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Find opportunities in your business

Most small businesses have more money in the business they already run than in a brand-new idea. Check your prices, margins, unbilled work and slow invoices first. Then look at new services, new types of customers, partners and new areas, in that order, because each step adds risk.

Last verified October 24, 2026

General information, not financial, tax or legal advice. Figures come from the sources listed at the end, with the dates we checked them.

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Getting found online (your website, Google, social media, ads) is a different job, covered on our Marketing pages. This guide is about what you sell, to whom, and at what price.

Where should a small business look for growth?

Start with what you already sell to the customers you already have, and move outward one step at a time. The Ansoff matrix, first published in the Harvard Business Review in 1957, sorts every growth idea into four boxes by how much is new:

The examples are illustrations, not real cases. Moon Set estimate

How to use it:

1. Write one growth idea in each box. Ask your staff and three good customers for ideas too.
2. For each idea, note what it costs to try, how long until you know if it works, and what you lose if it doesn't.
3. Start in box 1. Most owners find their quickest wins there: prices, margins, unbilled work and slow payments.
4. Move to boxes 2 and 3 only when box 1 is in order. Box 4 needs a real plan and, often, outside money.

For context: in the Federal Reserve's survey of small employer firms (fielded fall 2025, published March 2026), rising costs were the most common financial challenge and reaching customers and growing sales the most common operational one. The report shows these in charts rather than exact percentages.

When did you last check your prices?

If your costs went up and your prices didn't, you're giving away profit every day. Price is usually the strongest profit lever you have: in a 1992 study of 2,463 companies, a 1% price increase with no lost sales raised operating profit 11.1% on average, against 3.3% for 1% more sales volume. That study averaged large companies' finances, so your numbers will differ, but the direction holds for most businesses: small price changes move profit a lot.

How to review your prices:

1. List every price you charge, with the date it last changed.
2. List what went up since then: materials, wages, fuel, insurance, software, rent.
3. Check three competitors' prices for the same job.
4. Work out what you can afford to lose with the worksheet below.
5. Raise prices with notice and a reason. Call it a price increase, not an "adjustment". Tell regular customers ahead of time; SCORE gives the example of holding a current client's price for 12 months if they renew now.
6. Quote new customers at the new price from day one.

Watch the discounts, too. The same study described a "pocket price": what you actually keep after every discount, free delivery, rush job done at the normal rate and long payment term. Most owners only look at the invoice price. Write down every discount you give in a month, who approved it and why. Then set a simple written rule for when discounts are allowed.

Which services and customers actually make money?

Work out your gross margin on each main service and each big customer. The ones with low margins, lots of your time and slow payment are often the ones you're working hardest for.

Three numbers to know:

• Gross profit = sales − direct costs (materials, subcontractors and the labor that goes into the job).
• Gross margin = gross profit ÷ sales. Markup is different: gross profit ÷ direct costs. A 40% margin is a 67% markup; mixing them up underprices jobs.
• Break-even sales = overhead ÷ gross margin. Overhead is what you pay whether or not you work: rent, insurance, software, office pay.

Example: $20,000 of sales in a month, $12,000 of direct costs. Gross profit is $8,000, a 40% gross margin. With $6,000 of overhead, break-even is $6,000 ÷ 0.40 = $15,000 of sales a month.

Are you doing work you don't get paid for?

Probably. Free revisions, "while you're here" fixes, extra trips and scope that grows after the quote add up quietly. The fix is to write down what's included before the job and to agree on any extra before you do it.

How to find and stop it:

1. Log it for two weeks. Every time you or your staff do something not on the quote or invoice, write it down: the job, what you did, how long it took.
2. Put the time in dollars: hours × your hourly cost.
3. Write scope into every quote: what's included, how many revisions or visits, and what counts as extra.
4. Use a change order for anything outside the quote, and get a yes before doing the work.
5. Decide what stays free on purpose. Some extras win loyalty. Choose them; don't drift into them.

How fast do you get paid?

Invoice the day the work is done, ask for payment on receipt or take deposits, and make paying you easy. Late payments are common and getting worse: in QuickBooks' 2026 report, 59% of U.S. small businesses had invoices more than 30 days overdue, up from 47% a year earlier, and those owed money were owed $17,700 on average. Businesses that required payment right away were far less likely to have overdue invoices (26%) than those offering 30 days (55%) (figures checked October 24, 2026). The report's page doesn't show its publication date.

Measure it: days sales outstanding (DSO).
DSO = (money customers owe you at month end ÷ credit sales that month) × days in the month.
Example: $18,000 owed at the end of a 30-day month with $30,000 of credit sales: 18,000 ÷ 30,000 × 30 = 18 days. Track it monthly; if it creeps up, act.

How to get paid faster:

1. Invoice the same day the job finishes, from your phone if you can.
2. Shorten terms. Due on receipt for small jobs, deposits for big ones, progress payments for long ones.
3. Accept card and bank payment with a pay link on every invoice.
4. Send reminders on a schedule: on the due date, 7 days late and 14 days late, then call.
5. Watch early-payment discounts. "2/10 net 30" (2% off if paid in 10 days, otherwise due in 30) costs you about 36.7% a year in annual terms. Offer it only if fast cash is worth that much to you.

Setting up invoicing and payments software is covered in our AI and tools guides; payroll and tax timing is in Payroll, HR & Tax.

Should you add a new service?

Yes, if your customers already ask for it, it uses skills and equipment you mostly have, and it earns at least your current margin. Test it small before you announce it.

1. List what customers ask for that you turn down or send elsewhere. Ask your staff; they hear it first.
2. Check the fit: skills, tools, licenses and insurance you'd need that you don't have.
3. Price it with the margin math, including your time.
4. Pilot it with a handful of existing customers who trust you. Ask what they'd pay and what they'd change.
5. Check your capacity before you sell it widely. If your team is already full, see Process & systems optimization first.

Should you go after a new type of customer?

Look for people who have the same problem you already solve: homes to small offices, retail to wholesale, individuals to property managers. The work stays the same; what changes is the price, the paperwork and how they buy.

1. Describe your best current customers: what problem you solve, how they find you, how they pay.
2. Name two or three other groups with that same problem.
3. Find out what's different for them: insurance or certificates they require, payment terms, purchase orders, contracts, volume.
4. Test with a small batch: a few quotes or a few calls, before you change your marketing.
5. Then reach them. Getting found by a new audience is covered on our Marketing pages, SEO and Attract customers yourself.

When does a partnership make sense?

When another business serves the same customers you do but doesn't compete with you: a painter and a flooring installer, a bookkeeper and a payroll firm, a detailer and a boat storage yard. Agree in writing before any money or customers change hands. Moon Set guidance

Kinds of partnerships:

• Referral partners send each other customers.
• Joint offers bundle both services in one price.
• Subcontracting: one of you does part of the other's job.

How to set one up:

1. Pick partners whose customers look like yours and whose work you'd stand behind. Your name is on their work now too.
2. Start with one small, real job before anything formal.
3. Put it in writing: who does what, who bills the customer, who handles complaints, how referrals are thanked or paid, and how either side can end it.
4. Tell customers when you're paid for a referral.
5. Review it after three months: work sent each way, problems, whether to keep going.

Should you open a new location or serve a new area?

Only after the business you have is profitable and runs without you on every job. A new area means new marketing, new costs and often new paperwork. The SBA's checklist:

1. Update your marketing plan for the new area's customers and competitors.
2. Update your financial plan: what the new location will cost and earn, and whether you can cover it until it does.
3. Register in the new state if you're crossing a state line ("foreign qualification").
4. Check licenses, permits and zoning at the state, county and city level.
5. Plan for taxes: state taxes, annual report fees, and sales tax rules where you'll do business.
6. Consider franchising only with an attorney; federal and state franchise rules apply.

Our Business Foundation guide has license and registration links for every state.

Where can I get free help?

Three public programs help small businesses at no or low cost:

• Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs): no-cost advising and low-cost training at nearly 1,000 centers, part of the SBA's resource partner program. Find your SBDC.
• SCORE: free mentoring from experienced business owners, for the life of your business. score.org.
• Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP): help for small and mid-sized manufacturers. Its services are cost-shared, not free. nist.gov/mep.

What's next?

• Process & systems optimization: make room for growth by fixing how the work gets done
• Marketing, SEO and Attract customers yourself: get found by the customers you choose
• Integrate your business with AI, including what AI costs and whether it pays off
• What your business is worth: a free calculator with ranges by industry

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