It’s no small feat to build a small business. Most entrepreneurs and small business owners invest time, money, and passion into their ventures. But it’s not just that investment, and their commitment to it, that makes their business a success. If you’re looking for long term success, you’ll need to consistently invest, building habits and work flows that build rather than create chaos. Today we’re covering 5 daily essentials for building a successful small business. Their items that the pros use to make sure they’re keeping on track and reaching their goals. Put these in place from day one, or even start implementing them today and we’re pretty sure you’ll see positive changes coming your way.
1. Check in With Your Vision & Goals
It may seem simplistic to say remember your vision and goals – everyday. But that’s exactly what you should do. The hard part isn’t the remembering it’s holding yourself accountable and getting achievable goals and a clear vision set in the first place. There are lots of ways to get a vision for your business, but the best one we know of is to simply take some time and ask yourself what you want to accomplish. Not sure? Answer these questions:
- what do you want to accomplish this year?
- where do you see yourself in 5 years?
- what type of problems does your business solve?
- what type of person are you helping?
After you’ve done this for your business, list out specific products and/or services and do the same. Who are you helping with this product? What would you like to see happen with this product during the year? How are you going to make it happen?
As you check in daily on your vision and goals, you’ll notice that your goals may shift over time – your vision however, should stay pretty much the same. Realigning yourself to your vision and refocusing on your goals on a daily basis helps you to stay accountable and keeps you focused on what’s important in your business.
We share some ideas on how to stay inspired on your goals and build your business here.
2. Review your Books
For many entrepreneurs and small business owners the idea of checking the books daily is overwhelming. When we mention reviewing the books on a daily basis, we’re not suggesting that you spend much time reviewing all the tiny details – that’s a process that’s more effective if done monthly. Instead a daily review of your books should be a few moments where you focus on the financials of your business. You should know if you’re making or losing money at any given time during the month. You also should have a good idea of what products/services are selling well and what seem to be lagging. Even if you’re a solopreneur or you manage the majority of your business happenings – keeping a ‘Review the Books’ mindset means that you’ll be wise in making business decisions because you’re aware of where you stand financially at all times. The daily process should take only a few minutes and be empowering, for example: “Today I’m going to see if I can market, sell, or promote Product X and keep moving towards my goal of increasing my monthly net income by XX amount.”
If bookkeeping isn’t really a thing for your business, we’d suggest getting it established. You can check out our secret formula for getting started here and learn some simple strategies for effective bookkeeping here.
3. Touch Base With Customers
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs still spend a ton of time talking to clients. Why? Well, without them there wouldn’t be much of a business to begin with. Taking a few minutes to touch base with customers every day is one of the best things we can think of to create a successful business. Here’s a few reasons why:
- learning from customers helps you hone your current offerings
- customer service is responsible for more than half of customer satisfaction – reaching out and making sure you’re getting it done for those that do business with you is just plain smart
- expressing a little gratitude towards those you work with/for goes a long way – you’re putting a little bit of gratitude out into the universe, but it also helps build life long customers
You’ll find a lot of direction can be found in talking to your customers. Plus, the info you glean from these interactions should fuel you to create additional offerings, improve current services, or spend more time promoting the products you have. Interacting with customers takes time, but it also can provide some of the most valuable information out there.
4. Strategize with Employees or a Business Ally
Small business owners often operate in silos because they’re more invested in their work than those that they employ. That’s not to say that your employees don’t care about the work they do, but that they’re not as invested because it’s not their ideas, money, or passion they’re implementing. If you’re a solopreneur it’s a good idea to find a business ally – someone that’s also spending time on their own ventures – to bounce ideas off of. If you’re employing workers, we suggest spending a few minutes to strategize with them because as you brainstorm better ways to do things with those you employ, you’re utilizing the skills they bring to the table as well as empowering them to be more invested in the work they do because they helped create the plan.
5. Step Away & Unwind
Taking a moment to step away and unwind from your business ventures is vital to being successful. No one builds an empire overnight, and they definitely don’t accomplish it if they’re burned out. Taking at least a few minutes (we’d recommend at least 1 hour) to take a walk, have lunch, pursue a hobby, or spend time with family and friends actually fuels your passion rather than depletes it. Whatever you do, make sure you’re balanced in the time spent between being hands on and stepping away. We find that some of our best work happens when we head back to the office after we’ve taken an hour or two to refuel our passion and unwind from the pressures of work.
What other things do you do daily to ensure your business success? We’d love to hear about them in the comments.
