11 Important Elements to Help Grow Your Business

Do you ever feel that you are stuck with your business? Nor know what to do next or even what to do now? These questions arise mainly because you as the business owner get involved in the day to day tasks of your business. “But” you say “I need to be in control of everything or else it won’t get done!”

Part of being an effective leader is the art of delegation. Here it could be to employees, or if necessary, outside contractors. It is vital that your expectations of the outcome of the task be met. In order to do this, you need to be able to communicate this expectation to whoever is the delegated person.

As you can see it is therefore important to spend time on your business rather than time in it as a technician. You as the business owner are responsible for the Management, Marketing, Strategy, Human Resources, Innovation, etc. It is therefore important that you identify the critical aspects of what your tasks are and pass the rest on to others to complete. You want your business to work harder for you than you for it.

Listed below are 1 1 points to follow in order to work on your business.

1. Continue to identify and discover hidden assets to your business.  Here it is important to look at different aspects of your business that are working well and try to identify people or processes that can be used in a more profitable way, e.g. a woman who worked in the accounts department had continually asked to be transferred to sales. Initially the business owners did not want that to happen but were forced to when some of their sales staff left the company. It turned out that the woman was really good at selling and went on to become their best salesperson for many years. She also benefited because her income was tied to her sales performance.
2. Take cash windfalls out of your business on a monthly basis.  This is important as you could build up a significant savings account that could be used to expand the business later of be used when there is a downturn in the economy. These windfalls should not remain part of your business cash flow as it could lead to unbudgeted expenses. These funds will in essence become the backbone of the business when the time is ripe for expansion.
3. Engineer success into every action you take or decision you make.  Business owners that figure out the numbers needed to succeed will ultimately be the winners. It is vital that you understand what is needed in sales and expenses to maintain a steady and growing profit line. It is therefore vital that in the planning process the budgets and processes involved are engineered into every action you take.
4. Build your business on a foundation of multiple profit centres.  Here it important to understand that if you decide to go with only one product or service then you will ultimately find it difficult to maintain your level of income during the swings of the economy. You must be able to identify and sell other products and services that can off-set the reduction in sales of your main product or service during an economic downturn.
5. Be different, unique and advantageous in the eyes of your clients.  Business owners that do not differentiate themselves from the competition will find it harder to sell their products or service to their target market. The product or service must stand out in the minds of your prospect group and your customers.
6. Create real value for your clients and employees.  When you do create this your clients and employees will develop a real sense of loyalty to you and your business. You need to be able to exceptional and memorable service to your clients and devise innovative ways in which to compensate your employees for the great job they do.
7. Gain maximum leverage from the actions you take.  With every action, investment of time or energy commitment you make for your business, you need to make sure that it maximizes the income and growth potential for the business.
8. Network your way to success.  If you want to get the inside information on successful business ventures, then you need to network with like-minded success driven people. This is where you could network, have mastermind sessions or brainstorm issues with others that can share real-life experiences with you. The business owner trying to “go it alone” will learn that this strategy does not work over the longer term.
9. Become an idea generator. In order to become a highly respected and recognized innovator in your industry or market you need to be constantly thinking of new and innovative ways to give value to your clients and employees.
10. Make growth thinking a part of your life. One of your philosophies should be to naturally incorporate growth thinking into every aspect of your business life. It is after all a growing business that generates the most revenue as well as greatest price when sold.
11. Reverse the risk.  Reverse the risk for both yourself and your client in every thing you do so that the downside is almost zero and the upside nearly infinite.

If you find that you don’t have the passion for or cannot fit these points into your time-frame then you need to delegate some of your daily tasks. Find people that are passionate about that task and give it to them. You can set expectations about the task so that the result is still achieved.