So much of growing your business from the ground up is a strictly hands-on affair, from raising the funds before you’ve registered the company name to hiring the first employee, it can feel strange when you’ve got to take a step back from the business. But this should be the ultimate goal. And now, a successful business can work self-sufficiently, even without employees. Now, to clarify, this doesn’t mean you should get rid of your workers, but you need to find ways for your company to generate revenue and customers while little things are bubbling away in the background. Much like a passive income, where you are able to accrue money without trying, you’ve got to apply this to your business dealings. What are the best ways to do this?
Automating Processes
Automation is the word on everybody’s lips. It’s hardly a surprise when people are so excited about what automation can do. After all, if you have spent so long painstakingly grafting at something, when you could have used your time more effectively on more pertinent matters, finding out that something can be automated can make your day! These days, automation can work in so many ways. You can visit Sharp Spring for more information on marketing automation, but the very essence of marketing automation means you can generate additional custom without trying. Drip-feeding social media, CRM systems that can gradually communicate with customers, as well as details being linked to a centralized system are a few ways that automation has made so many employees’ roles redundant. If you have good employees, rather than having them input numbers into a system, automating these basic administrative procedures can free them up to work on other tasks.
Delegating More Than Leading
For a business to be truly self-sufficient, at least from the perspective of the leader, you’ve got to begin severing those ties as soon as possible. The failure of a business owner to delegate early on in the proceedings can cause problems further down the line. Not just in a professional sense, but in a personal sense. A business owner that grafts at their company, molding it into something from nothing, can find it difficult to give up their baby. We see these business leaders all the time, they are so afraid to put their trust in other people that they are stifling their company’s progress. This is a lesson we all need to learn as soon as possible. If you want your business to become a self-sufficient entity, you’ve got to practice the art of letting go. This means as soon as you’ve got to the point where you are pleased with the progress of your workers and the company, you can put your trust in your employees’ abilities. This means delegating more and leading less. By all means, you don’t need to run away, but you have to ensure that on occasion the business can function without you. What would happen if you were unwell? And if you had to give clearance for every little process or piece of paper, it’s going to highlight just how integral you are to everything. If nobody can move without you saying so, this will cause ructions, not just for the business, but your employees will slowly begin to leave the sinking ship.
Stepping Away From It Entirely…
There is going to be a point when you will begin to look for further endeavors. Whether this is expanding the company or branching out into new territories, you’ve got to practice stepping away from the company. Ultimately, your business needs to function without you. And if you’ve spent countless 18-hour days keeping your company afloat, when the time comes for you to step away, the business won’t be able to function, and you won’t bear to part with it. Stepping away from it is not just about delegating so you have fewer duties, but also taking off for prolonged periods of time will help you. This can feel difficult, to begin with. But what this teaches you over time is that your business will be able to function without you, and you are able to move onto the next phase of your life.
…So It Helps You Live Your Life!
Getting your business to operate under the radar isn’t just about automating processes, but it’s about making sure that you’ve got the right pieces of the puzzle in place so that you don’t need to step in until it’s necessary. That temptation to check your emails in the middle of the night is a very telling sign that you’re not able to part with the business so easily. It also shows that you aren’t able to put your trust in others. The art of keeping a business bubbling away without your input means you’ve got to let it go. Instead of removing the band-aid quickly, peel it slowly. Take a Friday afternoon off, and don’t check your emails. Gradually you build up your time away and it becomes easier. Sure, that first Monday morning after that the Friday afternoon off, you may very well dread going in because of the disaster that awaits you, but in reality, the company will not have gone bust! Your business has taken over your life, but if you want your business to be self-sustaining, you need to step away so you can live your life.
We can seem tentative to give up any aspects of our business because we can believe that it’s relinquishing control. But it’s your business, and you’re making life easier, not just for you, but your employees. By automating, but also loosening your grip on the company will help everybody to breathe. It’s a nice feeling to go away on Friday afternoon and come back on Monday morning having lived your life, but also come back to some good news. But if you never leave the office, you will know how your business will progress without you. Giving your business the ability to function with automated processes and by delegating will work wonders.
