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#3 Secrets ~ How to grow your business so you can retire early
By Warren Horak
Have you ever wondered how to grow your business so that you have less work to do as apposed to more work?
Are you tired of having to do all the work within your business?
Are you struggling to take your business to the next level?
Growing a business to the point you have less work is not something that happens naturally.
A pit that never seems to get empty.
We are not even talking about if you are battling with cash flow.
You want to avoid burnout at all costs
How to avoid burnout in business!
Learn How To Be More Hands Off
There are some secrets to making your job easier and becoming much more profitable.
If you apply these keys you will be able to double or treble your profit.
These keys never just fell into my lap but took years to learn and develop and many millions invested to discover these secrets.
Even though I was a dedicated entrepreneur, I didn't know, what needed to know.
My business partners and I stumbled around for years making the same mistakes most business owners do.
So what changed?
We got some wisdom.
We employed a business mentor.
Who could help us grow the business from a very small business in 1990 to a large business with over 120 staff and a full production facility with ISO 9002 Quality Certification and gross sales of over R100 million per year by 2004.
We manufactured and marketed an excellent detergent called Bio Classic which sold in retailers across South Africa. This brand is now owned by Tiger Brands.
We made more mistakes than most and nearly lost the business a number of times. I would have to write a book on everything that happened in those 14 years.
The 3 Secrets below were learnt in the last 29 years in business.
The Business Machine
I have designed a unique business approach which will gear your business to grow into a big business.
Find out more how you can over come the many pitfalls of growing a business.
#1 Working Business Plan
I am sure you have heard the adage that;
If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.
The larger you grow your business the more accurate this above statement becomes.
The most effective business plan for you as a business owner should revolve around your personal purpose.
Once you know your purpose, your plan and your business focus can develop in a way that brings you true satisfaction and sense of fulfillment.
We should know that we do not get satisfied and happy by merely making lots of money, but by doing what we were created for.
What we really enjoy doing, our true passion.
Your greatest treasures, are hidden within your purpose.
If you find your purpose you will find this treasure.
Having a business plan that is a working plan and simple enough to use daily is what will take your business to the next level and beyond.
Most business plans are drawn up once in order to raise money, only to be filed e away never seen again.
Watch Neil's in his video below.
He shares his story about how business planning has helped him
Here are some practical keys on how to put a simple yet effective strategic plan together for your business.
Business Planning Keys
1
Short and Sharp Planning #1
Rather do planning on a basis of being short time periods.
Rather take half a day at time to do short and sharp bursts of planning than try and take off three to five days and go away for a strategic planning session.
These strategic retreats are taken by the larger corporate companies who have teams who continue running the business while the executives are away planning.
Most businesses owners cannot afford to take off three days from the office to plan. In most cases the business would suffer severely.
This is the main reason most small businesses do not have an effective working plan that is updated on a regular basis.
Therefore, rather get some planning done, than do none at all, even though it is rough and ready.
Some planning is way better than no planning at all.
So the issues is not whether planning is the right thing to do. I believe most businesses believe it is.
The real problem is that they don't know how and they cant afford the time it takes to do planning the traditional way.
2
Work with a Simple Structure #2
When drawing up a business plan it is essential to work with a simple structure. Don't make it complicated or too long.
Purpose
Start with your purpose, that is your personal purpose and then move on to the purpose of the business and then each staff member.
Vision
Write down a few points of what your business will accomplish when the vision is accomplished ~ example:
We see our business as the market leader in our province
Mission
The mission is fleshing out the vision into things your business will accomplish
Strategy
This is where you write down your key how to's.
What are you going to do to reach your vision?
Make them specific.
Objectives/ goals
Make clear measurable and time based objectives. If they don't have a a time based target then it is not a proper objective.
Structure
Organigram ~ Company structure based on departments or process management.
Projects
Now break your strategies into projects and break your projects into tasks with end dates connected with people and resources.
A very useful free tool that you can use for this is Trello
Budget and Cash Flow
Finally you can add a simple financial plan and cash flow that supports your plans.
Core Values
Who you are as a business. What drives you?
Ethics of the business
The main ethos of the business and do and don't.
Corporate culture defined and then inspired and displayed by the leadership example.
3
Measure the Plan #3
Remember you cannot manage what you do not measure in your business.
Now measure yourself and the team against the plan on a weekly and monthly basis.
Make adjustments and redo the the plan as needed.
Remember this is a working plan that needs to flexible enough to adjust and improve your plans as needed.
4
Communicate the Mission and Goals #4
Make sure you print it out and make it visible for your whole team to read.
Make each person learn it in your induction program.
Emphasize it to everyone and see that they know it and can quote the just of it.
#2 Sales Machine
Having a great website on the internet and not being visible is like having a great shop in the middle of the "Antarctica".
The only visitors to your shop are serious explorers, family and friends.
Do you have a business, but you don't have a website?
Just think of thousands of people are searching for your type of product and service each month and they can't find you.
Or you have a website, maybe a great website - just one problem: Your potential customers who use Google can't find you!
Your website should be one of your greatest assets in your business.
Do you know what your ROI ( Return on Investment) is for your website?
Do you know what it costs you get a client via your website?
If reading this is painful... then you on in the same boat as many entrepreneurs who have been left behind in the internet revolution.
Watch Neil's in his video below.
He shares his story as to how effective the Sales Machine was for him.
What you need is a Sales Machine for your business.
Below I will highlight some key components on how you can build an effective sales machine for your business.
To build a sales machine that brings you clients while you sleep, you will need to do the following:
Building Your Own Sales Machine
1
WordPress Website #1
Set up a simple WordPress website that is optimised for Google and other search engines.
2
Sales Page #2
Build a sales page that is well written and has testimonials and a FAQ and focuses on the benefits of the product.
Set up a lead capture form on your sales page
3
Free Leads Through Blog #3
Write at least 10 to 20 blogs that address the key questions your clients are asking.
Make sure each blog is search engine friendly so that clients can find you.
4
Paid Leads #4
Set up an ad campaign through Google Adwords to drive traffic to your sales page.
If your product or service is suitable set up a campaign via Facebook to drive more leads to your sales page.
Install Google analytics to measure your results and your conversion rate.
5
Email autoresponder #4
As the money is in your email list you need to have a way that you capture all your leads and subscribers.
Send them an email once a week to share valuable tips with them.
As you do this your grow your trust and your authority as they see you know what you are talking about.
6
Social Media #4
Set up a Facebook page, LinkedIn Profile and maybe a Twitter profile
Make sure you become visible.
#3 Systematise
One of the worst mistakes you can make is by not systematising your business.
A business is a system. Most tasks in your business can be organised into a proper flow and system.
When you do this with your SOPPS (Standard Operating Policies and Procedures) you will have secured your business in a major way.
A business without a proper SOPPS in place will start to collapse as soon as your start to try and grow beyond a certain size.
If you planning on growing your business you have to develop your own internal SOPPS.
Here is a simple guide to how to set up your SOPPS in your business.
Watch Neil's in his video below.
He shares his story about Systemising his business
Steps to Systematising Your Business - SOPPS
1
List all your functions #1
Take each job description of your staff and list the functions they have also know as Key performance areas.
Once you have the entire list for a department you are ready to take the next step
2
Flow charts #2
Draw up a simple flow chart for each function or process in each job.
Write the steps of the process draw a flow chart on a white board.
Example ~ The sales process
1. Starts with a lead calling
2. Talk to the lead
3. Follow up lead
4. Close the lead
5. New client form filled in
6. Account opened
3
List the Procedures #3
Take each step in the process and write down the actual procedure.
This step is critical as you are now developing the manual for your business.
Linked to these procedures are files and documents and quality standards that need to be met.
At the top of each procedure you need to write the policy
4
Add the Policies #3
Each process needs to have policies written that controls the procedures.
These policies are the company rules and laws that govern the process.
Example ~ Policy for sales procedure
1. All new accounts need to approved by the sales manager
2. All new accounts must be given a credit rating by the Financial Manager.
The Business Machine
I have designed a unique business approach which will gear your business to grow into a big business.
Find out more how you can over come the many pitfalls of growing a business.
Looking forward to hearing from you
If you have any comments or questions please leave write them below.
