Building a Better Year

With the change of the year, every business owner is thinking about goals or to-do’s or hurdles to overcome in the New Year. As small business owners, don’t we all want to be the best at our trade? Stand out more? Make more money? Be more successful? Gain more recognition? And on and on.

But how do we quantify that as we move into putting pen to paper...or more likely fingers to keyboards? What are the steps you can take to get from, “Make more money,” to ACTUALLY making more money? I can’t give you the literal steps you need to take (wouldn’t that be nice…) but I will review three areas that I believe you need to address in order to see your business propel forward this year. You can use them as a grid to think through the goals you have set and maybe some you might add. As you consider them, keep in mind that the best way to better your company is NOT to work hard towards being flashy and noticeable. Instead think about the things that will strengthen the core of your company, the things that would make you the most excellent choice in a sea of small businesses whether you are at your smallest, earliest days or have just opened your third location. I believe that by putting your efforts towards these key building blocks, your long term business goals will be undergirded in the most important ways. 1) Pursue operational excellence as a company. Well duh, right? But take a step back and you will realize that in this tech-saturated day, not understanding how to utilize this tech to make you better at serving your customers is no longer an option. Now, I believe that Two Roads has a whole lot more to offer than just technology - and likely your business does too - but we can’t get away from the fact that this is one of the biggest ways we can offer time and ease to the customers and businesses we partner with. Since technology is constantly growing, this means you will need to continue to learn, to research, to embrace the new, to provide a better and better service to your customers. This might mean many things, depending on your industry. If you are a restaurant, are you utilizing the abundance of software to provide quality control and implement systems for a smooth back of the house operation? If you sell goods or services, do you utilize an invoicing system that makes it both easy for your clients to pay and for you to track your sales? You don’t have to lose the personal touch of small business but instead allow technology to better the ease and quality of service you are able to provide. You will equip yourself to expand the reach of your business and serve more people. 2) Pursue personal growth. If you own a business, your brains and ingenuity and creativity will absolutely be what drives your business to the next level. I know just how easy it can be to get caught up in the weeds and forget to step back and invest time in your company’s biggest asset -- YOU! So what should this look like for you? Reading books, meeting with mentors and others who can push you to be better men and women, spouses and parents. When you flourish on these levels, your minds will be clear and invigorated to dive into the thrills and challenges of business ownership. Do yourself and your business the greatest favor you can and make time for this. Set appointments with others and yourself and keep them! And if you have utilized all of that awesome technology, then you should be saving tons of time in the small, everyday tasks that don’t value your time anyway, right? 3) Seek to grow YOUR business. Again, duh, right? But think through this one with the heart of why you opened the business you did. What at the core level of what you are doing gets you out of bed in the morning? Yes, it may take constantly reassessing your sales strategy, or working your butts off during Q4, or many other things that will ultimately lead to you making more or ensuring you maintain revenue each month. But please believe me, if you are getting out of bed and all you are thinking about is how to make more sales, you are going to sweat and fumble your way through the day. IF you are thinking about how you want everyone to have the opportunity to go to other worlds of pleasure when they bite into your pie; or have access to the best possible dental care; or heck, maybe you just absolutely love working on cars and you couldn’t imagine going back to work for someone else in a cubicle -- whatever it was that got you fired up enough to take the leap of faith to start your own business -- if THAT is what you are thinking about as you work to see your business grow this year the results will be worlds of difference. Obviously, this list isn’t exhaustive. You need to do the work of taking a good hard look at what makes your company tick. You need to do the work of fighting for the things that really set you apart from all of the other companies that do what you do. You need to value your team and value your customers. These are the basics. As you consider setting goals through the grid of these three areas, don’t lose sight of the basics. By choosing to grow your company with these supporting you as you flourish, I believe that you will maintain the energy and creativity that will drive your company to the lead. Join us tomorrow as we discuss the other side of the coin...mentalities to make sure to avoid as you are goal-setting for the new year. Is Your Business Running a Financial Fever?