Read This If You Don’t Want Your Business To Die

If you’d like to have a business breakthrough instead of a business breakdown… regardless of your market, this is the most important post you’ll read today.

But before we go any further, let’s get something straight.

I respect your time and I’m not going to waste it. This post is about scaling the profitability of your business. Now, when most people hear “scaling” and “business” together, they associate it with adding complexity to their business.

More complications…

More team members…

More products and services…

That’s not what this post is about.

The Hard Truths

It’s highly likely that you are considered a “small business” according to U.S Small Business Association, and most of my clients fall under “Professional Services.”

You’re considered a small business if you earn between 0 – 7.5 million. (Or up to 20 million and under 1,500 employees, depending on whatever wonky classification they assign to you).

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the longer we stay in business the more likely we are to fail:

  • 20% of businesses die within the 1st year
  • 50% of businesses die within 5 years
  • 70% of businesses die within 10 years

When you look at published research for why most small businesses fail, you’ll see four common themes:

  1. Running out of cash
  2. Quality of labor
  3. Pricing and cost issues
  4. Lack of demand

All of these reasons for failure can be avoided with streamlined operations and healthy profits.

How can that solve a lack of demand?

Well, think about this for a second.

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you’ve probably had to “pivot” or adjust to market conditions.

What allows you to adjust to those conditions, weather the storms, and start new initiatives?

  • Rock-solid systems
  • Well-defined and documented processes
  • A crazy good team
  • Enough profit to carry you through the ups and downs

The Symptoms of a Dying Business

Right now you may be at the edge of a breakthrough for your business…or a breakdown.

Nobody wants a breakdown.

Maybe you already foresee your business being one of the 70% that fail within 120 months.

Here are the symptoms to look for:

  • You have no processes in place or the ones you do have are “thrown together”
  • The roles for your team members are ill-defined
  • You have no contingency plans in place for when a star team member leaves
  • You are unable to get out of the day-to-day operations
  • Your marketing automations feel “glued” together and are not well-documented
  • Reporting of key metrics needs improvement and better visibility

The Cure

There’s a system for this.

You need to focus on the four “key areas” of your business operations.

Step 1

Develop a systemized vision of how your business operates, then turn that vision into rock-solid and well-documented processes.

Step 2A

Implement automation where it makes sense, but keep it as simple as possible. (I know all about shiny object syndrome. I’ve been there.)

Automations get unnecessarily complex due to a lack of vision. Use automation where it makes sense, but avoid “shoehorning” systems into specific tools.

Step 2B

As a quick aside, do you know who, on the whole, got the most wealthy during the Gold Rush of the 1800s?

The people selling tools to miners. Not the miners. Think about that in the context of marketing automation today. So many tools, when most tools aren’t necessary.

Remember, keep your business as simple as possible. Automate where it’ll be helpful, but don’t go crazy with tools.

Now back to the treatment plan.

Step 3

Make sure that reporting is in place and easily accessible to key people so that important business metrics can be surfaced easily.

This should be as easy as checking your heart rate with an Apple Watch.

Step 4

Build a killer team. Clearly define each role and the type of person best suited for each.

Leverage personality tests to make sure you have the right fit. Create regular performance reviews to keep key team members engaged and happy.

You should involve your employees, especially the great ones, in the building out of your processes so you can avoid the dreaded “knowledge vacuum.”

When a top team member leaves, (and they will), you’ll be glad their knowledge was documented so that a replacement can step in and start producing immediately.

Interested in Working Together?

I feel your pain. I’ve been there, feeling overwhelmed with how to keep this life-changing business I built from facing the fate 70% of similar businesses face.

I offer a 10-week program that helps cure these issues, using the four steps I mentioned earlier.

My program is not for everyone. It’s only for people who already have a business up and running, with a working sales process in place.

If you have an existing business, with a sales process that works, I can help you scale your profits through streamlined operations so your business won’t die.

If you’re interested, let’s set up a time to talk ASAP.

I don’t want you to pay me a cent until we both agree that this is the best thing for you to do right now.

And there’s no way either one of us can really know until we talk and get to know each other.

I’ll have some questions for you, and you’ll have some for me.

If it feels like a good fit for both of us we can move forward, and if not that’s fine too. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.

With that said, click the button below and we’ll schedule a time to talk ASAP.

Testimonial – Tara Bradford, CEO Imposter to Influencer