Business Owner FAQs
Being an entrepreneur is exhilarating yet challenging path. While the freedom and sense of ownership can be incredibly empowering, it’s natural to feel isolated or overwhelmed at times. If you’ve found yourself grappling with uncertainties or doubts, know that you’re not alone. Many business owners face similar struggles, and I’m here to help you navigate them with confidence.
Here are some answers and insights to frequently asked questions and struggles that business owners often experience. Please reach out to me if you’d like to learn more about how to solve any of these issues!
What to do when your business is not growing?
Take a step back and re-examine your company’s long-term vision. Get crystal clear on your 1-year, 3-year, 10-year targets, and marketing strategy. Create a structured meeting rhythm and try to make sure you’re using the meeting time to discuss and efficiently solve issues by getting to the root of the problem. This helps maintain progress towards your vision. Consider having an experienced business coach to provide an outside perspective and accountability.
Why would a business not want to grow?
Sometimes, we’ve hit the max of how many people you want in your business, or how many customers you want to serve. You get to decide how big you want your business. But no matter what size you want to be, we don’t want the business running you. Often business owners feel trapped or stuck, and they are working way harder than they need to work. There is a simpler way. Whether you have the wrong people in certain roles, undocumented and unfollowed processes, or lack an accountability structure, it’s crucial to have the right tools and processes and build a high-performing team aligned with your vision before growth continues, should you choose it.
How to retain good employees?
Having a clear, actively lived-out set of company core values and cultivating an open, honest organizational culture is key. Often business owners are not trying to do a bait and switch, but the words they say are their culture don’t always match the real behaviors of the organization. You need to discover your true core values, so you can hire, fire, reward, review, and recognize according to them. Employees should have total clarity on the goals of the business, their roles within the company, and how they contribute to moving the company toward those goals. When businesses operate with focus, and discipline and foster greater work-life balance, it reduces employee burnout.
How to manage my business?
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to effective business management. However, successful operating systems provide comprehensive, practical tools for optimizing all the key components of your business – vision, people, data, resolving issues, processes, and executing with traction. Following a proven system with an experienced guide equips you to manage your business and reach your goals.
How will you make sure that your business is profitable?
Driving profit requires setting realistic, measurable goals around margins, cash flow, etc., and tracking the important KPIs weekly. With this close monitoring, you will be able to identify negative trends and identify and solve issues before they start to really hurt your business. An outside coach can provide extra accountability for those goals.
What is the best way to hire someone?
You need to know who you are as a company, and then be clear to those you’re interviewing and hiring. You should be hiring, firing, and rewarding according to your core values. Following a defined process for hiring is crucial. By first having the vision and roles of the business clearly defined, you’ll be able to determine pretty quickly whether or not a person is right for the seat. Don’t forget the importance of a consistent interview process to make great hires aligned with your values.
How do you know when it's time to fire someone?
With clearly defined roles, core values, and vision, it’s relatively simple to determine when the right time is to part ways with an employee. By objectively assessing employees across criteria like skills, willingness, and organizational fit, you can create a framework for making tough decisions around letting someone go while removing emotion. It’s how we make this intangible topic, tangible.
How do you improve business operations?
It revolves around strengthening all the core components of your business, including documenting processes with simple tools. By identifying and solving process inefficiencies (with professional guidance, for best results) you and your entire team will have clarity around all major business operations and what to do when certain issues arise. There will be documented steps so anyone can resolve the issue quickly and efficiently.
How to delegate as a business owner?
Build a leadership team with clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Use visual tools and processes to codify this structure. By creating and using certain accountability tools and holding regular and structured meetings, you’ll learn to effectively delegate priorities while maintaining ownership.
How to maintain growth?
Growth is driven by continually reinforcing your long-term vision through consistent quarterly planning and reviews. Track key metrics and resolve issues through root cause analysis, and execute on growth-oriented SMART goals that move the business forward as a whole.
How to let go of tasks or day to day of my business?
While it’s easier said than done, the basic steps include:
- Adopting processes that encourage you to step back and see the big picture, looking at your business from a different perspective.
- Finding the right people for every role within your business to ensure you have the perfect team to handle daily responsibilities.
- Having solid process documentation and structured accountability meetings allows you to step away from tasks and creates systems that allow you to let go.
Schedule a free introductory call to learn more about EOS and business coaching:
Barb Reimbold
Grand Rapids, MI
(616) 914-4417
barb.reimbold@eosworldwide.com
Contact me to schedule a free introductory call to learn more about my approach as an EOS Implementor.
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