Being a small business owner has its share of challenges, and often times you can feel like your spinning your wheels. The key to small business ownership is to make sure that you are focusing on the activities that actual make your company money. If you're unsure on what you should be doing to improve the health of your business, here are a few money making activities that should be your focus.
Planning and Strategy
As a small business owner you can't work "on" your business unless you can rise above the day-to-day and get an eagle's eye view of your organization. Setting time aside each week to plan and strategize will payoff more than you think. Begin with the end in mind. As a company you should have yearly goals and monthly targets. Our fractional executives are experts at helping business owners set the right targets and goals at the right time. Check out our Six Stages of Growth to see where your company is and where it needs to go.
Proactive vs Reactive
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I'd much rather spend my time preventing fires than having to put them out all of the time. Free up your time by developing creative solutions to everyday problems. Most problems can be prevented through setting the right expectations when it comes to people, and putting together the right turn-key systems to make you and your company more efficient.
Marketing and Sales
To have a great marketing strategy and growing sales, you have to keep you ear close to the ground in regards to your customers. Don't lose touch with how your company makes money. You should know your target audience, or as we say, take a sniper approach not a shotgun approach. A well developed marketing strategy can eliminate the wasting of resources and bring tremendous focus to all business activities.
Accounting and Finance
You don't have to be an accountant to take a good look at your company's finances. Every business owner should be in-tune with how much money is coming, going out and, where it's going. Using minimal data you should be able to see what's worth the money and what's not. Keeping up on the books saves you from seeing thousands of dollars leak out of your company.
Delegate and Elevate
If your company has made it to the point where you have multiple people on your team, congrats! Be sure to be delegating anything on your plate that is not in your sweet-spot. At CCG we believe your sweet spot is where your greatest passion meets your greatest skill. If the task at hand does not bring those two things together, it must be delegated to someone else on your team.
Every time I meet with small business owners they usually say something like, "I wish I would've hired or promoted someone sooner." Don't be afraid to give more ownership to people on your team. Usually there is another leader or two among your team who just needs the chance to shine. To discover more about what it means to Elevate schedule a Business 1-on-1 or free initial consultation today!