As an entrepreneur with an annual revenue of $350,000–$500,000, you are in a great position to grow your business more quickly. Numerous opportunities await you. However, growth at this level requires precision and priority. The challenge is often about selecting the best opportunity to leverage for growth, which requires clarity, focus, and strategies to generate the most impact on your business.
During the early days of your startup, it might have been easier, albeit chaotic and stressful, to venture down multiple paths. However, as your enterprise expands, it becomes more complex and uncertain. This marks the point where the real work of growing your business truly begins.
A change in mindset is beneficial to reduce the overwhelming chaos and stress and experience continuous growth with ease and grace. The actions that brought you to your current position are not necessarily the same ones that will continue to propel you forward.
Strategize With the End in Mind
Since you’re moving forward, why not have some clarity about the destination you intend to reach? It makes choosing the correct route much more apparent.
Consider your personal objectives since your business is often a tool for achieving them. Business, by itself, is not the complete end game. End game options may look like selling the business for $X, retiring at the age of 45 with an annual income of $X, working fewer hours, traveling the world while you still can, owning an ocean and a mountain home, or being more available for those little people in your orbit. Whatever you choose is yours to hold and shape your business direction and decisions.
What happens if you’re not clear on the end game? Fret not. Go as far as you can see, and when you get there, you’ll be able to see further.
Plus, don’t waste time on detailed long-term planning. For now, you want a framework for your end game. With the rapid pace of change in business, keep more detailed planning to one year with a moderate amount of framework for years 1–5.
Know Your Numbers
Gut intuition and hunches are powerful tools, although most strategists would pooh-pooh the idea (Me? I’m not like most strategists.) Even so, it’s beneficial to have the best of our gut feelings backed up by solid data.
Data guides our decision-making. It doesn’t lie. It always speaks truth to power even when you don’t like what it’s telling you. And, when you base your decisions on data rather than what you read on Linkedin as a solution, you’ll never go wrong.
When I was in sales, I optimistically shared my goals with a trusted friend, which she immediately pooh-poohed. She wasn’t wrong. The notion of what I intended to accomplish was a bit “pie in the sky”—until I began to look at the numbers. I used data to guide my decisions. Within nine months of that honest interchange, I achieved what I intended. Numbers matter.
What data does one collect? That’s an excellent question. With technological advancements, one can drown in data, so selecting the critical numbers is essential. These metrics could include revenue, profit margin, realization rate, customer acquisition costs, social media impressions, website visitors, or something entirely different.
Again, your business and its destination are unique to you. The data or metrics you track should be as well.
Hire Top Talent
Oh, this is a big one. Often, as small business entrepreneurs, our budgets are limited. Consequently, we look for the best talent we can hire for our budget. That makes complete sense unless you want to grow your business more quickly and with greater precision. Hiring top talent is a priority.
One of my clients recently learned that valuable lesson when hiring a “junior” technician due to budget concerns. After months and months of training, the employee was still struggling to keep up. This was followed by more training and further coaching, adding extra costs.
All of this additional time and the subsequent cost to “train up” a lesser qualified or experienced individual really adds up—especially when it’s your time as the owner.
This wasn’t the end of the story, however. The employee ultimately made critical mistakes, resulting in client loss. It happens, right? Even though the disciplinary action didn’t result in termination, the employee stopped showing up for work. Egads!
It was an incredible learning experience. Although the idea of training up talent is enticing, it adds unexpected costs and isn’t so budget-friendly after all. Plus, it slows down business growth. There’s a huge and hidden cost involved in hiring lesser talent.
My advice (and that of many of my clients in the Messy Middle) is to stretch yourself and hire the best you can.
Focus on High-Impact, High-Value Tasks
One of the most common missteps we often fall victim to is the tendency to take on every task ourselves. With the myriad responsibilities of running a business, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. As the CEO, it becomes crucial to hone in on the tasks that can significantly impact your business growth and success.
When it comes to prioritizing tasks, focus on those that have the potential to generate substantial revenue, minimize costs, or enhance overall efficiency. By identifying and prioritizing these high-impact tasks, you can allocate your precious time and energy in ways that create tangible value for your business.
Additionally, it’s essential to recognize that not every task needs to be managed by you. Delegation and outsourcing can be crucial in streamlining your workload and optimizing productivity. Handing off assignments to others allows you to free up your valuable time and attention for those critical, high-impact duties that truly demand your expertise. And, when you’ve hired top talent (see above), you will spend less time managing their work.
Achieving business growth demands a disciplined and systematic approach and an unwavering focus on priority tasks and strategies. You can confidently drive business growth by beginning with the end in mind, prioritizing high-impact tasks, investing in top talent, and implementing precise metrics.
Sustained growth takes time and consistent, purposeful actions to deliver remarkable results.
________
Growing your business is not about doing more; it’s about doing it smarter. That’s where precision and priority—and Synnovatia—come into play. Schedule your first free consultation today.
