Stages of Business - Which one are you?
Baby Business Characteristics:
- Your business is fairly new and seems to need a lot of time and attention
- Sometimes things seem quiet like the business is sleeping.
- You’re not quite sure what to do with this baby or if you’re doing things right.
- You’re still testing things out and not even sure if what you’re doing is sustainable.
Start Here:
- The right name
- Clear marketing message
- Website and SEO
- Set up a FB page
- Start an email list
- Write a monthly newsletter
Toddler Business Characteristics:
- Super busy, and your business can feel overwhelming.
- You feel scattered like there’s always a mess somewhere.
- You’re distracted and not sure if you should hire help or just get more organized.
- You know you need some systems but are tired and can hardly see straight.
Focus on:
- Your systems: Todoist, Google Calendar, Trello
- Hire one admin to be your assistant
- Say “no” to things that are not income-producing
- Work on boundaries and margin
Teenaged Business Characteristics:
- You’ve been in business for a while and you’re ready for some freedom
- You can’t take a vacation or get away without basically shutting everything down
- You know you need some freedom from the business, but you’re not sure which steps to take in which order
Work on this:
- Hire multipliers to do the work that you do
- Increase admin help
- Increase your marketing
- Tighten up your systems
- Increase checks and balances and visibility of what you expect
- Be the CEO and the manager of your company
Young Adult Characteristics:
- Your business doesn’t need you as much for the day-to-day operations.
- You can go on vacation!
- You’re profitable!
- Your staff is handing things for you.
- The business is running itself at this point and you have a lot more freedom.
Work on this:
- The business still needs you. You will still need to check in with your staff and act as their coach.
- Regular staff meetings are recommended, although you may have a manager handling the bulk of the meetings.
- Continue to make high-level decisions and oversee marketing and hiring.
- Life is good! You should be able to work from anywhere, you are not location bound, you will have a lot more freedom, and you will have money flowing in to show for all your labors!!
- Decide if you’d like to start a second location, start a second business, sell the business, or retire!