Streamline Your Path

A. Learn How To Grow Your Company

Develop KPI's

Key Performance Indicators are the most important metrics of your business. They give you the heartbeat of your company. KPI's allow you to spot good and bad trends, so that you can do something about it. Come up with 5-15 to start and always try to keep it in that range. Too many and you just end up with split focus, unable to accomplish real results. Too few, and you risk only seeing part of the picture. HERE is a website that does a great job at describing what KPI's are and how to develop them. Also, try reading Gino Wickman's books, "Traction" and "Get A Grip". He goes into great detail with many examples of how to implement KPI's.

Learn From Others

Learning from others is perhaps the greatest tool we can utilize in growing a business. Find individuals that have "been there, done that". Reach out to businesses like yours, that are based in another state or country than yours. You'll find that these business owners, that are far from ever competing with you, are much more likely to offer you their business specific wisdom.

Create BHAG's(Big Hairy Audacious Goal)

Creating a big vision helps to establish a framework to build on. How often do we push off doing something because we feel that it needs to wait for other things to happen first? We want to challenge you to push the envelope. Reach for the stars, so that you can at least land on the moon. HERE is a great resource, where Jim Collins explains BHAG's.

B. Pay Attention To Your Debt

Invest In Positive Cash Flow Producing Assets

When it comes to growing any business, the goal is to produce PROFIT. Look for opportunities to invest in new equipment, software, research or even specific-to-your-business training. This investment should show a direct increase in profitability and positive cash flow. Try to avoid putting assets on your Balance Sheet that don't directly increase the bottom line.

Don't Spend Money Just To Avoid Taxes

Instead, avoid negative cash flow producing assets. This is a big mindset piece. It can actually force you to figure out ways to grow the business, instead of taking the easier route to buying negative cash flow producing assets. When a buyer looks at a business, they don't want to see a bunch of the business cash and profitability spent on things that don't correlate to a direct increase to the bottom line. Everything else just bloats the Balance Sheet.

Don't Buy Toys

This is on the same line of thought. If something is bought that doesn't have a direct correlation to producing profit, try to avoid it. Do you really need that new company vehicle every year? Does the office need those brand new computers, even though the current ones work just fine now? Try to treat your business funds like the IRS will audit them every year. Make it run like a lean, mean, efficient machine. Use the business funds to grow the business, so that you can sell the business to grow the toy portfolio.

C. Build Your Business Team

Overhead Staff

This is your management dream team. There are a couple key overhead staff positions that a buyer will look for. Perhaps most important is the CFO. You need to have that person on your team that can understand the numbers both reactively and proactively. Even better, if you can find a CFO that can think like a CPA, you've hit gold. Another key position to have filled is a Salesman. So many small businesses stop short of the owner being the only, if not the main, Salesman. Start building your sales team NOW. A buyer doesn't want to buy a business that loses its key revenue driver from day 1. Even if your business isn't big enough right now to support these overhead positions on payroll, start planning ahead. Research what type of person will fit that position and figure out exactly when the numbers make sense to hire them. Until you can afford your own in-house CFO and Sales Team, try finding other companies that specialize in helping small businesses in those areas on an "a-la-carte" basis.

Production Staff

Depending on the type of business you own, your overhead and production staff may be closer to one-in-the-same. The overhead staff goes into supporting your production staff, as the production staff directly boost that top line Revenue. Your production staff will be very specific to your business. Try to create a predictable hiring process. Take some of those KPI's and figure out where they need to be in order to trigger another hire. Everyone knows the current labor market is making it extremely difficult to hire. Don't let that excuse stop you. You can figure it out. You could even try finding a company like yours in another state and ask them. If they are at least able to hire more readily than you, try to implement their process. Problems are huge opportunities.

Advisors

Having a team of advisors or mentors can't be emphasized enough. Find someone/s who have retired from a business such as yours. Ask them for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Soak it up like a sponge. It's usually much easier to learn from someone who's been there, than having to learn it yourself. That CFO mentioned above is also a very important advisor. Try to find one as soon as possible that can translate and speak your language. Even if it's just to have them look at your books once-per-quarter to give guidance. Then don't stop at just one. Have another CFO give your financials a second look. Getting that practical understanding of where the numbers can take you is priceless.