Whether you’re in that first initial push to get a business up and running or you’re several years into business, no doubt you’ll come across a period when you want to get more from your business. That might be gaining more clients, bigger customer spends, broadening your offering, building more online capability or starting a separate side business – or maybe all of the above.
The great things about running your own business are that it offers you a universe of possibilities AND there’s usually no-one to stop you pursuing more of whatever appeals. The not so great thing is that all those possibilities can also be a huge distraction.
Sometimes it’s tempting to head in the direction of, as Tony Robbins would say, “massive action”. Doing lots of things to see what sticks. And whilst massive action is sometimes a way to shunt yourself and your business forward, if you’re currently succeeding at what you do, you probably don’t need to change terribly much to get a significant improvement.
Plus if you do change several things at one time, how will you know which change is the one that worked – so you can do more of that to get more of what you want?
One of the things that I hear in the sub-text of discussions with other business owners is that often they’re chasing business that they don’t really need or starting side businesses because someone suggested they could make more money that way. In fact, they’re chasing so many things, they’re losing focus on the things that really matter – to them.
So if more clients, greater turnover, broader range, more hours, more staff, more locations, online capabilities, et al have made their way onto your to-do list, you might like to spend a couple of minutes asking yourself these 5 questions ;
1. Am I Chasing My Business Dreams? Or Someone Else’s?
What was it that got you all fired up to start this business in the first place. Did you want to change how things in your industry were done? Did you want to offer your customers a life-changing experience? Did you want to make a million dollars? What was your business dream – the one that really inspired you.
2. Are These ‘Mores’ Really Necessary?
Whatever your goal – ask yourself is doing this ‘more’ really necessary. Maybe you’ve set yourself a business revenue goal of $x. So think whether beating that times three (and working 3x as many hours in the process) is really necessary? Go back to why you started your business in the first place.
3. Could I Get the Same Outcome a Different Way?
If more revenue really appeals now you’ve thought about it, but the idea of significantly more hours doesn’t – what could you change in order to still achieve the revenue but contain the hours? Maybe you might consider increasing your prices (or offering a product/service with a higher perceived value), outsourcing the less hands on parts of your process that hog your time or hiring new staff members to produce the extra output required.
4. Will This ‘More’ Fit With My Overall Business Plan?
There’s no point chasing more and more business if you’d originally set out to build an exceptional customer service offering and the extra business is going to play havoc with that (unless you rethink how you achieve that outcome as per point 2).
5. What Small Change Can I Start With Today?
Chances are you can’t totally change everything about your business today – even if you wanted to. So with that in mind, what one small thing can you do today that will have the greatest impact overall. Focus just on that.
If chasing that ‘more’ revenue goal is still top of mind, maybe you might really focus for one solid hour today on your new business calls – actually doing them – not just planning for them.
Or if its customer service, spend an hour today, letting your clients know that you really appreciate them or working out the kinks in your system (hint: your best clients would love to help advise you on the best ways to do that – you just need to ask them).
All you really need to do to achieve more is focus on the one or two things that will bring you the greatest reward. You’re not dismissing all those other things (assuming they’re actually important to you), you’re just biting off easily actionable parts – one at a time. Over time, you’ll see very clearly, what works and what doesn’t and you can tweak, the one or two things that don’t as you go.
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If we can help you keep your focus on what matters to you in your business, call us on +61 2 9994 8000 or visit us www.serviced.com.au
