Inside Out Approach To Entrepreneurship, Part 5, Build Your System

This is the final post for the Inside Out Approach To Entrepreneurship series. In this series, we learned how to find your passion, developed it to a marketable niche, checked our readiness to make the leap, and made sure we are right on with our marketing. So you are close to start your own business, or maybe you already have started it. (Image by exper)

Take time to review the business plan

As you get into the task-overload stage of starting a new business, it’s critical to take time to remember the big picture of your business and review the business plan, whether it is written out or not. I know this is hard, but don’t get caught up in filling the orders or doing administrative work!

The key here and going forward is to build reliable business management system, rather than to address each and every single issue at a time.

There are many kinds of business systems. At Yes to Me, we have already talked about building efficient customer service systems (that require less of your time) and ways to find the ideas to build such systems. Marketing needs systematic approach, too. Also, you need reliable accounting system and HR system that cater to your specific needs – and if you are a home-based or small business owner, you probably want to hire outside service for these. You might need professional assistance from lawyers, web designers, and tech support, too.

In this post, we are going to talk about the kind of business systems that allow your business to grow. This is where I am now that I have been through the startup phase of my business.

How can you grow your business without spending more of your time?

I am currently the only person in my business. I do the actual work to fill orders while I also work on marketing and administrative tasks. I only have 24 hours a day (no, I haven’t yet figured out how to expand my time or travel the linear timeline ^_^ ), so as long as I stay in this I’m-the-only-service-provider condition, my business growth is limited. And I also know I’d eventually get bored.

Some possible solutions to this situation are:

1. Build the organizational system to hire other trained intuitives or contract them out so that my business can get more things done using my marketing channels. (Of course, there must be an excellent quality control system for this to work.)
2. Build other income-producing system, perhaps by developing products, such as books and CDs.
3. Partner up with other complimentary businesses to build synergetic business system. For example, partner up with hands-on energy healers so we can refer clients to each other and to start new programs that bring synergetic effects.

The point here is to keep or enhance the service quality, not compromise it, by building the system. Compromising the service quality is suicidal. There is no point in building a system that eventually loses clients and kills the business. Don’t make that mistake.

At this time, I’m only thinking up these options, and I’m confident this is exactly what I need to be doing now. It’s important to think several steps ahead when it comes to business.

How can you spot the opportunities to build business system that brings growth?

This, again, goes back to the first step of finding your love and passion. Now that you are in business, doing what you love day in and day out, you know more about it and how you relate to it. You know exactly which part you really love within that passion you identified in Part 1. The part that you are also strong at.

It may be marketing – talking about your beloved service or products, how they can help people (just like you!), and networking with like minded people. It may be learning and studying the subject even further and passing that expertise to larger audience. Or it may be thinking up new approaches, new combination of services, new possibilities.

Now dream up ways to let go of other parts of your business. I know this is scary. You just started your own business, you feel good to be your own boss and to be in control, why the heck would you want to let any tiny part of it, you’d say. But that is the only way to grow your business.

Of course, you don’t have to grow your business. You can keep it small and tidy. That is your choice.

But if you do want to grow your business, building reliable system is a must.

You may also want to hire a coach or consultant. Some people are just not very good at seeing patterns – they really just see individual cases as individual cases and address them as such without even thinking there may be a better system to address them. If this sounds like you, get help from someone who can see and think in terms of system.

Has this series been helpful to you?

I know this has been a fast, info-loaded series. Starting your own business takes a lot. Did I miss something that you want to know about starting a business? If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, what is your biggest challenge now? Let me know by leaving your comment!

And if you like this series, please link to me or stumble on the post. This Inside Out Approach To Entrepreneurship is the flagship series of my entrepreneur side. I appreciate your support very much