Avoid These Pitfalls

Not Planning for Growth

So you’re growing as a company. Congratulations! This is an exciting step in your entrepreneurial journey and one that will hopefully lead to many more milestones. But as the leader of a growing small business, your role becomes even more critical to the success of your business, since you need to ensure that you have what it takes to keep up with the growth. To help get you through this phase and ensure that your business grows successfully, here are some tips for planning for expansion:

• Set goals for yourself and for the company. When setting goals for yourself, ask yourself how much time you want to spend working at the office vs. on other projects or pursuits outside of work. Then take note of how much money do you want to make based on this level of commitment? When setting goals for your company, ask yourself how big do you want it to be in 5 years? 10 years? How do these goals align with my personal goals?

• Determine whether your business is ready to grow and if not, what needs improvement before it can achieve greater success. For example, if there are flaws in its product or service offerings then those need fixing first before increasing sales efforts should be considered because they won’t work without proper quality control measures being put into place first (see below). If there’s insufficient demand or awareness around what’s being sold then marketing needs improvement so customers know better about where their purchases go back into supporting community initiatives like local farmers markets instead just lining pockets every quarter quarter-end report); if lackluster customer service detracts from customer experience when using an app developed by someone unknown then usability testing must happen beforehand–and again ongoing throughout development–to improve user experience during usage rather than after release when problems come out later down road.”

Failing to Establish Benchmarks

When planning for the future of your business, it is important to know where you are now. Benchmarking can help you measure progress and stay on track.

It sounds simple, but benchmarking is often overlooked in favor of more aggressive strategies that promise faster growth and higher profits. However, without knowing what your business’s current performance looks like, it will be difficult to get a clear picture of its strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities for improvement.

If done correctly, benchmarking can also serve as an important tool for motivating employees. For example, if an employee sees his or her sales numbers falling behind those of his or her peers at other companies around the country (or world), there may be an incentive to improve those figures so they match up with those competitors’ results instead of just trying harder this quarter than last quarter.”

Hiring Friends and Relatives

When your business is struggling, it can be tempting to hire a friend because it’s easy, but this goes against the very fabric of what small businesses are built on. It could also harm your business and relationships if they don’t work out.

Before you start hiring friends and relatives, remember that business is business, and your business is not a charity. You need to set high standards for performance and professionalism and have a rigorous hiring process for everyone.

The reality of the situation is that running a small business is risky enough: you don’t want to risk all your hard-earned cash on people who aren’t qualified just because you feel sorry for them or their circumstance. If you’re starting a new venture or service, consider testing it out with an intern from school or someone else who doesn’t have any experience yet so that no one—including yourself—has anything invested in the results.

Not Investing in Your Own Education

Not investing in your own education is a HUGE mistake.

Investing in your own education can mean different things to different people. But it usually comes in the form of hiring a coach or online course, buying books, attending conferences, and other people-related investments that will help you learn the skills needed to grow your business.

This can be scary because for many small business owners just starting out, money might be tight. And spending money on something intangible like coaching or courses can feel like it’s not worth it. However, if you’re not willing to invest in yourself, how do you expect others to? Plus when you further develop your skills as an entrepreneur and confidently delegate the work you don’t enjoy doing to others (whether they’re employees or contractors), that frees up a lot of time for you! You’ll start working less hours but be able to grow your business more rapidly because of this investment.

I’m often asked what type of coach should I hire? I always suggest, find someone who has experience in the general industry you are in. Experience is Service based businesses vs. Product based businesses. Much like doctors, coaching can come in a variety of flavors. General Coaching: keeping your business healthy and helping you get through general ups & downs. Specialty coaches: if you need to revamp your marketing strategy or raise money. You will want a coach that has experience in that area. I wouldn’t want an Orthopedic surgeon to do my Heart Transplant. Same advice in coaching. Remember: a coach is supposed to help make YOU better — not them — so avoid those coaches who only want attention on themselves instead of serving their clients well.

If you're interested in talking with Brad about coaching, schedule a time here.