End Goal: Develop Your Future Plans #

Scaling: #

Expand or die.  You should always be looking to expand your business.  A business that doesn’t grow will eventually die.  Expansion is the key to success.  

Multi-Year Plan: #

You need to develop a long term strategy for your business by establishing a multi-year plan and goals you are looking to achieve.  This may change over time and that is OK. This is here to make sure you have thought about long term goals and plans, not a definitive list set in stone. Be sure to come back to this periodically and refresh your long term plans and goals.

1. 1-Year Plan – What do you want to accomplish in one year?  What are your goals?  Typically at startup your 1-year goal will be to breakeven or reach a certain level of profitability.
2. 5-Year Plan – Where do you see your business in 5 years?  Maximized revenue?  Hired some new employees?
3. 10-Year Plan – What could you do with 10 years?  Expanded to a second or third location?  Hired a bunch of employees? 

Understanding Your Supply Chain: #

As you plan to scale it is important to understand the full supply chain of your business.  With Turtle Co., we need to know where the t-shirts and plushies are made, where do we get the raw materials from, and how are we getting them to customers.  Understanding your supply chain will help you understand how you can scale.  If your suppliers can not scale with you then you will need to have different options.

Vertical Integration: #

As you scale, vertical integration may be a natural move for your business.  Vertical integration is when a business absorbs or takes over portions of their supply chain.  For Turtle Co. this would be if we started making our own plushies instead of outsourcing it to another company. We would cut out a business from our supply chain and should hopefully be able to make additional profits.

Horizontal Integration: #

Horizontal Integration is when a company diversifies its product offerings or expands into new markets.  With Turtle Co., if we expand to selling hats or other similar goods this broadens our potential market and customer base.  This is an example of horizontal integration.

Understanding Exits: #

As you are developing your scaling strategy and multi-year plans you should begin to think about what kind of exit you might want.  You cannot work at your business for eternity so having an exit strategy in mind is a good idea as you develop your plan.

1. Acquisition – You may get offers on your business as you are building up and growing, but if you have a good plan in place you shouldn’t leave money on the table by selling too early.  Plan your acquisition for when you have taken your business as far as you can.
2. IPO – Initial Public Offering – A business that grows large enough may decide to go public.  When a business goes public it is no longer owned by the business founders but rather the stock is purchased by the public.  The owners can remain on as an employee but can also use this opportunity to move on.  
3. Passing the torch – You may want your small business to continue on after you are ready to call it quits.  Family businesses are typically passed down through the generations but you could also identify a highly valued employee or other individual that you may want to pass it on to.