Every Business Owner Has These Four ‘Pain Points’ in Common
- Not enough time – personal and business
- Uncertainty & inconsistency of income and cash flow
- Not enough clients or more accurately, not enough of the “right” clients. That is the 20% of your customers that generate 80% of your revenue and profits.
- Not enough of the “right’ employees. That is the 20% of the employees that generates 80% of the results.
Far too many people go into business for themselves because they have a talent or passion and they just don’t want to work a J-O-B anymore.
Admirable…but all too often, all that happens is they swap one job for another.
It doesn’t have to be that way. But it takes courage and the ability to THINK DIFFERENTLY.
One of my coach/mentors, when I first started my own car dealership, told me to never forget the only way to make money was to sell something.
Selling always has to be your number priority every day because when you are successful and making money, and cash is flowing, whenever a problem arises, it’s a lot easier to make decisions when there is more than enough cash in the bank.
In other words, if you can afford to write a check to make a problem go away, write it. He was talking about always having experts on my team.
Find the best people who can do what you can’t and pay them to do the job.
The reason small business owners have these four common “pain points” is because you end up wearing so many different hats that you aren’t skilled in and have no passion for.
Here are some of the Many Hats a Business Owner has to wear at one time or another.
CEO/General Manager. This Hat makes you the decision-maker, risk taker and the strategist who gets to write all the business plans.
You are also the one in your business responsible for staying abreast of your industry news, regulations and educational material by reading a wide variety of business publications and newsletters or running off to seminars and meetings just to stay informed.
You are responsible for recruiting the best employees, suppliers and partners you can. You are cheer leading and training your employees, inspiring and keeping them motivated to the mission and vision of your company – which, by the way, you also have to come up with.
CFO/Chief Financial Officer. You track and manage your Key Performance Indicators to make sure your margins, salaries, accounts receivable, and payables are current.
When this hat is on, you are using your financial projections worksheets to make sure your projections are staying on course. You are tracking cash flow needs. You are responsible for inventory control and probably ordering as well.
COO/Chief of Operations Officer. When this hat is on, you are making sure your product or service is delivered to your customers in a timely and effective way.
You are watching how quickly you are responding to an order, keeping the customer informed of progress, and taking care of delays and complaints. You are watching inventory levels, shipping times and expenses.
Marketing Manager. With this Hat, you get the job of figuring out who your target audience is, where they are, how to reach them, what to say when you do get in front of them and how you can sell to them.
If you want to stay ahead of the game, you must read a variety of business and marketing publications to stay abreast of what’s happening in your industry and which marketing strategies are likely to work for you.
Advertising Manager. Now that you’ve created your marketing strategy you get to decide when and where to place your ads, and what type of media to place your advertising.
Copywriter. Since you must write the copy that goes into the company’s marketing and advertisements , you will need to constantly hone your writing skills by studying the finer points of copy writing.
Production Manager. You get to make the work schedules and determine the quality control standards of your products and services.
Actual production Worker. Many times you probably have to jump in, roll up your sleeves and be the technician, the salesman, the waiter, bartender, trainer, and the chief cook and bottle washer. All-the-while meeting the above-mentioned quality control standards.
Secretary, Receptionist and Customer Relations. You get to order office supplies, sign for packages, compose and type the business letters, handle customer complaints, answer phones.
And you get the job of figuring out what to do with the mountain of paperwork everyone else in the company is generating every day!
Bookkeeper. You will keep inventory records and post all income and expense figures to the company’s journals and ledgers–after you have set them up, of course.
You will also approve and pay bills, balance the checkbook, handle payroll, and organize and file all receipts for tax purposes.
Accountant. You will analyze the books and handle whatever the bookkeeper can’t do, such as fill out government forms for tax deposits or payments, do paperwork related to employees, and prepare quarterly and annual financial reports and tax returns.
You must also stay abreast of changes in tax laws that might affect your business.
IT/Computer Expert. With this Hat, you become the computer expert. You make sure your information systems are secure and your web site is providing the information your customers and clients want in order to make intelligent buying decisions.
If your business needs to be on the Web, you’ll have to spend hundreds of hours learning how to navigate the Web, do business electronically, and set up and maintain a Web site.
You need to be thinking of the most effective way to use social media to communicate with your customers and drive qualified traffic to your store front.
Whew! I’ll bet you can add a few things.
Now ask yourself: What would it feel like to have all of these things?
• More time – both business and personal
• Less unanticipated problems which will mean less headaches and less stress
• Consistently improving results which will mean consistently improving income and cash flow
• Relationships of trust with every employee, vendor and client.
• Customized Solutions that work for you. Every business and owner is unique.
• Personal 1-on-1 mentoring where you can rely on someone with Competence and Character to help you to ask the right questions, come up with the right solutions, to help you anticipate problems before they happen
The top producers in every field of endeavor have never been without a coach, mentor or consultant.
And the job of every coach, consultant or mentor is to make you a lot more money than you pay them.
The good ones will make it easy for you to make that decision to hire them so that you no longer have these four things in common with every other business owner.
When you know these following Essential Elements about your business, you can leverage your time, effort and money in ways your competition can’t, because they will be managing out of fear.
1. Who your Target Audience is; read more about that HERE
2. Lifetime Value of Your Customer; read more about that HERE
3. Unique Selling Proposition (USP); read more about that HERE
4. 80/20 Rule: Knowing your 20% that generates 80% of your profit. Learn more HERE