When you start your business you are the only one doing everything. Once you are up and running you need to think about starting to work ON your business and not just IN your business. This will help you to grow and develop your business. So let us take a look at what the difference is between working IN your business vs working ON your business.
What does it mean when you work IN your business?
Working IN your business is basically you doing everything. You may well end up working in a re-active way and not being pro-active. Being IN the business leaves you dealing with everyday tasks, and you could very well end each day without achieving very much to help your business move forward.
Below is a few tasks that would be deemed working IN your business and therefore is a good guide to check against:
Seeing/talking to clients
Answering enquiries
Paying/chasing invoices
Dealing with daily issues (fire fighting)
Making deliveries/collections
What does it mean when you work ON your business?
In simple terms, PLAN! To work on your business successfully and to help it grow you need to schedule time that will allow you to work ON and not IN it. This time could be used to prepare future business plans, research into your target market, viewing new products or research into expanding the service you provide. You have to be strict with yourself and not allow anything to distract you from the task at hand. Try allocating a set amount of each day, say 30 minutes, focusing on growing your business. Once your 30 minutes have passed then it’s time to get back to the daily tasks. Allocate additional time when your new project requires more time to stay on schedule. Be firm and disciplined and do not skip this time. remember that by outsourcing other jobs in your business you can significantly improve your profits. The time you spend IN your business will determine your success.
3 things you can do to help grow a successful business
1. Stick to what you know and avoid getting involved with what you don’t.
Try and avoid taking on things that you simply are not good at. Concentrate on your strengths. It could work out to be an expensive mistake if you take on something you have no experience or knowledge about, i.e. far-reaching service offerings or expansion outside your target market. This could create more pressure on not only you but your team and affect budgets and goals.
2. Stay focused on targets!
Set targets and goals. If you don’t, how are you going to measure yourself, your team and your company to see where you are. Having a goal and making it crystal clear to all allows every to rally together and take time to achieve and meet the targets and goals set.
3. Running a successful business is very different from being good at a trade/profession.
Let’s look at an example. You may be good at PR but that certainly doesn’t mean you would be good at running a PR company. There is so much to running a business and it can be a minefield. You need a good, strong business mind, combined with a strong skill set. The behind-the-scenes side of the business is critical to the success of your business so maybe best to employ those in the know; this could help your business grow and develop.
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