I’ve been reflecting on my life and running my business this past week – birthdays seem that do that to you, don’t you think? Where you’ve been, where you’re going, what you’ve achieved and so on.
There have been times in the last year where the business just seemed to be running me, you know, I didn’t feel like I was in control.
And I’m not the only one. Many business owners are being run by their business without knowing it. This is not ideal as it affects productivity and a whole lot of other factors.
I know when my business is running me (or it doesn’t feel quite right) because it feels unorganised and I feel stressed! Now, it might not be the whole business … it might just be a new thing we are doing or a system that’s not working properly any more.
So when you see the signs, consider getting professional help in areas where you can identify these failings. But identifying the signs is the first step in accepting that your business isn’t going the way you want. Here are some common signs that you are losing grip on your business:
1. Constant state of being overwhelmed
When you are simply going through the motions with your business activities without actually getting work done, then there is a strong chance that you are losing grip of your business.
This includes doing too much without any real results. When you see these signs, stop, take a breath and look at what needs to change or improve. Then work out how you can do this. It might mean a personal assistant to help you organize your day, a new app or just a process.
2. Failing systems and processes
This is where we are working at the moment – lots of work around systems and processes. Are your team and customers complaining about your business being unorganised? Are you feeling it? Are you running behind schedule all the time? Are you working until midnight and on weekends?
It’s not very fun and that’s when you start to lose focus. This is a structural thing and will probably take someone with more knowledge in business that you have to help you.
The thought of systems is enough to send you into a black hole because there are actually quite a few that you need to cover in a business. And that is why we have a dedicated person at EC Writing Services to look after our systems, processes and operations.
It’s also the reason why I’ve just enlisted the help of a good friend of mine Lydia Caplygin, she helps build leaders and businesses of substance, to help me with the structure of my business (and life) to get it ready for the next growth stage.
So consider sitting with a business development professional to help you put proper structures in places to enable your business run better. A good business should be able to function smoothly even in your absence. This cannot be overemphasised enough if you want to grow and get more clients.
3. More expenses than revenue
Been there, done that, almost crippled my business! The purpose of running a business or working is to make money and be productive. If you are doing everything and your accounts are in red, it means you are not managing your finances properly or underutilising your revenue streams.
Cashflow must the priority in any business so be sure you have a handle on your finances – how much you are spending, on what and are you getting a higher return on investment for the amount you spend.
Make sure you have a trustworthy bookkeeper and accountant on your team too. there are too many horror stories out there where businesses have gone under because of cashflow, expenditure and shonky finance people.
One thing I do each month is to revisit my expenses and get rid of anything that is not serving a purpose any more or figure out a way to reduce the amount spent … subscriptions, insurances, interest and fees, web products, and so on.
4. Team cannot function without you
You are either micromanaging people too much or not giving your team good or enough direction. It’s a fine line, but as a business owner, we need to be awesome at this – and sometimes you have to learn how to be a better leader and manager.
If you have to be present for every decision and nothing happens without your say-so, your business is running you. This should not be happening, and a good business should be able to run on auto-pilot – well, most of it anyway!
Try to take a more hands-off approach to run your business. Delegate tasks and assume a more supervisory role than participatory. Until this is done, you will not be able to go on holiday or leave anything to the team whenever you’re occupied with more important duties.
And that will eventually kill you and you business.
The best way I have found to do this is to start writing down all of the areas, projects and tasks you are working on and ask yourself this question: Can anyone else do this for me or, is this something I need to do myself?
Conclusion
Get a grip of your business and put the proper steps in place to make sure that you are being productive without being too busy. Also build your team’s capacity to function in your absence so that your business can run itself.
That said – your content falls into this arena too and you definitely don’t want your content to run you because that task will be shafted pretty quickly, am I right!
If you need a hand with creating better content so you can get on with working on your business, we can help you do that. Take a look at the ways we can help you save time, get more leads and boost with your business with more clients all through the power and beauty of words!
In the meantime…
One of the biggest topics business owners talk to me about is confidence and not having enough of it to put themselves out there – especially when it comes to content.
Is your confidence factor holding you and your business back when it comes to your words?
If this is you or someone you know, I’ve put together a free webinar on JUNE 19 at 7pm (AEST time) for business owners who are struggling to put themselves out there online because:
– You don’t believe your content is good enough
– You don’t feel confident promoting yourself or your business
– You feel your content writing ability and skills are holding you back
– And you’re looking for a way to change this.
In this webinar: I will teach you 5 contract strategies to put yourself out there with more CONFIDENCE.
One of the ways to get more confidence is to just take the first step – and that’s this webinar.
If you’d like more confidence, leads, clients, sales and opportunities this year. Join me. Join our Confidence Webinar
