7 Common Small Business Mistakes

Your big dreams and big passion is what inspired you to become a small business owner.  You were going to change the world!  Now it turns out whether on the internet or a physical location the day-to-day activities of running a business are time consuming.  Where is all the time you want to spend on those big goals?

You want to be a great business owner or executive, but you are becoming discouraged. If you spend your time on day-to-day business needs do you have to give up on the BIG passions that got you started?  And how do you avoid your business falling apart if you do choose to spend time working on the big picture things?

You CAN do both.  Being a great business owner means knowing these seven common organizing and productivity mistakes and avoiding them!

1.       You Keep Using Systems That Don’t Work for You:  Who would do that? Many if not most small business owners.  Your day is full of systems, or repeated actions.  You may have systems for following up with clients, organizing paperwork, or scheduling appointments.  Whatever the case for your business these systems have to work FOR YOU.

If you buy into a system that is touted to be the best, and you can’t get yourself to commit to it or aren’t having the same results as others than it isn’t the best system FOR YOU.  Bad ineffective systems leave customers upset and take up lots of your time.  Effective systems lead to happy clients and easily delegated responsibilities.

2.       Thinking Your Brain Can Hold it All:  The other great thing about effective systems- it means you don’t have to keep everything in your head, and you shouldn’t. When you had a couple clients and were getting started maybe you kept appointments and reminders in your head.  As your business increases the chances of something slipping through the cracks increases.

Don’t miss appointments, follow-ups, or emails because you didn’t record it somewhere. Also when you have everything in your head others have a much harder time picking up the ball and helping you.

3.       Not Having Employees to Help You Soon Enough: It can be hard to delegate.  You want to make sure that EVERYTHING is just how you want it to be, it is your business.  Your big dream.  The problem is that if you want to see your big dream become a reality you are going to have to delegate.  Having an assistant to help you accomplish the day to day things means you have more time and energy for the big picture goals.

Don’t wait until you are drowning to hire that person.  While you may get lucky and find someone ready to hit the ground running who can pick up your systems with little effort, chances are more likely you will need to train your new assistant and build confidence in them before you let them loose.

4.       Not Using Your Employees to Their Full Potential: You’ve gotten the help you need.  Now you have to use them well.  Many small business owners pass out responsibility willy-nilly.  This leaves you and your employees unsure what you will be doing, what they will be doing, and often how it should be done.

Have a plan, a detailed plan for how you will delegate work and how you expect work to be done.  It will save you time and money.

5.       Becoming Involved in Every Detail, or Not Being Involved at All:  You’ve found your employees, you’ve delegated work to them effectively. Now what?  You need to step back and let them handle the day-to-day responsibilities, it is why you hired them!  Keeping yourself involved in every detail, even after you found and trained someone, keeps you out of the big picture dreams that NEED you.

On the flip side check in once and awhile.  This is your business you need to remain connected to the everyday work to make sure it is running effectively.

6.       When There is a Disaster, You Don’t Have a Backup Plan:  Who will handle your assistant’s work if they get sick, hurt, go on vacation, or have a baby? You need a plan for when your primary employee is unavailable, because at some point it will happen. Who will cover for them? Layout a system that allows for others to pick up where they left off.

7.       Believing That Disorder and Confusion are Just a Way of Life: They aren’t.  Sure there will be times of transition, but that should not be your everyday reality. Believing that they are inevitable gives you and your staff permission to function in chaos. 

You need solid systems in place for organizing paperwork,   and great people in place to help with the everyday work.  Give yourself time to work on the BIG dreams while still remaining involved in your day to day business.  Start working on these seven areas and your small business can run smoothly and be profitable too!