We have provided a lot of content on the technical details of your business. All of this is important. However, it is not all you need for care and feeding of your business. We have looked at tools and techniques, but we also need to use them to make our company stronger. It is not uncommon for a business owner to get myopic in their focus so let’s look at some ways to avoid this pitfall.
Care and Feeding Defined
The first step is to define some terms. When we talk about the care and feeding of your business, we are looking at two types of work. There are tasks done in your business. These are the tasks that are done to provide services or products and pay bills. It is the work the customer pays for in some fashion. Then there are the tasks done “on” your business. These are the activities that make the business stronger and larger.
For example, an author that writes a book works in the business when writing and editing. Promotional work like writing ads, book tours, and interviews is done “on” the business. In some cases, there is work that covers both task types. For the author example, the interviews may provide research and experience to use in a future book.
Finding Balance
In typical businesses, most of the work will be in the business early on. This short-term focus is why some owners never grow their business. They get so focused on keeping the company alive that they forget to work on its growth. Eventually, these start-ups die out because they end up trading time for money. When the chief driver of growth (the owner) is selling the majority of their time to survive, they have to earn enough to cover current and future expenses. This is due to work done on the business requiring a cut in the time put in.
I see this particular problem a lot in consulting and niche companies. The primary product is effectively the owner and their skills. Thus, the time spent away from using those skills to generate revenue impacts the bottom line in a negative way.
Even when a business is starting out, there should be at least some time set aside to focus on improvement and growth. Put simply, some amount of time must be used to gain more customers, improve margins and increase productivity.
On Schedule
One of the perks of working at Google is (maybe was, I am not sure if they still do this) that a day a week is left to the employee. The employees are urged to work on special projects, research, and learning. Effectively a day a week is devoted to growth. This contribution may be more than you can afford. If so, start with ten percent of the week dedicated to working on the business. Thus, schedule a four-hour block (or two blocks of two hours) and make it a recurring part of your plan.
If you are working a side hustle or part time business, then set aside at least one to two hours each week to work on your business. I say each week because I have found that a regular (at least weekly) focus on growth is required for momentum. A monthly block of time for growth is too much distance between each session. This will cause a lot of time to be wasted resetting yourself mentally and tracking growth tasks.
Simple Start
Whether you have a full business or a little side hustle, add growth to your plan this week. When you spend as little as an hour a week, you will find your business needs more than serving customers. It needs to seek out and plan for growth. This time is an investment in the company that you will be glad you made.
