General Manager LinkedIn Article Cover Image
General Manager LinkedIn Article Cover Image

The Secret to Not Sabotaging Your Business Growth

Recently a client reached out to me seeking help to grow her business. She has been in business for five years, and although she has done well, she feels that she could be doing better. Her short-term objective is to increase her current client base, and of course, the annual revenue. When she established the business, she decided to be a solopreneur because she felt that she could handle all the activities in the business. However, as time went out, it became clear to her that she needs help in order to continue growing the business.

I told her that I understood her initial decision, and shared my story. The first two years in my business, I chose to do everything on my own; strategic planning recruiting and hiring employees, sales, marketing, vendor negotiations, operations, and even bookkeeping. I thought that I could handle it all. Well, I was dead wrong! I ended up working 24/7, burnt out, no longer wanting to answer the phones because it could be a potential client ready to trade their dollars for services, and more work for me. I had also topped out on my earning potential. Crazy! Isn’t it?

Luckily, I had a great financial advisor, so I shared my woes with her. She bluntly told me – “If you don’t quickly figure out which management functions you need to hire, and what processes you need to put in place, you are going to crash and burn.”  Needless to say, I took her advice to heart, hired two managers; a recruiter and an operations manager to manage my hourly employees. This allowed me to step out of the minutiae, catch my breath, and to develop and implement a strategic plan. Of course, the business started flourishing again.

After sharing my story, I asked my client if she would still like to be in business in five years. She answered with a resounding yes.  The next question that I posed to her was – How does she envision her business in five years? She couldn’t immediately answer that question because she needed time to ponder it. I presented her with additional questions to contemplate, and provide answers so that we could discuss in detail at our next session. The questions that I gave her were: –

  1. What functions would be served best with hiring qualified candidates for those roles?
  2. Would the business benefit from hiring W2 employees or does she need to outsource some of the responsibilities?
  3. Full – Time or Part-Time employees OR a combination of both?
  4. How would the salaries be paid for those employees?
  5. Should the target market be expanded?
  6. What additional services/products could be added to your offerings?
  7. What marketing strategies needs to be implemented to drive more business?

Ideally when one establishes a business, it is best to envision and map out the strategic plan to accomplish the short and long-term goals of the business. Next, you would work backwards to determine what is needed along the way so there are no surprises. Unfortunately, most small businesses do not employ this strategy, and like my client, they have to figure what is needed to get to the next level of productivity and growth.

If you find yourself stuck, and not sure what to do next to increase your productivity and growth, book a consultation with me today. We can work together to move through this phase of your business.