Duct tape is a quick, short term fix until a more permanent fix. This requires more money and can be put off until later. So when you use this “quick fix” approach to running your business, you are setting yourself up for frustration and eventually failure. So today we are going to talk about how you can remove the duct tape from your business because it’s not the long term solution if you want your business to succeed.
I know that when you started your business you were probably tight on time and tight on cash and that’s ok. You learned how to do everything yourself. It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t quite right. You pulled your experience together. You packaged it up as best as you could and created a freebie to grow your email list. But you noticed there were some gaps. So you used duct tape to cover those ups. Now there are some pretty decorated options of duct tape . And you probably picked a pattern that has your favorite colors or even your brand colors. Once you were done covering up the flaws in your systems, everything looked great and seemed to be held together nicely. Your biggest hope is that nobody will look too closely.
Being a Duct Tape CEO should be worn like a badge of honor. That means you are good at finding ways to save money with your ‘duct tape fixes’. You only spend money when you need to and for everything else, you find a way to fix it yourself. Now that may work at first, but…
Duct Tape Won’t Hold Forever
As your business moves from the incubation stage and continues to grow, you will impede its growth if you are the sole person doing everything. Now if you are wondering which stage of the journey your business is in, check out this blog post for tips to help you figure it out. I describe the four phases I have identified that small businesses go through and some of the things you can do in each phase to grow and reach the next phase.
There is a limit to how much you can hold together on your own before things start to fall apart. If you have narrowed down your services, niched down to be the solution to a small group of people and are ready to take on multiple clients, then you definitely need to remove the duct tape.
The transition that you go through as your business starts growing can make or break you. Time is the one resource you have that you need to use wisely. Money is a tool that you use in your business to get things done.So when you are ready to create the success you desire, there needs to be a shift in your mindset. You have to accept that everything can’t be fixed with duct tape. You have to start investing in specialists to build a strong foundation to support your business growth.
Change Your Mindset About Success
You need to define success on your own terms. Social media is a great tool we can use to build relationships and market our business. But it also impacts our viewpoint and perception as we look at what other people are doing. Just because someone seems to have more things, more money, more clients – whatever it is – this does not mean they are happy. You don’t know what’s going on in their lives behind the grid.
Why did you start your business? I’m sure it wasn’t so you would have little to no time for your family. It wasn’t for you to be chained to your inbox or your cell phone. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t so you would have less time to invest in yourself. And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t so you would work so much that you feel burned out.
I know it’s hard not to get caught up by all of the noise and start following the trends. But this journey is hard enough without you putting down your progress because of the so-called success other people brag about.
Don’t buy into it. Write your why somewhere that you can see it constantly. And never forget that you should define your own success. If it’s not having a six-figure business, that’s ok. If it takes you longer than others to get things done for your business because you focus on your family, that’s ok too. That’s why you have to remember YOUR WHY.
Focus on Your Progress
Take time every day to notice the positive things in your life. When you do this, you will be less likely to compare yourself to anyone else. You will stay focused on your own journey and make decisions that will support what you want out of life. Just take a moment to think about the progress you’ve made over the past six months.
Does your business allow you the flexibility you desired?
Are you able to create priceless memories with your family as you spend quality time with them?
When you think about these fulfilling achievements every day, they help you see the forest through the trees. When you feel happy, you’re more optimistic and energized which leads to action. You have to take action to achieve success. These positive emotions will fuel your progress even further. The more progress you make on your goals, the happier you feel. The happier you feel, the more progress you make on your goals.
If you think back to the times you have successfully achieved your goals, what was the driving force behind your actions? Often, it’s a reason that is incredibly important to you, not anyone else. So just focus on your success and create more of it!
Build a Solid Foundation
Every business goes through phases of growth. It starts with a dream and escalates quickly from there. Once you level up from phase to phase, duct tape becomes less useful. Eventually it creates a bottleneck. The good news is that a successful company can build systems and hire specialists to get work done.
Instead of manually doing everything yourself, you have to create systems. This must be done before you even think about building a team. The key is to develop processes and procedures to break these tasks down into smaller jobs. Then you automate what you can using tools and identify how to get the remaining tasks done. That’s when you consider outsourcing tasks to operate more strategically. If you try to outsource before you have your systems in place, you are not going to have much success with that process. You will actually end up very frustrated. Believe me, I know from experience!
My definition of a business system is a detailed step by step process that identifies the tool or tools that will help you automate certain steps in that process and the person who takes care of certain steps.
When you have systems set up for recurring tasks in your business, you never have to waste time wondering how you should begin working on a task or what steps you should take. There are six core systems you need to get in place no matter what phase of business you are in. I’m not going to go into them in this episode but you can check out this blog post for the first three. Then check out this blog post to learn more about the other three. You don’t have to create them all at the same time. You can focus on creating them one at a time. And if you want help with that, then we need to talk. Click here to schedule a free 15 minute call with me to get the conversation started.
Strategically Outsource
The hardest part of running and growing a business is knowing when to bring in a specialist. You’ve become accustomed to doing everything, and it may be hard to let go of tasks. But no one knows how to do everything well. So stop trying to be Jill of All Trades.
So once your systems are in place, how do you know when you’re ready to hire some help? Honestly, there are some tasks you need to hire out for from the beginning. The great thing about using experts is that you can hire them for a project which is a one time fee. This allows you to get things done and frees up your time. You won’t have to waste time on YouTube watching videos to learn how to do something. And you don’t need to waste money buying a bunch of courses that you won’t finish.Just pay someone to take care of the basics that aren’t your expertise. Hire a graphic designer to create your logo. Hire a web designer to create your website. Use that time to focus on building relationships because your network is your net worth.
Then you need to keep in my mind the phase your business is in and your current cash flow. Knowing how much money you need to have even for a paid consultation is important. By using revenue and cash-flow projections for your business, you can determine when this makes sense.
The bottom line, how you spend your time is a choice. As the Savvy SheEO of your business, your time is best spent growing your business. But as long as your business is held together with duct tape, your growth will be pretty much non-existent. Not to mention your workload will never lighten, you will never have a schedule that you control, you will feel overwhelmed and you will not build the business you desire.
Having systems in place is the difference between being able to hit your growth targets or spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. Don’t get in the way of your own success! Take action now so that you can move forward the rest of the year and at least get close to reaching your growth goals. I hope you see the pattern with the last two tips. Your growth REALLY depends on you having business systems.
