5 Quick Tips For Working ON Your Business!

Have you read Michael Gerber’s classic business book, The E-Myth Revisited? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it. It’s one of the best business books you’ll ever read. I regularly re-read it to get ideas and inspiration.

Gerber talks about working ON your business, not just IN it – so your business can thrive even when you’re not there. 

But how do you get started? Here’s how to easily get started and why it matters!

These 5 quick tips were written by Angee Robertson, (http://www.freedom2focus.com) creator of the “The Do It Yourself Micropreneur” program, for entrepreneurs who need help yesterday but can’t afford to hire an assistant.

1. To build a successful foundation for your business, you’re going to need some documentation. As tedious as it sounds, you’ve got to write stuff down. Little things that you take for granted or do on autopilot are critical to your business, and if anything ever happened to you, someone will have to take the reigns. The best way for your business to continue without missing a beat is if you’ve got stuff in writing. 

Here are a few of the items you want to document:

• Job Descriptions. But wait a minute, I do it all myself, I don’t have a staff. That’s okay, you can still write up job descriptions. Just think of all the things you do in any given day and write them down as if they were done by someone else. You may even want to write up an org chart, even if your name is in every single slot. Just remember to be as objective as possible.
• Document Important Information. This is basically going to be the start of an Operations Manual. Step-by-step guidelines for how to run your business will be the most important item you can have should someone have to take over in your absence or if you decide to sell your business.

2. Make sure you cover all the tasks, even the simplest ones. One of the most common complaints I get is, I don’t have enough time to do everything each day. When I probe deeper, I usually find that a lot of time is wasted trying to remember how something was done in the past. Be sure to include any tasks done by employees, subcontractors, or partners.

3. Prioritize the tasks. Once you’ve identified all the tasks that are done, make a list of what’s most important to the operation of your business (i.e., will it bring in new clients or revenue). Those tasks are the important ones that YOU need to be focusing on. The ones at the bottom of the list are the ones you want to delegate.

4. Be your own worst critic. Once you identify your tasks and write them down, try to read them as if you didn’t know anything to see if a person with no training in your business could follow them. Ideally, get a close friend or relative to review them and see if they can follow the logic. If they can, great, you did it right. If they can’t, review and rewrite.

5. One last word on building a solid foundation: watch your budget. One of the biggest mistakes I see new business owners make is spur-of-the-moment purchases (what stores call “impulse buys”). Whenever you see new technology or a new gadget on the market, review it carefully and list reasons on how it will help you grow your business. If you can’t find rock-solid reasons, you’re probably better off not buying it. At the very least, sleep on it for 24 hours before making the purchase.

© 2006 – 2013 Rosalie Marcus

Want expert help growing your promotional products business?  Click the link to preview the programs and products created to quickly and easily grow your promotional products sales. 

Not sure which program or product is right for you? Contact Rosalie for a brief, no obligation, personal consultation. Reach her at Rosalie@promobizcoach.com

Rosalie Marcus, The Promo Biz Coach ™ is a promotional products business expert, coach and speaker. Combining her skills and years of experience in promotional sales, she helps her clients sell more at higher profit margins and dramatically increase their incomes! Get a FREE special report: 10 Big Mistakes Promotional Professionals Make and How to Avoid Them and a FREE Skyrocket Your Sales audio download at http://www.promobizcoach.com. 

Reach her at Rosalie@promobizcoach.com or 215-572-6766.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You may provided it is unedited, and that the copyright, bio blurb, and contact information above appears with each article. Articles appearing on the web must provide a hyperlink to our web site. Please provide us with a courtesy copy of the print or email issue containing the article, or the URL of any article posted to the web.