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Strategy
How Midwest Mobile Imaging Successfully Expanded to Springfield
When Dan Taylor, president of Midwest Mobile Imaging, started receiving contracts in Springfield, he had to decide if the time was right to expand his business. Here he’s sharing his tips for controlling your growth and expanding successfully.
By Claire Porter
Jul 2019
Photo by Natalie Derks Dan Taylor
Tip 1: Ask for Help
Dan Taylor first started Midwest Mobile Imaging in a small business incubator and sees them as an invaluable tool, even now. “It doesn’t matter if you’re starting up or are an established business, [incubators] have a ton of resources, classes you can take, people you can meet, networking events and things like SCORE that have business mentors,” Taylor says. “It doesn’t matter if you’re new or have been 10 years in business, you could always use a helper or an extra set of eyes.”
Tip 2: Know Your Limits
“A lot of people, they do way too much way too fast, and that’s why a lot of small businesses fail,” Taylor says. “You pour too much money into it, you offer too many things and you don’t have enough business to support that.” Taylor moved to Springfield himself to oversee the growth and also to get to know the area, clients and workflow even better to ensure the company could handle the growth.
Tip 3: Use Your Network
“Word of mouth is a big thing around here, and one thing we really focus on is customer service, so we have really good, solid roots with our current clients,” Taylor says.
“The health care community is huge but small at the same time—everybody kind of knows everybody.” Taylor reached out to current clients who could connect him to other health care facilities, which led to new contracts. He also joined several health care and professional organizations to continue networking and meeting potential clients.
