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Is your business working?
Ask yourself this question. How long, if I stopped working in my business today, would it take until the business stopped making enough money for me to maintain my current lifestyle?
What was your answer? One day? One week? One month? One year? Ten Years? It would never stop?
If your answer was the last one, congratulations! Your business is working. If your answer was anything else, unfortunately your business isn't working properly yet. If that is the case for you, are you spending your time working to make your business work, or do you spend your time working for your business? In other words, do you work ON your business or IN your business? If you are not focusing most of your time on getting your business working for you, you will always have to spend your time working for your business.
Trapped
It constantly amazes me that so many business owners are trapped by their business.
The business only works if they work. Now don't get me wrong. Many people work in their business because they love what they do and get great satisfaction from seeing their business successfully solve people's problems. But the thing is, a successful business is one where the owners work because they want to work, not because they have to work. And the major reason that owners have to work in their businesses is because they have spent their time doing the work of the business rather than spending their time making the business work.
The reasons that owners have to work in their business is because they are clever at thinking quickly and are able to put out fires better than anyone else. The trouble is, the crises occur and fires need to be put out because the business isn't working properly. The reasons for the crises are that almost everyone in the business is guessing about what needs to be done. The difference between a business that works and a business that doesn't is that a business that works has reliable systems.
No Guessing
A business that works is a business that runs systematically like a well oiled machine. A typical owner operated business however, survives only because people think quickly on their feet and make enough right guesses.
Truly successful businesses achieve their success because people don't need to guess. They utilise systems which are repeatable processes that produce consistent results every time. Owners and managers who spend time working in the business become bottlenecks to business success.
If your business is reliant on your input to succeed, it is limited by what you can physically achieve. Business owners who spend their time developing effective systems are well on the way to creating a business that works so well they won't have to - a business with no limits.
If you want to create a business that works, you have to stop being the best player and spend more time being the coach. Your role is not to do the work required by the business.
Your role is to get the business working, by developing reliable systems and developing your people's capability to work with those systems successfully. Every business needs systems in four areas; marketing, operations, administration and human resources (why don't we just call them people?). Without effective systems, the business demands your time to make decisions other people could make. It creates stress. Because no one else takes responsibility to make decisions, you have to.
Repeatable Processes That Work Consistently
Systems are basically a sequence of decisions made ahead of time. When you discover a sequence of decisions and actions that create a positive result, you should do it again and again.
Most business owners however, are so busy moving from one crisis to another, they never get the opportunity to record a sequence of decisions and actions that work well so that they can be repeated again. It is left for others to guess what happened and what should happen next time.
Often business processes are too complex to get the sequence right next time. The common result is variation, which is the enemy of quality, consistency and efficiency. With good systems, you can get your business working by remote control.
What are the processes in your business that would benefit from being systemised? How would your results be affected by having a system to consistently generate incoming leads or sales enquiries that meant you could turn off the incoming stream or turn it back on any time you like?
What is your system for converting incoming leads into sales, so that you get a predictable and significant conversion ratio? What is your system for communicating with existing customers to ensure they are satisfied with your products and service and are locked into your company and protected from the enticements of your competitors? Sales and marketing systems are critical to building a sustainable growth rate for your business.
How well developed are your operating systems? Do they give your people the clarity to know exactly what to do at all times? Are your systems so tight your production errors or customer complaints could be counted on one hand over the course of a year?
What about your admin systems and systems for management and development of your people? Do you have specific processes for instructing your people on how to perform their tasks? Are they properly documented so that no variations can creep in? Do you have a training and development program mapped out for your people? Imagine how a potential buyer would value those things and how much more effective your people would be? Of course, the biggest bonus is that they wouldn't have to repeatedly interrupt you to ask what they need to do.
People Don't Work But Systems Do
Many businesses grow because some of what is done is done well. But if you grow your business by adding more people with the intention of relying on them to get the work done you are building a problem waiting to happen. You will find that they, and your business, will end up relying on you. If you stop working your business stops working.
If that scenario describes you there is a choice. You can change your focus and get to work on building systems that work so that your people can rely on the systems instead of relying on you. I won't say this is easy. When you have long term habits they are difficult to break. But it's like starting a new exercise and fitness program.
The first few days or weeks are difficult and often you don't notice much progress for a while. But if you have the discipline to stick with it, after a while you notice that you are doing things easier than you used to. You have more energy and you feel fitter. If you stick to your system building program in your business, after a while you will notice that people are working more effectively and efficiently. The fires that used to flare up frequently are spaced further and further apart.
People work more cooperatively. And best of all, you life is far less stressful and usually far more financially rewarding as a result of all the improvements.
What Now?
Many of us find it difficult to break old habits and even if we have the motivation, we don't know precisely what to do. If that's the case with you, I recommend you get your own personal trainer to help with your business development activities.
Just like a fitness trainer helps to develop an exercise program, gives you some guidance about how to do the exercises and keeps you accountable by checking your progress, your business fitness trainer can help you quickly have a major impact on your business performance. You really have no more excuses. If you want a business that works instead of working for your business, make the choice now to work on building the systems and get the help you need to make the changes quickly.
By Greg Roworth
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