Local Business

Local Business  » What Direction Is Your Business Headed

What Direction Is Your Business Headed

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

Today's Popular Articles

• Venture Capitalists and Business Angels

• Planning for Emergencies in Your Cleaning Business

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