As virtual CFOs, we meet a lot of business owners, obviously. Many of them are eager to grow their businesses. Some, but not all, owners of small and medium-sized businesses have the best mindset for growth – and those who don’t have that mindset can acquire it if they want to.

You Have to Decide

Some business owners truly enjoy being a one-person operation. It provides a certain control that many entrepreneurs are comfortable with. You know your own capabilities, you are the ultimate known quantity in a team member. There is not a thing in the world wrong with staying in that lane!

But, bear in mind that not every hat you will have to wear will fit your head equally comfortably. You, and only you, will be responsible for:

• Sales and marketing, which, while two prongs of the same fork, are two different tasks with their own responsibilities.
• The work you are marketing and selling – every bit of it. You have no-one to delegate to.
• Your bookkeeping (this is a bigger job than you might imagine, when you consider you will be making deposits, scheduling payments, reconciling bank and credit card statements, updating customer and vendor accounts, etc., etc., etc.).
• Fielding telephone calls, and returning calls to those who’ve left voice messages.
• Monitoring and replying to emails.
• Dealing with at least some of your IT needs and issues.
• Handling all customer service – not just the work itself, but the effort that is always needed to ensure a customer is satisfied, feels that their worries have been heard and their needs will be met.

 

Your other option as a closely-held business owner, is, rather than to remain a rugged individualist, to choose a team approach (see below).

I Want to Grow! How Do I Start?

First things first – in order to grow in a directed and focused way, which will lead to the fulfillment of your goals, you need:

• A clear culture for your business, based upon your core values, and a clear understanding of whom you want your business to serve.
• A vision of where you want to take your business – that’s your overall goal.
• A strategy designed to get you there – the interim goals – monthly, quarterly, annually, which will mark your progress.
• A plan for implementation to ensure those goals are met. We strongly recommend monthly or at least quarterly goals, to be reviewed at the end of the period, so that you can analyze your progress.

 

You’ll keep tracking that progress as you move from one goal to the next, monitoring where you are, where you need to get to as the next stage, and making sure you know what steps will get you there.

Build a Team

To best scale your business up, you need one thing further, and it’s absolutely key. You need a team to help you achieve your ultimate goal, and you want the very best team you can assemble to help you do it.

Because that goal is going to require that your mind is available for big-picture thinking. You can’t be mired in the details of reconciling your operating account (focusing in) and look to the horizons for opportunities (focusing out) at the same time.

That is the difference between working in your business and working on your business. Your team is there to do the former, while you devote your efforts to the latter.

The work gets done, the clients are happy, and you are out there promoting the business and seeking out new ways to grow. Your team grows, both in numbers and personal development, as its members take on more and more responsibility and more and more work comes in to be delegated. Everyone benefits you, your clients, and your team!

Final Thoughts

A one-person shop is great. So is growing a business. It is for you alone to decide what you want, what you are best at, what fulfills your life and brings you joy.

Also, and this is my own take, applicable (or not, as you please) to all business owners – if you are going to run a business, no matter its structure or purpose, you are going to be making your living solving other people’s problems. My experience is that, if you embrace that as purpose, you will achieve better business results than if you are merely looking for the money brought in.

Maybe that is because focusing on the work, rather than the reward, making that the center of your mindset, means the client’s needs come first. And a client who feels heard and helped, who feels it matters to you that their needs are met, is likelier than not to come to you when a new need arises.

Interested in scaling your business? Give us a call and let RFG’s team be part of your own – we can help you grow, and would love to do just that!

Please click here to email us directly – let us know how we can help you.

Until next time –

Peace,

Eric