Business is for those who have a strong will and passion to make a difference through their product or service. It is thus powered by a person’s belief and ability to adapt to an ever-changing economic landscape. This needs thorough planning and implementation of the plan. Typically, a business should start with:
- Having a business plan if you don’t already have one; if you do, revisit it
- Having a business plan is NOT enough. For it to be implementable, cascade it down into a roadmap with actions to be taken and a timeline to establish by when
- Make sure your legal structure is right and still relevant. This is important as changing structures in the middle of the year might be troublesome and cost a lot more.
- Now, save time as much as you can. How?
- Automate whatever you can
- Maintain discipline; don’t get carried away by interruptions. One tends to lose productivity every time there’s an interruption
- Stick with established processes. Don’t keep experimenting with every new product that comes into the market
- Put in place a job management software. There are plenty of them in the market; get a simple one and get one that will help you keep your jobs and task in line
- Promote a culture of communication and transparency
- Know when to stop. Just because you might be working from home doesn’t mean you keep working 24x7
- Make your team, your strength. This is important because you can’t do everything but hey, also remember every team member is different. Don’t try to clone them into being yourself – a common mistake many business owners do. When you leave them to do their best, you will have more perspective on the business.
- Make team members accountable and be accountable yourself too.
- Keep your books and compliance in order
- Focus on building relationships with clients for long terms – a focus very important to have, especially now, with Australia’s changing economic landscape