Motivational Monday: Keeping a mindset of continuous growth

business growth

Effort is a fundamental ingredient in any successful venture but misplaced effort can often be a costly error for upper management. Business owners habitually make the mistake of focusing on the small daily problems a company faces when they should be concentrating on avenues that grow their business. Time is money and as a business owner, delegating your time effectively is one of the most vital skills to master. Your time is too valuable to remediate every problem that arises, trust your employees to put out the fires while you keep things moving forward. Forbes recommends asking yourself these pivotal questions to determine if your time is being well spent:

“–Am I genuinely committed to growth?

Growth-related activity comes in many guises: hiring, training, and motivating the right people; ensuring that your processes are sustainable; not becoming overly reliant on any one person — including yourself or a customer. You need to spend money today to benefit tomorrow. If you’re willing to do that, you’re committed to growth.

 

–How am I going to grow?

Will you expand your company organically or through acquisition? Will it depend on new products, new markets, or brand differentiation?  Can you grow with a new business model? Is there an opportunity to strengthen your business with existing customers? Can you expand globally or merge with a competitor? Can you market your company through social media? Is your growth meaningful and sustainable? Without a plan, any action is merely a reaction.

 

–Am I focused on the right activities?

Don’t mistake activity for accomplishment. We were with a client last week who was busy putting out fires instead of stoking the right ones. We were evaluating the opportunities in his three divisions. Division 3 has the potential to quadruple his business, yet he is spending 70% of his time on Division 1. When we asked him why, he said, `I have personnel problems there.’ We told him his real problem was his focus.

 

–Am I maximizing the value of all of my assets?

Are you leveraging all of your enterprises’ assets (bricks and mortar, people, processes, systems and intangibles –customer lists and intellectual property) to increase market share and profitability? Focusing on just one kind of asset won’t allow you to unlock your business’s true potential.

 

–Am I measuring the right things, the right way?

You should try to evaluate everything you do–sales, market share, profitability, customer service, pricing, and growth–against what your competitors are doing. You might think 15% annual growth over each of the last three years is great, but it’s not if your competitors are averaging 25%.

 

–Am I too busy looking backward to look ahead?

Think about quarterly reviews as quarterly previews. It is a chance to set goals. When quarterly reviews are done with customers, use them as an opportunity to ask the customers about their future and how you fit into it. How can you strengthen your partnership? Make sure you are an essential part of their growth story.

 

–How am I managing risk?

What are your risks? Are you overly dependent on too few key people? Are you delivering the best product? Are you in markets that are unstable economically or politically? Do you know what your competition is doing? Do you understand your financial, regulatory and environmental risks? What are your alternatives? Remember the five Ps: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. An integral part of your planning is managing risk with the best information available at the time you draft your business plan. Since this plan is dynamic, you need to be flexible to make the changes as needed.”

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