You are moving up in the world. No longer are you a small fish in the big pond of your industry, you are making a prominent place for yourself amongst or ahead of your competitors.

You’ve worked really hard to get here and you have a few of the key employee positions covered, but, you’ve got more work than ever to do.

This stage can be very rewarding though. If you are able to recruit a good management team and good staff, you train and incentivize them well, and you give them the right tools they need to do their jobs properly, you just might be able to take some more time off, go on vacation, take up some hobbies, and sleep an extra hour per day if you want.

This stage generally requires you to have more capital to invest in infrastructure, staffing, decor, inventory and other items, so you will likely need the assistance of a lender(s) and/or investor(s).

While using other people’s money can be an effective way of getting a physical store off the ground and expanding, don’t spend it like you don’t have to pay it back or that you will always be generating high revenue everyday that your business is open.

Err on the conservative side, buying items on discount or second hand if possible. Examples are desks, chairs, counters, shelving, display racks.

See if you can find a sale or auction for a business that is going out of business and grab some good deals.

It may also be worth it to finance certain purchases with the retailer, instead of using the capital you borrowed or received from an investor, so you have more liquidity when you need it.

Cash is king in business. So, carefully weigh the pros and cons of buying a new expensive piece of equipment or new inventory with cash versus paying off the item over the course of time. Is the vendor offering an interest-free payment period? How much interest will you pay to finance it. If the cash you have on hand for your business can grow comfortably at 3-4% in a high-interest savings account, will you come ahead further financially if you let your cash grow and you finance the items?

There may be a lot of things you will need to pay for that don’t allow for financing, such as renovations to the facility, interior design, graphic design, website, SEO and other advertising. If you buy all of your equipment at full price upfront, then you have less of a cushion for other products or services you may need or want.