Here are the three biggest mistakes that I see small business owners make in their business as they scale.
Mistake number 1 is failing to use leverage.
What is leverage? Think of leverage as a chainsaw instead of a hatchet. Like Archimedes said, if you give me a stick long enough, I can move the earth”. Leverage is the capacity to do more with less. Listen to this video for more information on leverage.
What does this look like? It might look like writing things on a pen and paper instead of using software. It might mean doing sales and marketing manually 1-to-1 instead of investing in marketing that leverages the power of the internet and access to millions of potential customers. It also might look like
Mistake number two is failure to reinvest in the business.
I see business owners who take out all the profits and treat the business like a personal ATM machine. That’s a major failure because you’re failing to reinvest in the business. Think of the business like a box, and if you’re siphoning out all the profits, then there’s nothing left over and instead taking out and reinvesting into the business grows the box and you have more business.
Financial reinvestment is the lifeblood of your business, and without it there will be a low ceiling.
And,
Mistake number three is failure to delegate.
This may be one of the biggest failures. Without the ability to delegate, everything becomes owner centric. So, think of the owner as the hub for everything important in business. You can only do so much when the owner is the center of everything. Instead, by reproducing yourself in other people and in systems, all of a sudden, your capacity to do more grows exponentially and then you have the ability to scale.
Here’s the thing about delegation. It changes at each phase. At first you’ll be delegating fairly simple tasks such as answering the phone, keeping the books, and sending invoices. Those are simple, repeatable tasks and not complicated to train and delegate.
However, in the later stages of growth as a business scales the founder will need to delegate more and more complex tasks such as sales, financial management, marketing, and so forth.
Many founders reach a ceiling in their ability to delegate, beyond which they don’t have the skills or knowledge to train someone. It’s natural because the chances are you’ve never done that job before, and at that point you’ll need help that is beyond your current abilities.
We specialize in helping founders scale beyond their experience and build beautiful organizations, so if we can help you navigate these waters, don’t hesitate to reach out for a conversation. (Click here to set up a free call)
-Chris Cloud and the CloudNINE Team
