Congratulations, you established your business! Things are working fine, and you are making profit. All is good, and there is no need to worry, right?

Wrong.

This is the phase where most promising businesses fail! Why? Because most people get a false sense of security and just lay back and wait for the money to roll in. If you want to become the #1, you have to work for it. You have to invest. As the old saying goes: you need to spend money in order to make money.

What I want to give you in this article are a couple of tips on how to make that transition from a thriving small business to a big corporate shark. These are guidelines that can help you improve your business and make it grow to be a big name on in the corporate world.

1. Invest in marketing!

I can not point this out enough. Of course, everyone knows that you can not sell a good product or service without people knowing of it. But business owners underestimate the power of marketing. Being a business consultant, I have had so much trouble with clients refusing to invest enough in marketing. All of them had an excuse: My product/service is so good it will market itself! I don’t need to spend that much on marketing! They are all wrong! Marketing is the essential selling point of, regardless of business niche. One thing I tell all my clients is: To be great, copy what the great are doing. Recent reports have shown that Coca Cola is spending around $3.3 billion just in global advertising. I understand that your business can’t afford these expenses, but the truth is, you don’t have to. Dollar Shave Club, a Los Angeles based company that sells shaving razors, created a promotional video that went viral on the internet. The video is funny and entertaining and stars their CEO. It only cost them $4,500 dollars to make! Read this article to see the benefits they got from it. So get smart and invest in marketing! It pays off!

2. Invest in your team

Your workers are the core of your business. With good employees, the company is bound to grow. But as the owner of the company, it is your job to make sure they do their work the best they can. There are couple of ways to do this:

A happy employee is a good employee. This is the golden rule. If you want your workers to do well, you have to motivate them and make them feel important. A motivated employee strives to do better, they feel like a part of the company and see the progress of the company as their own. It is your job to make your employees feel this way.

Train your employees. It is important to recognize potential in your workers. When you hire someone, you can understand only a small amount of their capabilities from their CV. Over time, you will get to know this person and their strengths. With proper training, this employee will benefit you much more than if you just left him/her at their designated spot. This is a big part of management and you must get yourself familiarized with it.

3. Invest in project management

Project management is one of the most important aspects of any working business. It incorporates the previous statement but also adds much on top of it. Having good project management ensures that work will be done on time and to a satisfactory quality. I noticed that many businesses today shun it as a needless investment, but it couldn’t be further from it. Hiring a professional project manager will ensure that your workers are both happy and doing their jobs. These people improve the performance of the company by improving communication, workflow, control of resources and many other things.

Also, use of project management software is highly useful and can lift things to an even further level. This software speeds things up and makes your projects more transparent and easier to manage. Check out what some of these business owners use and how it helped them.

4. Invest in team building

Team building is something that has been both praised and scolded over the past years. Reason for this is that, in order to work, it needs to be done properly. With a well working team, you can benefit greatly. People who work in a team and trust each other often accomplish much more than separate individuals. A lot of companies today organize team building events to improve the morale and teamwork spirit in their employees. But it’s not all fun and games. As a manager, you must choose what is best for your workers. It’s not always enough to just gather your employees for a drink. Think about what you are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to encourage creative thinking? Are you trying to work out the issues certain people have with each other? You should choose your activity wisely and make sure that your events don’t turn into a huge waste of money.