a bigger premises and take on more costs.

[Justloadit]

Hi JP,

Get hold of Nikki, she is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist, who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za. Explain to her your problems, I am sure she will be able to help with all aspects of the administration, from book keeping, labour relations and internal process.

Rgds Victor

[Jpaul25]

Hi JP,

Get hold of Nikki, she is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist, who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za. Explain to her your problems, I am sure she will be able to help with all aspects of the administration, from book keeping, labour relations and internal process.

Rgds Victor

Thanks Victor I will reach out to them

[HR Solutions]

So what due dilligence do people do to ensure they are making the right choice to move to a bigger premises and take on more costs.

So often people get busy and then think they need to expand and find bigger premises and then things start to go south. Personally I am very hesitant to move and change a working scenario. Can you not find other premises in addition to the one you have, perhaps for storage of the cars for a cheaper rent and a a short lease and keep the place you have at the mo ? Perhaps this is just me, but I would not move after only 12 months. I would create the brand first and create a GOOD client base and have "extra" premises to ease the load.

[Jpaul25]

So often people get busy and then think they need to expand and find bigger premises and then things start to go south. Personally I am very hesitant to move and change a working scenario. Can you not find other premises in addition to the one you have, perhaps for storage of the cars for a cheaper rent and a a short lease and keep the place you have at the mo ? Perhaps this is just me, but I would not move after only 12 months. I would create the brand first and create a GOOD client base and have "extra" premises to ease the load.

I understand what your saying around people thinking they get busy, which we are, but my concern is that we are turning business down as we cant fit them in when they want to book in, as our space is to small.

Our current rent is only R4,500 a month, and for that we have a small office which is our front of house and then our prep and spray booth just outside this office, its outdoors and not inside where it really should be.

We also dont have any branding or signage outside the current shop and we are missing out on passing trade, but we make this up with our large Facebook and Instagram presence. As I mentioned earlier we arent proactively selling which I would like to do. I'

Im from a sales background and we cant even really follow up with requests for quotes as we cant book people in.

If we were to move I would like to ideally find a bigger space with a short lease and low rent, but thats always impossible to find, unless we can move someone where there is already an existing business which we can lean on.

I do believe our brand is pretty strong in our target market sector, but we do need to build it in the corp branding space, as its a product that hasnt been used in this market before.

[Houses4Rent]

I have similar growth pressures, but do not need premises. However, in my mind staff are my biggest problem and I suppose most business' problem.