7 Tips Every Business Owner Needs to Know

Every business owner is a leader, but that doesn’t mean they have all the answers, nor do they get it right every time. Being a leader can be very lonely, and without support and encouragement, a leader can lose confidence and make some wrong decisions.

Standard errors of judgement include trying to do everything, not delegating enough, to not being present and letting the business run itself! In this article, we have some pointers for the business owners who need to get back on track.

Take Time Out

There seems to be an attitude in the business world that your business should consume every minute of your life if you want to have “success”. Success in itself is a subjective term as it means different things to all of us. That being said, it’s important to remember that even when you’re a business owner, other things are just as important as running your business, including your relationships, your physical and mental health.

What you don’t want is an early exit from your business due to unforeseen circumstances like a physical or mental health event.
Selling too soon can be dire, and the odds are not likely to be in your favor – only 5% of businesses sell so for your business to do so before it’s reached it’s potential it might need to be a fire-sale.

It’s ok to take a break, regardless of what popular opinion or the business gurus say. Yes, running a business is hard work, and it will most certainly require much effort and determination, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend every waking hour running the business.

No one is indispensable, and that includes the person at the helm. Taking holidays like your employees do, will provide perspective on what your business means to you and so on how you’re running it. Do you need a manager to take over daily operations or if that is what you’re inherently good at, maybe you need to hire a CEO, someone who isn’t afraid to delegate responsibilities and tasks.

A Business Doesn’t Run Itself

Letting go of the reigns and letting the business decide its own course will be detrimental to your hard work to date. Even when you have the right help with superb staff, a company needs a leader who will lead.

Your strengths may lie in technology and product development or selling but not people management; therefore either you skill up with some training and mentoring, or you allow someone you trust to do the job. There is no failure in recognising your shortcomings, quite the opposite is true. Your business will survive and thrive due to your heightened awareness of your strengths and weaknesses.

Knowing Your Strengths is Crucial

As with anything in life, you must know your strengths to run your business effectively. Knowing where you fall short can help you find the motivation to train harder and learn new skills, and being aware of where your strengths lie can encourage you to reach for new heights.

Perhaps you’re great at time management, but not so great at people management. Or, you might be wonderful at money management and planning, but terrible at marketing or interacting with customers. This brings us to our next tip if it makes sense outsource it, just do it.

Outsourcing Can Be The Answer

The services industry contributes a good chunk to the global economy and outsourcing is a service sector that’s yet to hit its peak. Organisations have turned to outsource to save both time and money and to ensure that certain aspects of the business are professionally managed.

There’s hardly an aspect of business that can not be outsourced now. Think of the large brands like Nike, where manufacturing and their back-office is outsourced. Other large retailers and indeed companies of all sizes now see value in outsourcing customer support, marketing and sales, HR, accounting, payroll, and they maintain a much smaller team at head office.

Key personnel retained as employees of some businesses are all managers responsible for managing outsourcing providers, and this is a common theme in the makeup of many companies day. Sales and marketing is one area however, that’s likely to be kept inhouse.

Don’t Skimp On Marketing

As a business owner, your leadership will be the nucleus of the company culture, and you’ll want your staff believing the customer is the heartbeat of the organization, and the marketing is the lungs so to speak. Without marketing, your reach is short, and many prospective customers will never find you.

Make sure your staff realise how important marketing is to your brand awareness and reputation. Every person in the business is in some way representing the firm and promoting it. Hire the best marketing executive you can afford or outsource this function to an expert marketing agency. Another option is to some of the work inhouse and outsource the rest.

Adaptability Is Key To Success

Among your endless leadership skills is perhaps the most important one of all: adaptability. The business world is constantly changing and evolving. Just look at how we now use technology and the internet to just ten years ago. AL and machine learning and blockchain were not around and now we use them in our business, particularly in marketing.

Adapting to change isn’t always easy, but with it’s vital so work hard on how you as the business owner adapt to change and lead the way, so your staff are equally confident with the challenges presented to them.