The Life Cycle of a Business: How to Plan for Every Stage of Your Journey

Understanding the life cycle of a business will help you plan for challenges and milestones along the way. Get startup insights and resources here.

Have you decided to start a business? If so, you've taken the first step on a journey best known as the "business lifecycle."

A business lifecycle consists of five stages of business development. Each stage comes with unique obstacles and opportunities. As your business moves along, you'll need to use varied approaches to achieve growth.

Want to keep track of where your business is right now? Here are five stages of the life cycle of a business and how best to tackle them!

1. Seed Stage

The seed phase involves coming up with a business idea and developing it. Think of it as a soul-searching stage. This is where you consider if your idea is feasible and what it will take to turn it into a startup.

During this phase, your goal is to garner opinions on your business idea. Use as many sources as you can, from your family to industry leaders. Also, find out if you have a financial foundation in place for a successful launch.

2. Startup Stage

If your idea is good and you can make it work, it's time to launch the startup. This is also the riskiest stage of the life cycle. If you make a major mistake at this juncture, it could haunt you for years down the line.

In a typical startup environment, adaptability is key. You'll likely need to tweak your offerings based on initial feedback from customers. In doing so, you'll need to power through some confusion and uncertainty.

3. Growth Stage

At the business growth stage, you should have consistent cash flow. Your biggest challenge will be to find enough time in the day. You'll need to do everything from serving customers to analyzing your competitors.

The best way to manage your time is to hire people with complementary skill sets. This will allow you to retreat from the front lines and focus on helping your team reach key business milestones.

4. Expansion Stage

At some point, running your business becomes a routine. You'll have enough business presence in the industry and a good team to maintain it. A good way to capitalize on this stability is to work on expanding your reach.

Though this stage often brings rapid growth, it comes with some business challenges as well. If you expand too carelessly, your quality of service may suffer. This is where having a good business plan comes in handy.

5. Maturity Stage

If your year-to-year profits are stable, you're in charge of a mature business. Soon, you'll face a key choice: keep expanding or exit the business. If it's the latter, you'll likely move on by selling the company.

This choice often relies on your mentality as a business owner. If you're ambitious enough, you'll always see potential areas for growth. Otherwise, your best bet may be to leave while the going is good.

More on the Life Cycle of a Business

Not all companies will experience every stage of the life cycle of a business. For most startups, though, this process will look a lot like the one above.

Another key part of consistent business growth: having a reliable website. At BEGO, we can get your small business online for just $500! We also offer unlimited content updates for a monthly fee -- contact us to learn more!