If your small business has begun to gain momentum and you feel that it would be beneficial to grow and expand, knowing where to start can be daunting and confusing. Here are several tips for how to take your small business to the next stage:

1. Consider Franchising

If you believe that your business provides a product or service that could be successful on a national or even international scale, you may want to consider setting up a franchise. Do some research on franchising broker firms who provide services in your area and do some research on how far their services reach. Always map out the areas in which you think your business will be most successful before signing on with a franchise firm, and know that you will need to hire a franchise attorney to begin the expansion.

2. Open a New Location

Although it may be pretty straightforward, many small business owners overlook the potential opportunities that await them if they were to open a new location for their business. Not only does a new business location mean more sales for your business, but it could also mean tapping into a new customer base who responds better to your business than the customers in your previous area. You can also try to add a new theme or a new layout to your new location as an experiment to see which location generates more money for your business.

3. Open an Online Store

Opening an online store provides many of the benefits as opening a new location, but is much less costly. Adding an online store allows you to reach customers on a national and international scale, which will help create a foundation if your plan is to add more physical locations for your business down the road. Be sure to consider which online credit card processors offer the lowest rates for your business while providing the highest possible level of security for your customers.

4. Look at Alternative Funding Opportunities

In the current economic climate, many small business who hope to expand face trouble receiving loans from a bank. However, alternative small business lending is on the rise and it comes in many forms. If your business has been in operation for over 6 months, one small business financing method available to you is a merchant cash advance, which can put cash in your business account in just a matter of days to help the expansion process.

5. Outsource

Outsourcing can save your business a significant amount of money during what may be a very expensive expansion process. Instead of immediately hiring new employees in your own community, consider whether any of the tasks you need to be accomplished at your business can be achieved by remote workers. The amount you save on overhead will be tremendously important given the amount of costs you will face upon expanding your small business.