Ep. 13 - You May Be the Roadblock to Business Growth

When it comes to growing the business, owners usually look at the obvious areas such as marketing, sales, financials, R&D, and strategic partnerships. But how many times do we as business owners look at ourselves as the potential roadblock to success? No one really likes to admit it but as business owners, The Buck Does Stop With Us. If we want to take credit for the success, we also need to take credit for the challenges. So listen to this episode where we discuss (gently) how we as business owners can be the roadblock to business growth and what we can do about it to take the trajectory of our business in the right direction. 

Key takeaways:

• Outline typical business challenges owners face

  • Low margins

  • Customer service issues

  • Employees not showing up

  • Making payroll

  • Getting customers

  • Keeping customers

  • Paying taxes

  • Putting out fires

• The typical workday for a small business owner

  • See above

• How much of our day is productive

  • Development, chief rainmaker, moving the vision forward, making improvements

  • Only 30% of owners time is productive time

• Keys to unlocking growth

  • Evaluate what you do on a typical day/week/month and what activities are productive and only you can/should do?

  • Get things out of the way

  • Do less- shrink product offerings, taking too many of the wrong customers - concentrate on fewer things and do it well

  • Train and delegate - build a great team

  • Relinquish control!!

  • Even if you’re a solopreneur - do less. Stick to one thing and do it well and often

• Self evaluation is essential

  • Get your spouse involved

  • Be accountable to someone else