Controlling the road to success is a foreign concept, for those recently acquiring a small business! Since success, in all probability, has not yet occurred for the new business owners, they have yet to consider the need for controlling that road.
Most new business owners are busy striving to acquire enough business to stay afloat, so “success,” in their mind, seems a long way off.
Nevertheless, once acquiring enough business to pay the bills, the REAL work of running a new business begins.
To be sure, managing workflow complexity and employee issues, as a new business picks up steam, can be overwhelming. Therefore, a control plan is necessary!
Statistically, once the business grows to around 5-10 employees, many begin to STALL.
WHY? The business owner continues running the business out of his or her head—with no written Operations Manual. Consequently, ALL delegating is through verbal communication.
Since there are only so many hours in a day, using the aforementioned “Mom & Pop” operations method, the growth of the business slows due to disorder. Add to that, after years of operating in an antiquated way, owner burnout is, predictably, right around the corner.
Sadly, many times the excitement and fun of seeing a business dream come true turns into just a very hard JOB.
Under those circumstances, many small businesses STAY small, all due to self-inflicted time constraints. As a result, some owners work 12-15 hours each day to keep up with business demands.
How do I know? Been there!
Managers, Managers, Managers Methodology
Not surprisingly, some small business owners, approaching burnout, will often turn to hiring a general manager. Someone to either run their small business or help with the workload.
However, this approach usually does NOT work out.
Fact is, valuable managers, those who CAN run a small business, often decide to start their own business. Or they request a salary that eats into the owner’s salary.
Understandably, a desperate owner is simply trying to buy time to get their life back.
Hiring and adding managers is a costly method, used by even large companies. That’s because they don’t implement SYSTEMS that empower employees to MANAGE THEMSELVES.
It’s true, PEOPLE DON’T LIKE TO BE MANAGED!
With that in mind, consider a better way…
Process Control Systems for Employee Self-Management
By systemizing a business during its start-up, the journey is much, much easier!
DON’T WAIT until the business is so busy there is hardly time for a peaceful lunch. Much less, having quality time to sit down and build a detailed Operations Manual.
As it happens, when a small business FIRST starts growing, the owner also grows in skills of workflow processes and employee management. So, it’s much simpler to write and update workflow process procedures as you start up your business.
In other words, THE BEST TIME to write new procedures and create Employee Daily Routine Checklists, etc., is BEFORE adding new employee positions, products and/or services.
The key is to STAY PROACTIVE!
Again, using a methodical, continual improvement method, affords the owner TIME to grow their business; also, TIME to maintain a personal life.
Most importantly, these types of systems are the “secret sauce” that empowers employees to manage themselves.
Did I mention? Great systems WORK!
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