 Growing
Your Business - Reviewing Your Business Operations
By Tricia Radison of Business Transitions Inc.
As a business owner, you’re all for growth. Growth is necessary for your
business’ survival and to the amount of satisfaction you receive as an
owner. But if you don’t know how to deal with it, growth can bring a host of
problems; problems that have caused many owners to either close their doors
or sell at an inopportune time, just to get away from the stress.
Business growth is no different from any other kind of growth. It requires
being ready and willing to make changes as necessary. Just as a growing
plant is unable to thrive for long in its original planter, a business
cannot thrive in its original format if sustainable growth is to take place.
You have to keep changing the planter in order to avoid a tangled mess of
roots and a stunted plant.
Your business “planter” comprises everything from your premises, staff,
financing, marketing, systems and procedures, and vision. Changing the
planter can involve making major decisions. Many business owners are unable
to make these decisions and end up fighting, rather than accepting, growth.
What are the signs of fighting growth? The major indication is that your
business is running you instead of the other way around. You know you’re
fighting growth when you’re dealing with minor problems and major crises
throughout the day. Irate customers, missed appointments, late deliveries,
staff problems, cash flow problems, family problems. When your business is
running you, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to keep
up, never mind get ahead.
Growth can be exciting and rewarding if you’re willing to take a fresh look
at how both you and your business are operating. The following exercises,
although simple, can be transformational.
Re-Examine Your Vision for the Business - Growth, especially
when it happens unexpectedly and quickly, can drive you completely
off-course. Pull out your old Business Plan, Mission Statement, or
collection of quickly scrawled thoughts and think about your original plan
for the business. Even if you never wrote anything down, you still had a
vision of the level of success you wanted to reach. Where did you see your
business, and yourself, at this point in time? Where did you see the
business ending up in the future? Has your focus changed? Maybe growth
occurred in an unexpected area of the business. How has this changed your
vision? Or maybe you’ve just been so busy, you’ve forgotten all about your
original dream.
Without a clear focus on where you’re going, you’ll be off in a different
direction every week. This is stressful and prevents growing anything but
the number of headaches you have. Write down what you want your business to
look like, and include the type of lifestyle you want while you are an
owner. Be as specific as you can and don’t be afraid to dream big. Keep this
list with you and look at it often. First thing in the morning, before the
day hits you, is best. If you can’t do it daily, try for once a week.
Knowing where you’re headed will give you the clarity to make better
decisions.
Recognize That You Are Not Superhuman - When your business was
small, doing it all was not only possible; it was probably necessary. After
a period of growth, this is the quickest way to burnout.
Make two lists: “What I love doing at work” and “What I hate doing at work”.
Your hate list is likely comprised of things you aren’t very good at anyway,
and your lack of skill or knowledge in these areas will show as the business
gets bigger. Think about what type of person would be good at those things
so you can focus on what you do best.
Put a Value on Your Time - There are only a certain number of
hours in a day. Use that time wisely. Put a number on what you’re worth, and
be generous. After all, you’re the owner, and you’re probably worth a lot
more than you give yourself credit for. Once you’ve decided on your value,
make a list of the jobs you do and how much you would pay someone to do
those jobs. Chances are, you’re often taking a big cut in pay. If you’ve
decided you’re worth $40, $60 or $100 an hour, why are you doing $8 or $20
an hour work?
Be True to Yourself - All businesses have a personality. Apple
has a different personality than Microsoft. Pepsi has a different
personality than Coke. West Jet has a different personality than Air Canada.
There’s a strong temptation in business to follow the crowd, to do what your
competitors are doing. But, you’re not your competitors. What is the
personality of your business? Does it reflect you? Are you a Ferrari trying
to act like a Toyota? If you are, then you will face that conflict every
day.
Prioritize - How many times have you gone to work only to be
ambushed the minute you walk in the door? Phone messages, emails, absent
employees. You start putting out fires and, before you know it, the day’s
done and you move your to-do list to the following day. The term “crisis
management” was coined to describe this phenomenon but, frankly, it’s not
management at all. It’s more like “crisis following”. The result is a lack
of control over your days and your business.
The key to escaping this merry-go-round is to decide what things are
important. Examine each event as it occurs and decide whether it’s something
that is important to your business or just gives the illusion of being
important. You’ll find that the majority of these things can wait until you
have some spare time, or that they can easily be delegated. Either way,
you’ll have more time to work on truly important tasks.
Watch for Part 2 in the Nov/Dec issue of RWM.
Tricia Radison of Business Transitions Inc. offers business makeovers
& selling services to help owners get where they want to go. Tricia may be
reached at 403.255.4442 or email her at
tricia@businesstransitions.ca
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