I’ve got a question for Caterers – If you receive 100 wedding cake orders to be delivered one week from now on the same day to different clients; Can you handle it? While making sure each customer is satisfied?

If your answer is no, then regardless of what business you do, you need to read this!

Many sole proprietorship businesses die because they refuse to build capacity and create room for expansion.

My ex-barber suffered from this. He was so good, people trooped in from in and around the hood to get a haircut. Money started rolling in but due to pride and inability to build capacity to accommodate his growing clientele, his business crashed. First off, the top-notch service he was known for dropped in standard, and when there was a complaint, he retorted rudely. ‘after all he’s got several more customers’. But here’s the thing, one dissatisfied customer can cause a ripple effect that can cripple your business. Little drops of water make up the River Niger.

In the Bible, Elisha performed a miracle. Read it here:

Notice the miracle of the oil vessels ended as soon as there was no pot left.

It’s good for Pastors and the Church as a whole to pray for an increase in Church attendance. But if you’ve got 100 seats and 3,000 souls attend a single service in that church, yes, prayers have been answered but where will the remaining 2900 attendees seat?

Build Capacity!

Here are two ways you can expand the tentacles of your business:

1. Delegate Responsibility: You cannot do it all. At some point, you will have to replicate your knowledge, principles, and business acumen to mentees and employees. A business with good leadership should be able to run smoothly at multi-locations whether its CEO is present or not.
2. Plough-back Profit: When the money starts coming in, many business owners make the mistake of eating up everything with the hope they can replicate the same income or more tomorrow. You can’t eat the seed with the fruit and expect to have a next harvest season. Your business cannot expand if you do not plough back part of the profit made in previous months.

I’m tired of seeing people with amazing products and services crumble their businesses because they couldn’t handle a spontaneous increase in their customer base. Yes, your business started as a one-man business, but at some point, your vision has to be bigger than you. It’s time to think big!