There are a million books, hundreds of methodologies and thousands of consultants to help you grow your business. I have successfully grown five companies in my career, and the techniques are simple, but powerful.
Here are a few tips to help you start growing your business:
Delegate and Empower
Good people want to make decisions and own the results. They can only do that if you give them the space and the tools. Every entrepreneur thinks they can do everything better than the rest of the world. In reality, they can’t. But they can do some things better. It’s their Unique Ability. The trick is finding out what that is and delegating the rest to people who can do it better.
Accountability
Set goals, measure results and hold people accountable. I have been told you cannot fix things that are not measured. Set goals consistent with the company’s objectives and measure the results. Encourage employees to work as a cohesive unit and give them the tools to better manage their own tasks. Enough said.
Embrace Technology
In today’s world, if technology is not a standard part of your growth plan, you will be left behind. Smart companies look to leverage innovative technology ahead of everyone else. We are in a 24/7 world and your technology should be able to enhance you employees’ productivity, not the other way around. Focus your time and energy on growing your business. The Internet of Things (IoT) is real. How are you leveraging it?
[Related: Why is Your Business Still on Old Technology?]
Embrace Change
A growing company by its nature is changing. Responsibilities change, markets change, customers change. You need to build trust with your employees and customers. You can either build a culture that embraces it or fights it. Which one do you think will win?
Build Relationships
A good friend once told me he never got hurt by sharing information with a good competitor (I do emphasize the word "good"). I have found that to be true and have actually learned more from my competitors than you might think. Good companies realize that they will do better if the whole industry grows. Over my career I have formed hundreds of alliances, shared my company’s processes (good and bad) and gained tremendously from open exchanges. Make time to connect.
The Power of the “AND” vs the Tyranny of the “OR”
We are often faced with decisions that are A or B. Choices that often look mutually exclusive. Sometimes they are not, sometimes they lead to new markets, new products and even new customers. Be open to out of the box ideas.
I encourage you to work with your peers through groups like EO (Entrepreneur’s Organization) at https://www.eonetwork.org/. Know your limitations and surround yourself with people better than you at those skills outside of your unique ability. I have always said, stay in your lane and recognize the unique talent of others. You simply can’t do it all.
Ready to take the next step? Make sure you have the proper systems and processes in place. Gravity Software® (Gravity) is designed for 2nd stage companies that have outgrown their entry level accounting software like QuickBooks or Xero. Built from the ground up on the Microsoft Power Platform (aka Dynamics 365), Gravity allows your business to add-on modules like Sales, Marketing, Subscription Billing, Job Costing, Time and Billing and much more. Schedule an online demo today if your business needs strong financial reporting, security, audit trails, inter-company transactions and much more. Let Gravity help your business grow better and smarter..
Gravity Software
Better. Smarter. Accounting.
This article was originally published in January 2016 and has since been modified