I'm going to throw a theory in the mix here. Its my business partners, not mine. We are a small business, machine shop, assemblies, some coatings, a bit of heat treat, riveteing, passivating. There is occasional design work, modeling and prototyping.
His theory, business is all about BullS**t. Who can BullSh** the best. The person who can Bull**it the best gets the money.
I can see this working in a very large business where everybody wears a suit and has no clue(at least the people making decisions), but we deal with other small businesses.
My theory on his theory is that, for a small machine shop his theory is 75% BullS**t.
Why? quick explanation, we both have our strengths, his being, design, 3-D modeling, smartest SOB I've ever met, doing things on the cheap and charming people with his technical knowledge (which he has in abundance).
Mine, more practical(he likes to start from scratch on his theories, I find every bit of info I can, and then take it a step further), not as cheap(he always sees the cheapest way, and sometimes better). I have more machining knowledge, he models it, I cam it, off we go $$$$
So, what he thinks is BullS**t, is real. He knows what he's talking about, I back him up on the machine side. And we can deliver, (pick two, quality, price or speed).
So basically, as a small business, you need to deliver what your customers need, not what they want, since what your customer actually wants and needs are two totally different things, take advantage of that. At least in our case, producing a product for general consumption is a totally different thing altogether.
Could we get bigger, in a second, but WHY?, its just a big bunch of crap, I am so sick(not now) of dealing with employees. Our goal is to, as much as possible automate a job shop. Robots, pallets, little carts going from machine to machine.
Dsergison, you sound to be in a pickle. You need to do a study of fixturing, and check out the thread on the square inch fairy. I don't know what machines you are running or what you are making, but, set yourself up to machine a complete assembly, all parts at once. 1st op and 2nd op, 3rd and 4th if needed, keep a backlog of each op so it can be inspected and deburred while the machine is running, and is ready to go in as soon as the machine is done.
If its one product in multiple sizes, fixture it so you are making all sizes at once, keeps you away from the machine longer, and keeps your inventory level.
I wouldn't push too hard for growth, when it comes it comes, give it a good nudge, but don't push too hard, it seems that is when you get in trouble.