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What Direction Is Your Business Headed
You're the first one there in the morning and the last to leave
at night. You work 60 hours a week without complaining, but you
wish your employees would put in half of the effort you do.
Your commitment to growing your business has produced results,
yet finding the right employees, managing your finances and
satisfying your growing list of customers, is beginning to
become an almost unmanageable task. In fact, the more successful
you become, the longer your to-do list seems to grow. Let's face
it, if your sales doubled tomorrow, you'd be in trouble.
You can't remember the last time you took a vacation without
worrying about your business the entire time. Maybe you can't
remember the last time you took a vacation at all!
There has to be a better way!
If this describes your situation, you're at a critical juncture
in the development of your business. We call this the "glass
ceiling". It's the sticking point that all good businesses
eventually run into. With your present structure you don't have
much room to grow and any growth that you do achieve will come
at your personal expense. Yet grow you must. It's an essential
part of the business cycle.
There is a solution, and though it may be difficult to envision
right now, your potential has never been greater. So take heart.
You are sitting on the doorstep of a whole new level of business.
Taking your business to new heights does not require more and
more work from you. It requires different work from you. Imagine
building a skyscraper for a moment. The height it can be built
is limited by the significance of the foundation it is built
upon. In other words, the more substantial the foundation, the
higher it can be built.
Your business works the same way. The potential growth of your
business is limited by the foundation it is built upon. Right
now, you are that foundation, so the growth of your business is
limited by your ability to work hard and fast. If you want to
increase your potential you need a more substantial foundation
than any one person can provide.
The solution many business owners turn to is the addition of
more people. It seems logical... more hands to share the work...
but this approach is really a bit of an illusion. Think about
your own company. What would happen to your business if one or
more of your key people left? How quickly and easily could you
recover? The problem with basing a business on people is that
they can leave, and in so doing, take an essential part of your
business with them. Of course people are vitally important, but
the real solution is to build a strong and independent
foundation based on systems, rather than people. Then, go out
and find creative, motivated, intelligent people to run those
systems.
Systems are really not a foreign concept. In fact, they are
everywhere. Your body makes a good example. It has a respiratory
system, a digestive system, a circulatory system, and so forth,
all working interdependently to run your body. If you tried to
consciously manage them all you wouldn't make it to the water
cooler. And yet that's how most of us try to run our businesses.
We run ourselves ragged trying to consciously manage the whole
thing. But no matter how smart, fast, creative, or efficient you
are, you can only get so far with this approach. You might get
farther than some, but eventually, you'll run into that glass
ceiling. It's inevitable.
In early 2000, a manufacturing company came to us looking for
help. The owner had been trying to run his business his way for
the previous 10 years. Sales were stagnant at around $300,000,
money was tight, and his family was frustrated at never seeing
him. Over the next couple of years, we helped him implement
systems to track and control his sales, manage his employees,
control his finances, and streamline his production processes.
Last year his revenues passed $1.2 million (and climbing), but
more importantly, he now has control over his business and his
life. This is the power of a business foundation based upon
solid systems.
The job description of the CEO-business owner, should read
"strategic leader". The funny thing is, even though most
business owners would agree with this, they simply can't find
the time to get around to that type of work. It's too low on the
priority list. But if your goal is to take your business to the
next level, you need to take the burden of daily management off
of your shoulders, and place it squarely on the business itself.
Done correctly, this is the key to success and freedom.
By Mark Wardell President/CEO Wardell Professional Development
Inc. www.wardell.biz
About the author:
About the author:
Mark Wardell is President and Founder of Wardell Professional
Development, a business consulting firm, focused on the unique
needs of private growth companies. mailto:info@wardell.biz
http://www.wardell.biz