Should I give up being solo and expand?

[suz]

Hi everyone, would value some thoughts on my current situation. I started my solo business mid last year and much to my delight business is booming, much quicker than I expected. My dilemma is that I always planned to keep this as a one man band but am getting to the point where I can't keep up. I don't want to turn away potential clients and am marketing my business as a specialty market, solely providing medical transcription to specialists, based on the Gold Coast but internet based so clients nationally as well.

I kind of wanted to keep it to myself but now am at the crossroads. If I take someone on I want to do it purely on a contract basis, don't want to go down the path of hiring staff and all that goes with it. I have a few people in mind but worried about the integrity of work that is sent out if I don't have full control over it. I am ashamed to say I never got around to doing a business plan (I wouldn't know where to start as I have never been that way inclined). Is there a particular sort of consultant I could approach to help. Thought of my accountant but it's not just about the $ it's about the structure and how to go about expanding.

I'm certainly not complaining about doing well, but just so many hours in the day and with the turnaround expected I don't want to ruin the business I have built up by not providing the service promised.

Many thanks guys.

Sue - GC Medical Typing

[DavidM]

Hi Sue,

Sounds like a question for a business coach. But ultimately the decision rests with you. You need to weigh up your own objectives/aspirations.

I'm not sure you would necessarily need to employ someone. You could have subcontracting arrangement in place on a per task basis. But you ofcourse would have to monitor the quality. Processes come in handy here.

All in all I would keep an open mind and if you want to expand you can always do it quickly with the view that if it doesn't work out you can return to being a soloist.

Good luck

[Couple It]

Twice you mentioned that you wanted to remain just by yourself.

What's wrong with turning down business? If you're happy to remain a soloist, have enough work to keep you busy, have a good work/life balance and love what you do, who says you have to expand?

Don't make a decision to expand just because you think it's what you should do.

Wendy

[Khalid Adam]

Most successful small businesses dont have a business plan.

[AgentMail]

Option 1 - Increase your prices. This would cause some attrition of some of the clients
Option 2 - Take on the contractors but be prepared to spend more time proofing/overseeing
Option 3 - Build a referral network to others in your industry
Option 4 - If there is enough demand, perhaps consider a franchise model (though you'll need a couple of years before this option)

Ultimately, the decision needs to come from you, perhaps with the assistance of a consultant/business advisor

[JacquiPryor]

I agree with Wendy - what's wrong with turning away (new) business.. keep your current clients and just apologise to people that you are not taking on new clients at this time... Looks good for you as people will realise this means you are good at what you do, sought after and 'worth' engaging if/when they can... Then, if you get to a point where you do want more business you can contact these people and let them know you have the ability to take on a 'couple of new clients', which will make them feel grateful you picked them come the time

Or - could you employ/contract someone in another area of your business that takes up your time so that you can focus on the transcription service, at the quality you know you can provide it rather than sending others out to do this? i.e. any admin you would normally do? bookkeeping? marketing etc?

As to a business plan - a free template is available at the Innovic website (as well as many others, I just happen to have this one bookmarked ) - http://innovic.com.au/index.php?opti...d=25&Itemid=54

All the best

[yourvirtualboard]

Hi Suz, as others have said you mention solo a few times. Maybe time to revisit why you started is it to provide a lifestyle / income and is being solo delivering that? Is it to follow a passion and income is not the critical factor? Whatever it was - is that still the way you feel and if so, what's been the catalyst for a change of heart? Are you seeing a missed opportunity that you might like more of? If so how can you take advantage of it?

Lots of questions but all aimed at getting you to think WHAT do you want to do. Once you've got really clear on that the HOW is not too difficult. As for plans - it sounds more like you will be looking for subcontractors you can trust, no need for a volume to clarify this but worth jotting down a few milestones and numbers to see if it's what you believe it to be.

@Khalid - Most successful small businesses don’t have a business plan.? I'd question that, perhaps you mean micro / solo. I have also come across quite a few businesses that are accidently successful (what else would you call it if you have no plan?) but I believe you have a better chance with a simple plan and can be successful on purpose. I'd also be interested to know the ratio of successful small businesses without any plan to those that gave up because it got too hard.

[Fingerfood]

Hi Sue,

Congratulations on running such a successful business?

I assume that you never imagined to get so much work which means you never imagined even having to consider of hiring someone to help you with the workload. And that would be the reason why you keep thinking of a one-man-shop.

I think it is great to get so much work that you get the chance to expand your business. I don't believe there is anything wrong with it.

I think you don't need to proof read the work of your staff all the time but at the start I would do proof reading/quality control to ensure your staff does it correctly.
I believe, hiring someone will give you the time and space for you to focus on marketing, networking events and expanding even more.
Let your staff work for you and you focus more on the management side of things.

Nothing wrong with that! I wish I was already there :-)

All the best!

Regards,
Mel

[Khalid Adam]

Just speaking from experience as a former finance broker and the OP is a fine example.

I guess the accountants can answer this. Plan to fail is fail to plan. a 1 page plan (like mine) is better than no plan.

The problem with most business plans is that they are not fluid and we all know what happens to plans when "life" gets in the way.

This is not to discourage anyone from having a plan. Bad plan, just like a bad decision is better than no plan/decision.

Originally Posted by yourvirtualboard

@Khalid - Most successful small businesses don’t have a business plan.? I'd question that, perhaps you mean micro / solo. I have also come across quite a few businesses that are accidently successful (what else would you call it if you have no plan?) but I believe you have a better chance with a simple plan and can be successful on purpose. I'd also be interested to know the ratio of successful small businesses without any plan to those that gave up because it got too hard.

[Five Star PA]

I faced this same dilema about a year ago. I found myself turning away a lot more work than I actually took on. Felt terrible and went against the grain as I was always thinking, whilst I busy now what if? I did increase my rates and found I lost no one, but the level of work from some did cut down which helped.

However I said no because the type of work I do varies so greatly and really most the clients I work with are almost looking for my advice/expereince and so it would be hard to find someone to replicate the different skills I have/do on only a casual/remote basis. Sometimes now though I find myself saying, "great business" "Bad business model" as it's just me! So the buck stops here.

If I had work like transcription services, things that could fairly easily be outsourced I'd do it. Yes you may spend some extra time in the first few weeks ensuring that their work was up to scratch but once your confidence built you'd be right. There are so many VA's out there that do perform subscription work already that I'm sure you'd find some you were comfortable with to subbie it out. No sure if your part of a VA network at all but it's a great resource for subbie roles.

I would suggest you test the water, start with one subbie and go from there. Really you haven't got too much to loose if you just start with one client and one subbie.

Good luck!

Meredith