1. Be Great at Hiring

‘A Players’ are a key component to having a successful business. It is critical that your small business invests in the hiring/recruiting process.

You need to be able to learn how to consistently identify talent and keep them in your network. Having a talent pool will help you avoid rushing your hires when the need to add a new team member comes up. Rushing your hires, is an extremely expensive and costly mistake.

Additionally, many small business owners don’t have a good process for interviewing people to identify who to hire. ‘The Who Method’ of hiring is a great system that gives some standardization to your process and helps avoid the mis-hire that has probably plagued your business in the past.

2. You Have to Pay to Play

You cannot always be in the mode of keeping costs as low as possible, and hiring the cheapest available person. Step up and invest in human capital and don’t be scared to spend money to grow your business.

Your employees are your primary revenue generators and are not a cost. Invest in them by paying well, coaching them, and providing avenues to improve their skillsets and career. You will be rewarded with loyalty, productivity, and increased company morale.

There is nothing wrong with monitoring your company costs and not letting expense creep occur. However, small businesses can be reluctant to invest in a cost that will eventually improve their business. These can be items like technology or marketing costs. Not all costs are created equal and sometimes incurring cost can help accelerate your business.

3. Stop the Constant Meetings

You will not be able to scale your business if all decisions run through you.  Many businesses owner’s control decision making by either having final sign off or addressing all decisions in the form of a meeting.

Stop the meetings and bottlenecks. Meet only when necessary and keep them short and to the point so they are purposeful.

Your organization will begin to thrive when your team understands expectations and are empowered to make decisions.

Your employees should be capable of making decisions without you, after all you hired them for a reason. Don’t be afraid to release control and let the team run with their decisions.

Also, employees should be an extension of the organization. Teach and encourage them to get out in the market and interact with potential prospects, current customers, or other key vendors. This creates better buy-in and makes your company stronger.

4. Invest in Yourself

The most successful people invest heavily in themselves. Mimic their behavior, as the best retirement plan/wealth generation tool is success.

You will be more successful as a business owner and leader by investing in yourself. Get a business coach or join organizations like EO or Vistage to improve your knowledgebase. Reading daily is extremely inexpensive and can be a game changer in terms of generating ideas, improving processes, or driving strategy.

Business is different than it was 25 years ago. Everything is changing at hyper-speeds, and you must stay ahead or on pace with ever-adjusting market dynamics.

Investing in yourself gives you an edge on the competition and can help you thrive in the good times and keep afloat during the rough patches.

5. Load Up on Your Business

Diversify, diversify, diversify…this is the one strategy almost all financial folks have in common. You must diversify to minimize risk and gain wealth. But does this apply when operating your own business?

What would happen if you didn’t diversify and loaded up your focus on just your business?

Truly take a deep-dive into your business. Are you focusing your time and energy on what your business is really good at? Are you aligned with your core customers and target audience? Are you profitable enough?

If you have a good strategy, deliver on your brand promises, and are profitable, it is almost impossible to find a better investment. Your business can provide a massive ROI to you.

The people who are really strong at building businesses are able to position it for sale, typically providing a large, one-time chunk of change.  Another alternative is to find someone to run your business. Everyone wants “passive income”, turn your business into a tool that can create this, as you sit back at home and enjoy the stream of checks.

It is hard to own a successful business. Implementing the strategies above will help you get that much closer to taking your business to the next level.