How to Build a Business that Runs like a Well-Oiled Machine …so you can make more while you work less

Running a business is hard.  

There are lots of things to juggle and get done.... and lots of people to please.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Establish the Right Systems

When you set up the right systems in your business, you’re able to get more done in less time. Good systems will also help you when it’s time to train people to work for your business.

My 5-step get ahead system helps you get things done so you can focus on the things that really matter to you. It can be remembered by the acronym AHEAD.

Assess current state. You should take a look at your business to assess its current state. When you take the time to assess the current state of your business, you need to take an honest look at what is and is not working in your business.

It might be tempting to think about how you want things to be instead of how they actually are during this part of the process. No one likes to admit their weaknesses, but taking a hard look at your business and how it’s running will help you create a plan to overcome the areas of your business that are giving you problems.

Handle your CEO tasks. There will always be tasks that you cannot delegate to other people. When you assess the current state of your business, it is critical to determine what CEO tasks must be done by you alone. As you work to get ahead in your business, take time to handle these tasks.

Eliminate 4Q tasks. These are tasks that are neither urgent nor important. When you eliminate these unnecessary tasks, you free up time to handle things that actually matter.

There’s an old story about a woman who was cooking a ham for the holidays. She and her mom were hanging out chatting as they cooked. When it came time to prepare the ham to put it in the oven, she cut off both ends of the ham. Confused, her mother asked her why she cut off the ends of the ham. “That’s how you always did it,” the woman said. Laughing, her mom told her that she used to cut off both ends of the ham because that was the only way to get it to fit in the pan!

Sometimes in business we do things that just don’t need to be done. Like the woman cutting off the ends of the ham, we’ve adopted activities and practices without being connected to the “why” behind them. Make sure that you’re only doing things that need to be done, and eliminate everything else.

Automate what you can. If a task is done more than three times, it can be automated. Learn ways to make repeated tasks faster so that you have more time to work on your CEO tasks. If you’re looking for an easy task to automate, take some time to create email templates with answers to frequently asked questions. When you create these templates, replying to customer queries takes less time.

Document and delegate the rest. Document everything that needs to be done for your business. When you document tasks and the instructions for completing them, many things can be delegated to other people. Empower your employees to take up these tasks so you don’t have to do them anymore.

Learn Leadership Skills

Leadership skills are absolutely critical if you want to grow your business. Even if you’re in the beginning stages of building your business, it is important to learn and further develop your leadership skills.

There are three pillars of leadership: vision, influence, and legacy. You likely have a vision for what your business will look like. To translate this into a leadership skill, you must learn to communicate your vision in a way that inspires other people. Influence is an essential part of leading your company. Without it, you will find yourself struggling to motivate employees. And finally, your legacy is what you will leave behind after you’ve passed the business on to someone else. A good leader will leave a legacy that sets up the next generation to succeed.

How do you develop leadership skills? Start by taking some time to really analyze your strengths and weaknesses. Where there are gaps in your leadership abilities, work hard to close those gaps. Continue to learn, read, and grow. Even if the only person you’re leading right now is yourself, you’ll be glad you took the time to invest in becoming a leader.

Optimize & Operate a High Efficiency Team

To successfully create a business that can run without your constant investment of time, you need to optimize and operate a high efficiency team. If you don’t learn to delegate, you’ll always be too busy. The more tasks you try to take on yourself, the worse you’ll be at completing them.

When you hire people to work for your company, take time to attract and hire “A” players. These team members will be those who contribute great value to your company. As you onboard and train these individuals, make sure that you have good systems in place. When you combine good people and good systems, you create a great business.

When you need help running your company, it may be tempting to hire someone who meets most of your requirements. However, it costs time and money to train new employees. Make sure that each employee at each level of your company is worth that investment. It is harder to fire a bad worker and re-train a new one than it is to take the time to find the right employee in the first place.

As you lead a team of “A” players, craft mission and vision statements for your teams. When your employees understand and embrace your company’s mission, they are able to work toward the same goals as you. Empowered and inspired workers will produce better work.

As you build and lead these teams, cultivate a healthy team culture. Your workers will be motivated by different things, and that’s okay. It’s important to learn how people are motivated and to use a motivational method that works for your team. There’s a proverb that says, “The water that hardens the egg softens the potato.”  Your team members may all be in the same situation, but that does not mean that they are going to react the same way to situations. Take the necessary time to learn what things will motivate each individual.

Finally, make sure to effectively delegate your tasks to the team you build. The more tasks you delegate to other team members and individuals, the more time you have freed up to work on your CEO tasks. As you have less on your plate, you’re better able to unhitch yourself from the daily grind of your business. With less time needed to keep your business running, you’re able to spend more time doing the things that really matter to you. All while your business still serves clients and customers well.