Businessman climbing the career steps drawn on a black chalkboar

You’ve probably heard “dress for the job you want.”  Well, I contend that you need to dress for the business you want.  In other words, think and behave like an organization to become one.  If you need to scale your operations, produce more revenue, or simply be able to take a vacation without your cell phone strapped to you at all times…start acting like an organization.  As a solopreneur or a small business leader, what does that look like?

Allow me to share 5 ways you might start that process:

  1. Create an organizational chart.  I know – each box is filled with me, me, me and … me.  Shift your focus to the needs of your growing organization vs the names in the boxes.  What should your organization look like?  What are the buckets (boxes) you need to segment your business into and what support falls under those buckets?  Very often the buckets are:  Financial, Operations, Production and Marketing.  You should be devoting strategic time to each of those top tier buckets.
  2. Document your procedures – this is THE foundation for scaling your organization’s growth.   I highly recommend The E-Myth by Michael Gerber.  Enough said.
  3. Have a financial plan – I know, “here she goes again,” yup!  Each bucket on your org chart is equally important, but as an entrepreneur you must know you numbers.   Our Earn More participants, who are currently working on their budgets have remarked “wow, it’s expensive to be me.”   You need to be able to budget (as an individual and as an organization) to scale your business and to know when it’s time to make that first hire.  For all of you Shark Tank fans … what do the investors focus on?   The NUMBERS.   Once more, enough said. [BTW if you would like a copy of our budget templates, just email me, we are happy to share].
  4. Create brand equity to drive referrals – To me, this is at the core of your marketing.  What is your brand?  What do you stand for?  How can people connect with you?  Make sure your marketing plan focuses on building brand equity … and then raving fans!   Create a simple referral program to reward brand loyalty.
  5. Ask for help – you simply cannot do it all.  See where you can plug people into position or tasks on your organizational chart.  You may need to hire, outsource or barter.  In any of those scenarios, be sure to communicate your expectations (which you can pull from your documentation, that is, if you have it).

As far as “dressing for the job you want” (and in a shameless plug), I highly recommend our Virtual Office Programs … starting at $75/month, you’ll immediately look like an organization instead of an individual. Hurry, click here for more information!

Stay tuned …

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