5 Tips to Help You Prepare for Growth Spurts

1. Get outside help. Growth is tricky and stressful, so smart business owners rely on outside assistance—such as consultants or SCORE volunteers—to get them through it.

2. Hire ahead of the need. If you're growing fast, add a chief operating officer and/or chief financial officer—even if only on a part-time or consulting basis.

3. Change your own role. Stop "doing everything yourself." Delegate day-to-day operations to others and become the leader, the strategic thinker and the planner—in other words, the CEO.

4. Weed out customers that don't contribute sufficiently to your bottom line. Let go of those who distract you from your goal—for example, because they are outside the area in which you want to work or take too much of your time.

5. Have reserve capital to weather growth's inevitable bumps. Reserves don't have to be all cash—they can be excellent receivables or something else that can be turned into cash quickly.