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10 Steps to a Financially Sound Business
The Plain Dealer --
By: Leslie Yerkes
Every so often, just to keep my perspective sharp, I ask myself two questions: "Given what I know now, would I start my business again?" and "If I weren't doing this, what would I be doing?"
The answer to the second question is: "I'm not sure, but I know I'd be in business for myself, " and the answer to the first is: "Do you have to ask?"
If you're an entrepreneur, being in business for yourself is the only thing you would consider doing. You would rather spend 14-hour days working for yourself that 40-hour weeks working for someone else.
You know the risks and joys of owning your own business, of doing your own thing. You've made it past the 85 percent failure rate of the first three years. You've enjoyed the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
But unless you've created a fiscally responsible and financially stable company, you don't have something you can sell, especially if you are still dependent on your skills as a producer. Actually, what you have is a job you can't get fired from. If you're over the hump in your business and you would like to create a future for your company that does not rely entirely on you, here are 10 ideas that will help generate a financially sound organization: - Develop big, hairy audacious goals. Jim Collins, author of "Built to Last," discovered the one thing that successful businesses older than 100 years had in common was that they consistently set goals beyond their current capabilities. You have to think big to win.
- Create the vision and communicate it. It is up to you to develop the vision for your company and to ensure that every employee knows what it is and how to evaluate their actions and decisions based on that vision.
- Fine-tune your plan. Keep your planning cycle short; plan, do, debrief, modify, plan again. Set aside time to plan and evaluate, then modify your plan and work it again. You don't need plans that are gloriously printed and bound; notes on legal pads do just fine. Just remember to evaluate and modify.
- Take risks. Not death defying, outrageously stupid risks. Don't sit pat. You never "get there" in business because the world moves too fast. If you don't let go of the saddle horn, you can't rope the steer.
- Maintain an abundance perspective. There should always be something to do, somewhere to grow. Seeing the bright side of the situation may not be the only road to success, but it is surely the best lighted.
- Acknowledge burnout. Take a break. The best way to avoid burnout is to find your natural cycle and plan and take vacations as often as you need. Think how productive you are when you come back from a vacation. Prevention is the best cure.
- Build a dream team. Find the best people and pay them what they're worth. Can you afford to compete using junior high school players?
- Learn to let go. To build your business, you have spent years holding tightly to the reins. You're in the home stretch, and it's time to give your horse its head. Let go. In business, you do this by trusting your employees. Allow them to fail. That's the secret to success.
- Learn to ask for help. A business can only be as large as its capabilities. The quickest and easiest way to increase your capabilities is to allow people to help. Ask for help from your employees, your friends and even your competitors.
- Work and plan with persistence and tenacity. Be determined. Remain focused. It's your plan, and the success of the business depends on it.
If you follow these 10 steps, you can build a business that will be fiscally responsible and financially stable. But keep in mind that no matter how successful your business becomes, there is never any finish line. If you don't continue to grow, you will go bust.
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