You’ve been doing this whole entrepreneur thing for awhile now, but you aren’t sure why your business isn’t growing. Does this sound like you?
for growing your business.
Most businesses experience a slow growth in the beginning while you build a solid foundation. It’s an expected process of starting a business.
After awhile, though, you hope to see significant or at least steady growth.
Maybe you feel stuck in a rut. Or like you’re simply spinning your wheels and not getting anywhere no matter how hard you work.
This may cause you to feel frustrated or overwhelmed.
Before you give up, consider these tips to see if one of them may be the reason your business isn’t growing.
You Don’t Have A Team
When you start a business, you can do most everything on your own. You have to, right? You don’t have the funds to hire someone. As a result, you spend time learning how to do it all.
When your business begins to gain traction and you make steady sales, however, you spend more time serving your clients and less time on actually growing your business. As a result, your marketing efforts may suffer which could lead to lower sales. You begin to realize that you can’t do it on your own anymore.
Hiring that first team member is a huge mindset to overcome. It means you’ll have to entrust parts of your business to someone else. In addition, that money that you’ve worked so hard to get will go towards paying someone. These are not easy mindsets to conquer. But conquer you must!
It’s only when we take that leap and hire a team member, that our business can really take off. When you do, you’ll have more time to focus on doing the things you love that will bring in more sales. You’ll be able to create new products or take on more clients because someone is helping you in the background.
You Don’t Have Processes Or Systems In Place
As a new business owner, you do what you love and need to do in order to start your business. You get done what needs to be done and don’t give it another thought.
Until that first team member is hired. It’s then that you realize you need to train someone to take over those tasks. But there’s not a process for starting a project or the steps to take it to completion. You need to document the steps of the process from the initial contact until the time the product or service is delivered.
If you want your business to grow, you have to have a foundation on which it can be built upon. Without this, it’s a bunch of moving parts and something is going to drop along the way. Having processes in place ensure that your client will be receiving a consistent and high-quality product or service every time.
Likewise, systems can be a huge benefit to a growing business. Systems allow you to automate the recurring tasks in your business. If you are doing everything manually, begin to research software tools that will help you streamline the processes you’ve set up. Systems will take you out of the mundane tasks that need to happen to keep your business running smoothly.
For more information, check out my blog post about how processes or systems can help you save time.
Your Team Isn’t Being Nurtured
Yes, your team members were hired to work for you and help you build your business. We have to remember, though, that they are also trying to build their business.
It’s important to make team members feel welcome right away. When they first start, talk about your business, but also take the time to really talk to them. Get to know them personally by asking about their family and things they like to do in their free time.
Once they start to feel settled into the routine of your business, begin to ask them about their business. Find out their story and what led up to them starting their business. Be sure to ask about their personal and business goals. Knowing these, you can make a plan for how you can help them achieve those goals while working in your business. They will appreciate the time and effort they see you investing in them. As a result, you’ll have a more dedicated team member.
move your business forward?
Don’t forget the little things you can do along the way to help someone feel appreciated. Give them compliments, lots of them. In addition to complimenting them when we you meeting 1:1, do it during team meetings as well. Be sure to celebrate special days on the team. These might include birthdays, start date anniversaries, or even half year anniversaries. Be creative.
As you build a relationship with your team members, you will come to trust them more and more. When this happens, you will feel comfortable entrusting them with a special project. When you do that, your team members will feel valued and appreciated. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.
Ultimately, your team members want to know you have as much of an investment in them as they have in your business. For some tips on other ways you can show your appreciation, check out my latest blog post on team management.
Your Money Systems Are Nonexistent
Not many of us online business owners like to talk about money. That’s what the bookkeepers and accountants are for.
This is a necessary topic, though. Without a money system in place, you will continue to spend money you don’t have or pay for subscriptions you don’t need.
If you aren’t yet able to hire a bookkeeper or accountant, I highly recommend reading Profit First. This was one of the first books I read as a business owner, and it was extremely helpful. Profit First provides a model for setting up your business bank accounts and distributing the money you bring in from sales. If you follow the book’s suggestions, you will have money to pay your business expenses as well as yourself. I hear of so many entrepreneurs who are paying their team members more than they pay themselves. Run to this book, don’t walk!
Another thing you can to do is to conduct a software audit. Take an inventory of every software you use in your business and how much it is costing you. For each one listed, determine how many times you use it a month, if it’s helping you move your business forward, and if it’s something you can do without. You may discover that you are paying for something you don’t even need.
Also take some time to see if you have several tools that have duplicate services. If you do, decide which one is better and cancel the other. You may be surprised how much money you can save by doing a software audit.
When you run a lean business, you can use the extra money to hire a new team member or invest in creating another product or service.
No More Wondering Why Your Business Isn’t Growing
Once you take an inventory of how you are doing in each of these areas within your business, decide which one you will focus on improving first. Don’t try to do them all at once. By taking the time to invest in your business and your team, you will begin to see results that propel your business forward.
If you need some help, I’d love to chat with you on a free discovery call. As an OBM, I help my clients hire and nurture their team, set up processes and systems, and make sure money systems are in place so they are earning a profit. Set up a call with me by filling out my website contact page.
P.S. This post may contain affiliate links. This means I may receive a small percentage of the sale in commission. I only use products that I use myself and believe in.