When should small businesses consider opening more locations?

There’s a certain overwhelming feeling when you know your business is so successful you should open a second location. It makes you feel giddy inside because your vision for success has been turned into a reality. You’ve read all of the helpful hints online, and now you’re ready to expand your business beyond your wildest dreams.

Get a second opinion on your numbers

We’re talking accountants here and anyone else who looks at your numbers when it comes to getting the details. Your gut feelings are often wrong, and worse, sometimes they flat-out lie to you, which is why you need someone to check them out.

What you’re trying to avoid here is inflating in your mind what isn’t a reality. You’ve been with your small business since day one; no matter how much it has grown, it still feels big to you. Your business will always be your baby, but like with all babies, sometimes they seem bigger than they actually are.

It’s all about the location of your second business

Okay, so your numbers add up, and you can move on to your next endeavor. The second location matters, and this is especially true if you’re going into debt to finance it. If your second location is too close to the original, that will cause business to slow down. You’ll be competing with yourself, which might not be the best thing.

Just because you’re successful where you are doesn’t mean that the location of your next isn’t important. If your new location is stuck in the middle of nowhere, you don’t need to be a genius to figure out that it won’t work.

Spending a considerable amount of time choosing your second location is something that you must do. We’re talking weeks, if not months, scouting out the perfect location for second business. There’s nothing wrong with waiting a year or even several years for the right spot to open up. It’s far better to wait than it is to rush into a new location that will eventually fail and ruin your reputation.

Realize how much pressure you’re going to be under

Quite a few small business owners don’t understand how much pressure they’ll be under when their second location opens. If you’re running a restaurant, for example, now you have two locations to constantly worry about. You can’t be in two places at the same time, so if something goes wrong at both locations, you better have someone on hand who can smooth things out in one place while you’re in the other.

If you’re finding that your time is stretched thin now, just wait until you have two businesses operating at the same time. Sleep might only be a dream for the first couple of years until you get things off the ground and find enough talented employees who can take the helm of your business. As you already know, problems are the only constant thing in the world of business, and with two businesses, you’ll have double the troubles.

Think before you expand

The idea of expanding and creating several more locations sound like a great idea when you look at it in the sense of making more money. However, for many small business owners, expanding isn’t worth the hassle, and they’re often better off working hard to maintain the success of their current business.

Also, don’t forget to factor in burnout when you’re deciding if this is something you want to pursue. It’s easy to find yourself completely burned out to the point that you no longer want to continue on. If that happens, both your businesses will fail, and you’ll have to start from square one.