This is the topic that no business wants to ever sit down and talk about, lets go all the way back to the beginning for a second.
“Do you remember when you first had the idea to open your own business?”
I imagine it was something like you sitting at your office working for the man, or working in a different field as a tech also slaving away for the man. Then the idea popped into your head, WHY DON’T I WORK FOR MYSELF? Of course everyone on this planet wants to work for themselves, and I imagine it took months if not years to actually get the courage to quit that day job and become a business owner. But guess what you’re made it, your here.
Staying on the topic, do you remember the exact feeling you got on your first day? Whether that was your first day of marketing or your first day on the job or your first day cashing that check for one day that was bigger than your 2 week salary. Those days I bet you really didn’t think about growth or anything close to growth, you thought about the freedom and the good money. Now take a look back, did you ever think you would be where you are today? Probably not, so now looking forward a lot of business owners ask the BIG QUESTION, how do I grow?
Now I have worked alongside a few companies and in both we expanded QUICK, and I mean quick, now there are a lot of ways to grow but a few topics I would like to touch on.
FIRST TIP
Credit: Phebe Van Der Meer
Being LET GO. HIRE HIRE HIRE, now when I say let go I don’t mean stop showing up and letting your company burn to the ground, what I mean is when you hire your first employee or hire your first office staff member, or hire your first sales member, you have to remember they are not you, they will not work exactly like you. When you train someone they will do everything like you in front of you, BUT when you leave they will always throw their touch into the swing of things, I’m here to tell you thats ok. I promise your customers will be ok if you’re not around, the job can get done without you around, someone can sell, book, up sell, and complete a job without you. Just let go and let your employees work, no one likes to be micro managed, it really hurts the company culture and the growth of your company. Let them bloom on their own, heck you may learn a few things from another brain that is not yours.
SECOND TIP
I would like to highlight is SYSTEMS, small business is hard enough with things being organized, it is even harder when everyone is running around like a chicken with their head cut off. For the person answering the phones it may be a script to follow, for the techs it may be a checklist before getting in the truck and a checklist before leaving the office, for your sales guys it may be what to look for on an up sell or using the words I “noticed” or I “recommend”. It may be all small things, but I’m telling you it is hard enough to work for someone who “has it all together” it is much harder to work for someone who does not.
THE LAST TIP
I would like to share with you would be LEARN all you can about your industry, whether that be getting a business coach, joining online forums, networking with your “competition” doing an online course. Have you ever heard the phrase “ always be selling” ? Well that is very correct and you need this in your business, but I would also tell you “ always be learning”. I have always heard it said, if you think you have finally arrived, that is your indication that you haven’t. It is always great to get second opinions with other business owners to see how they do things, and always great to see how other people sell jobs, complete jobs, and how they structure their business. At the end of the day, we are all trying to make ends meet, make our customers happy, and make our employees happy. With implementing hiring, systems, and higher learning, growing your business can be a walk in the park.
-By Austin Grubbs