Quiz: Is your business ready to grow?

Growth looks different for every company but healthy cashflow, spare capacity and ambition are all key indicators. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

1. How do you feel about business growth?

   1. I’m excited by the prospect and think it would be absolutely right for my business

      Add a point in A

   2. I think there are benefits but I am nervous about the strain it could put on my company

      Add a point in B

   3. I am exactly where I need to be right now and have no interest

      Add a point in C

2. How would you describe your cashflow?

   1. Good, I have funds I can access for growing my business

      Add a point in A

   2. It could do with improvement but overall is fine

      Add a point in C

   3. Strained

      Add a point in B

3. How long have you been in business?

   1. Less than a year

      Add a point in B

   2. 1-5 years

      Add a point in C

   3. 5-10 years

      Add a point in A

4. If you could change one thing about your business what would it be?

   1. I’d like to hire more staff

      Add a point in A

   2. I’d like to make more money

      Add a point in C

   3. I’d like to spend less time on the business

      Add a point in B

5. How would you describe the sales in your business?

   1. I am personally responsible for most of them

      Add a point in B

   2. I have a small team but they are stretched

      Add a point in C

   3. I have a full-time sales team

      Add a point in A

6. Imagine you needed to take a month off from your business, what would happen?

   1. The business would function as normal

      Add a point in A

   2. The company would fold

      Add a point in B

   3. It might struggle with certain aspects but should survive

      Add a point in C

7. How automated are your company processes?

   1. Not very, we still manually fulfill all of our business

      Add a point in B

   2. Quite, we use business softwares in a few areas but not all

      Add a point in C

   3. Very, everything is synced up

      Add a point in A

8. How busy is your business?

   1. I turn away customers

      Add a point in C

   2. I am busy with repeat customers, but could take on more work

      Add a point in A

   3. I sometimes need to actively search for customers

      Add a point in B

Buckets

1. You are ready to grow

   Your business looks like it’s in top shape. You have the spare capacity in terms of personal time, staff and finance, as well as having the appetite to see where you can take your business.

2. You are not ready to grow your business

   Growing your business can be consuming in both time and cost, and you may already be too strained in those areas to feasibly grow. You may benefit from increased automation of your business using affordable software. You should also consider how your business is staffed - by spending on assistance, it may improve productivity and sales.

3. You’re nearly there!

   You’ve worked out how to make your company tick along nicely but you may want to revisit your cashflow to ensure growth will not jeopardise the current business you’ve built. You should also ask yourself about how much of your own personal time you would like to invest in growing your business to see if it’s right for you.