Have you ever asked yourself, “How can I get my business to the next level?”
To answer that question, many people believe that they need a big budget or should purchase expensive equipment. This may not necessarily be the case.
The truth is for many businesses you don’t need a bigger budget. You may not even need to purchase expensive equipment or hire more employees to expand a business.
What you do need is to explore how a profitable business is leveraged. It’s one of the key areas I cover and why many of my clients achieve such fast results.
It may surprise you to learn that one of the easiest ways to leverage has to do with a mindset shift. One of the early mindsets I had to get over was, “If I want something done, I have to do it myself.” You might have even said something like this to yourself.
If you want to move your business to the next level, your business cannot be dependent on any one person, including you. In fact, it is more expensive in the long run to hold on to tasks that you can delegate to someone else for a fraction of what you would bill if you were working with a client.
There are also layers to the mindset of leverage. As you grow your team, you may think you have delegation mastered simply because you have a team. The next question to ask is, “Where else can leverage be found?”
With leverage in mind, you create specific strategies that allow you to work efficiently, serve more people, and bring in more revenue. This is why leverage separates a mediocre business from a highly profitable one.
Consider these three questions to start leveraging your business today:
1. What can be given up or eliminated that no longer serves the main goals of the company?
It’s easy to get comfortable in your job and perform tasks each day, but do those tasks continue to contribute to the main goals of the organization? If not, stop doing them. When you do, you just made room for relevant work.
When one work team identified tasks that could be eliminated, they realized that there were numerous reports being distributed but not read. This one elimination resulted in a $6,000 savings.
2. What can be automated?
Automation is a high form of leverage. Consider exploring how manual processes could be automated. Remember to check out open source software or apps that just may be the ticket to a cost-effective solution.
3. What can be systematized?
If you have a regular meeting, it may be easier to systematize it. One of my clients realized that she could easily save approximately three hours combined team time each month simply by systematizing one of the employee meetings to the first Thursday of each month. Now they don’t need to waste time finding a common date for the next meeting, they already have it scheduled.
There are many exciting forms of leverage, including refining your work processes, managing your time more efficiently, and utilizing the latest technologies. Leverage is an essential tool to move your business from mediocre to highly profitable.
Do you have an example to share on how you leveraged your business? Share it with us!
Lisa Mininni is the best-selling author of Me, Myself, and Why? The Secrets to Navigating Change, President of Excellerate Associates, and Founder of The Excellerate Success Institute, for entrepreneurial and leadership development. Business owners who want to learn about her revolutionary systems approach to profitability can pick up her free eBook, Get More Clients Now! 3 Steps to More Clients, More Money, and A Business You Love at http://www.excellerateassociates.com/.
Photo courtesy of Sebastiaan ter Burg [FLICKR]
Add Comment