WHAT YOU NEED TO DO BEFORE YOUR BUSINESS STARTS TO GROW
One of the biggest concerns and challenge Small Business owners worry about daily is how to grow their businesses without losing focus, falling apart, and also remain profitable. It is common place to find entrepreneurs trying to do everything themselves because of the fear of having an employee messing things up for them.
Most owners are busy on a daily basis fighting to stay afloat and at some point they start to realize that they are working many jobs at the same time to stay alive. And thus everything becomes frustrating when you realize that the business is not scaling upward as hoped. Fortunately there is help for businesses that are genuinely interested in scaling their businesses, and they include improving the little things done daily. Some of the tips to help prepare your business for growth without falling apart include the following;
DEFINE AND DOCUMENT YOUR WORK DAY
The first step is to note down every task you carry out on your business on a daily basis and track/monitor weekly. At the beginning of every task, note it down and document when you start and when you complete the task. This will help you identify tasks that take a lot of your time but has less impact on the growth of your business. You will also realize how many roles you carry out in your business. This is very important as you will realize that there are a lot of things you currently prioritize which you should not have been doing at all. The time management matrix might be of help to your business.
LEARN HOW TO DELEGATE
One of the most common things about SME owners is the fact that they don’t usually delegate effectively. This stems from so much distrust and lack of faith in the ability of subordinates to deliver tasks to the satisfaction of the business owner. Interestingly enough, learning how to delegate effectively is a requirement for business growth. There is a limit to the number of tasks an individual can handle, and there it is important to delegate some of the tasks to subordinates and thus free up space for more productive tasks. Delegation helps boost employee morale and also allows them to get on-the-job training.
AUTOMATE PROCESSES AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
Asides delegating tasks to subordinates, the business owner must learn to automate its business processes and outsource wherever it makes sense to do so. The more manual your business processes are, the more the chances that things will fall apart when your business starts to grow. There are so many tools in today’s world that are affordable and will easily help make processes more effective and efficient. For example you have different accounting systems that are tailored towards addressing the needs of small businesses. Some of them are even free, though with limitations.
OUTSOURCE AREAS THAT ARE NOT YOUR STRONG POINTS
It is very important for Small Businesses to focus on their areas of core competencies and try to identify areas of the business that can be made more efficient through outsource to other expert service providers. There are so many small business service provides/support for other small businesses in different areas. They include Small business Accountants, Digital Marketing experts, Small business Lawyers, Small Business HR services, Outsourced Sales Agents, e.t.c. These businesses provide support services at an affordable fee and in most cases even at a rate lower than what it will cost to hire a competent full time staff.
RUN A “TEAM-FOCUSED” BUSINESS
The potential success of any business is tied to the strength and commitment of the members of the organization’s team and their interest in being part of the success. It is very important that the business owner ensures that he keeps his employees motivated enough so as to be able to keep up with the expansion and growth. Disgruntled and unhappy employees are toxic to any business and thus such situation needs to be handled by the business owner early enough. The owner must have good employee management skills. You also need to ensure that your team has the right competence required for your business to grow successfully.
CONCLUSION
There are a thousand and one other factors that the business owner needs to consider if they are genuinely focused on growing the business. The reality is that for your business to successfully grow, you need to pay attention to the little details and continuously take steps towards improving on the weak areas of the business. It’s always tough at the beginning but as time goes by, and they are consistent with their efforts, results become more visible.
