People often pursue business ownership for the allure of personal freedom, or out of a desire to make a positive impact in their industry. What many find, however, is they get trapped working more hours, taking on more responsibility, and then lacking the time and energy to make progress toward their original goals and dreams. Without intentional planning and conscious effort, working for yourself can end up less desirable and less rewarding than simply being an employee for someone else.
Project Management
Business ownership is indefinite, making it easy to fall into the trap of constantly aiming for moving targets, and chasing finish lines which are always just over the horizon. Part of the solution is defining more clear goals with shorter timelines. Part of it is knowing when to take a break and go back to a project later, so you don’t burn out from working too much without feeling like you ever make real progress. The other part is breaking down all your goals into small enough pieces that you can keep moving forward toward bigger outcomes without feeling lost or getting overwhelmed.
Aside from the practical ability to get things done, you need to be sure to have a balance of projects so you are working both in your business and on your business. You might be your only employee right now, but that doesn’t mean you only have one job. Your business also requires you to do sales, marketing, and administrative tasks to sustain your income and grow your business. Even though you might be able to do everything yourself right now, time and project management are crucial to getting it all done, and keeping everything from falling apart.
People Management
As a business owner, especially starting out, you will find yourself needing to wear many different hats. Eventually, though, the time comes that putting on too many hats begins to erode your focus, preventing you from taking your operations to the next level of success. If you don’t have a business partner, there will come a point when it will be necessary to hire someone, even part time, to offload some of your tasks.
It may be obvious to you that you’ll need to involve more people to get all the jobs done and run your business. And it’s usually not hard to get excited about having other people do things that take up time you’d rather be working on other things. What’s often not as clear or easy, though, is accepting which hats you simply can no longer wear, even if you like wearing them.
Your ability to trust others with important tasks without controlling everything, and your willingness to let others help with responsibilities you happen to enjoy, is what allows you to focus on new and different roles and responsibilities that, truly, only you can do.
Finance Management
At Enclave Marketing, we follow and recommend the practices in the Profit First system, by Mike Michalowicz. The Profit First system is an accounting method that not only helps you maintain a profit from day one (even if you start very small), but also simplifies operational budgeting, investment planning, and tax withholding.
Part of the challenge of running a business is knowing how much money you (actually) have, how to spend it, how much to pay yourself, and not getting caught with a tax bill you can’t cover at the end of the year. Profit First helps solve those problems, so you can have peace of mind about your bank accounts, and the confidence to make the investments required to grow your business without running out of money.
Help is on the way!
All three of these disciplines have three things in common, which are Frameworks, Processes, and Systems. Frameworks help you organize your thoughts and goals, so you know what to do and where you’re going. Processes help you see the steps and actions needed to reach your goals, and enable you to teach others to do your old jobs while you focus on new roles. Systems help you keep track of information, and provide structure and automation to your processes.
Enclave Marketing was founded on these principles to help you grow your business in a way that is logical, predictable, and stable.
We have a robust proprietary Project and Asset Management system that helps our team and yours stay on track and on the same page about what’s happening behind the scenes while we work on big projects together. With Enclave managing your brand and marketing, you’re adding an entire team of experts to help run your business – all for less than the cost of a single employee who wouldn’t be able to do nearly as much as we can. We also care about making sure your investment in marketing sees a return, and that you don’t run out of money to market your business before it pays off.
No pressure to buy
If you would like to learn more about how these disciplines apply to your business, or what Enclave Marketing can do to help you manage and grow your brand, use the link on our Contact Us page to schedule an appointment. Someone from our team will offer you some insights about what you can do next to make the biggest impact in your sales and marketing. If we don’t have the solution you need right now, we’ll point you in the right direction and offer as many resources as we can to get you on the right path.
