Where are you up to in building your OWN business?
If you’ve already built it to a stage where you’re reasonably successful then firstly … CONGRATULATIONS!
And … secondly, it’s important to appreciate that you’re actually quite a rare person to have achieved that.
Most people don’t have the guts or the inclination to start a business and statistically speaking, most people who do … actually end up failing at it.
So make sure you congratulate yourself as you’ve actually gone and DONE IT.
Now … you’re probably thinking what next … you want to grow your business further …
But you just don’t have any time left in your day? … sound familiar?
Chances are that if you’ve already got staff … they often cause you even more work.
You feel like you’ve reached a ceiling and that you just don’t have the time to get any bigger …
If that describes you then you’re not alone!
There are lots of people and companies alike that are operating and experiencing the same dilemma as you.
But you can also be REASSURED that there’s a very well understood solution to get you through that barrier.
And when helping our clients, that’s one of the things we specialise in.
But to solve the problem we must first understand why that problem arises …
Let’s look at a ‘one-man band’ type of operation.
Typically, that kind of business is going to be very flexible, possibly quite cheap and they’ll do anything that’s necessary to run the business.
Next, take a small business and the chances are that that type of operation is really run by the owner.
They’ve got a few staff but they’re really extensions to the owner’s arms and legs. So, in truth it’s the owner who’s running the show.
Then look at larger businesses – now they’re run by management teams.
They’re organised into departments … each with specific objectives.
They run very differently!
Think about how a child grows up – it goes from being a baby … to a toddler … to an infant and finally through the teenage years to adulthood.
But that’s not a smooth transition.
It’s not straightforward.
There are many stumbles as they grow.
The same is true in business.
Many businesses, (especially ones with staff) are a bit like pubescent teenagers …
They prove to be real challenges for their parents.
It can be quite difficult to manage something that’s trying to run away and behave in a way that you’re not comfortable with.
So it’s tempting to say … “well, lets run it like a larger business.”
But … if you go back to the child analogy, that’s like saying, “let’s put adult clothes onto a child.”
And if you just put adult clothes on a child, they’re not going to behave any differently … they’re still a child underneath!
So, running a smaller organisation as if it were a bigger organisation is also completely inappropriate.
The other challenge that you’re facing, is that the staff that you have are adults.
And most adults are actually programmed to resist change.
People are resistant to change – they don’t want to change.
But in order to GROW your business, you need to create change.
If any of these symptoms reflect your situation … then you’re not alone!
The Solution
The solution lies in reflection; how is your company is working currently? How is it operating?
Is it operating in a way that’s encouraging? Does it allow the team to think for themselves and to think as a collective?
Or is it all relying on the founder and the owner to have ALL the ideas and coordinate all the activity?
The first step to freeing up time, is about understanding how things are operating currently … then putting steps in place to get other people to think and take responsibility.
Your job is to nurture that capability in them and build that skill.
It’s all about understanding how you’re working and thinking about the next stage of development.
For information on how to nurture that in your business, why not book an unblocking session with me.