80%-90% of SME businesses stop trading within the first five years,

dependent upon which statistics you look at (you know what they say about statistics). As importantly, of the remaining 20% or so, another 80% will stop trading within the next five years. That’s over 95% of businesses within ten years. Through the research that has been done over the years, it seems apparent that during the first five years the main reason is down to business owners not mastering an understanding of the business basics and in the second five years, business owner burnout becomes a thing.

So here you are with your business, four or five years in, you’ve managed to make a profit and your turnover has gone up to reach a not insubstantial plateau. But, you are working long hours and the business relies on you being there. To take a holiday, you have to work like mad in the week or two in the run up to make sure everything is perfect before you leave and then you keep your fingers crossed for when you get back, but your always a little on edge, thinking about what could go wrong.

Are you running your business … Or is your business running you?

Your business could well be making a profit. It would need to to survive the first five years, but do any of these apply to you?

  • Are you wondering where the time will come from to allow you to work on yourself and the strategies you need to take your business up a notch?
  • Are you often the last person leaving the business at the end of the day?
  • Do you find yourself working evenings or weekends often or even occasionally?
  • Have you ever thought that it wasn’t what you had envisaged the life of a successful business owner would be like?
  • Do you feel like the business will fall down around your ears if you aren’t there to get involved with or oversee the daily activity?
  • You feel like you can’t completely trust your team to run the business and take care of everything consistently?
  • Is it often quicker just to do something yourself than to get someone else doing it?

Work harder on yourself than you do on your business

Jim Rohn

Sounds easy when Jim says it doesn’t it !

I’ve put together some easy steps for you to follow which can make a difference.

Get a Coach

Yeh well you would say that wouldn’t you ! Well yes I would, but for the right reasons. A coach can hold you accountable. A coach can help you to do things in the right order, to build a plan with you and help you to grow as a business owner, educating and supporting you, but also challengin you when you have those nasty little limiting beliefs which are holding you back.

Get Control of Your Time

You can’t manage what you don’t measure so figure out how you are spending your time and put in place some tools to help you focus on the important growth stuff rather than just the everyday grind. We spend a lot of time with our clients using some great tools to help get control, stop doing the stupid shit and focus on getting our team doing the urgent stuff so you can focus on the business owner stuff.

Set Goals and Build A Plan

Goals focus your attention. Building a plan to achieve those goals gives you a roadmap. Our clients will have a long term vision and purpose for the business along with 3-5 year goals, a 12-18 month plan, 90 day quarterly plans in more details and monthly weekly and daily planning to keep them on track. This might sound like a lot but believe me, it saves time in the long run as you stay more focused and on track.

Know Your Numbers

Numbers Are The Language Of Business
– Me

Numbers allow you to make logic rather than emotion based decisions, even though some of the numbers you look at might illicit unwanted emotions when you see them for the first time.

Whether you are looking at your finances, at  marketing and sales, at the delivery of your customer experience or your team, numbers can give you power and insight if used in the right way.

Start with the easy numbers to record and build from there.

We have only just scratched the surface here and there is so much more to do to build a commercial profitable business that can work without you.

If you want to learn more then come along to one of our free events. Take a look at our events page here for further details.