Mastery: Step 1 to Build A Better Business

by Richard Norris, Action International

Over a series of 4 articles we will begin to spell out for Perthshire Business Owners the initial 4 Steps to help them to build a better business. In order these steps are - Mastery Niche Leverage Team It is highly probable that your business is at one or several of these steps at the moment.

The steps to build your business are the same whether you are a start-up or established business. Ask yourself "Are the areas in my business where I am fire-fighting or out of control?"

Well, if you answered, "Yes" then it is likely your business needs Mastery to move your business from chaos to control.

There are 3 key areas of Mastery - Money, Time and Delivery.

Money Mastery involves establishing clear budgeting and reporting for your business.

So do you have a budget with financial controls and regular reporting e.g. monthly Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet and Cashflow? If not then ask "How do I know how well my business is performing?"

So by setting a budget, especially for profit, you can begin to better manage and monitor your performance and set financial targets. If not you run a higher risk particularly of cashflow challenges or even failure. Poor cashflow is a key cause for business failure - 80% fail in the first 2 years primarily for this reason.

Do you always feel time challenged, working 50-80 hours per week and getting paid the least amount than anyone in your business? If so, "Ouch!". Time Mastery is required.

To regain control of your time, we need to audit your time i.e. how you use it on a daily basis. Completing this exercise, one client saved 10 hours within the first week! What could you do with that extra time?

There are 4 categories of time use - distraction, delusion, demand and the Zone. The ultimate goal is for you to work in the Zone at least 20% of your time working on important but not urgent strategic tasks that such as planning, budgeting etc.

With Delivery Mastery, how consistent is your product and/or service delivery? If your delivery is inconsistent then it is probable that you are either challenged gaining repeat business or are challenged to gain new business. Consistency reassures customers and keeps them coming back. Customers have confidence on an ongoing basis that what they are buying will be provided consistently.

So we identify your areas for improvement e.g. operational bottlenecks or complaint areas. Then we need to install a means of testing and measuring these areas, provide team training and write corrective systems that improve the delivery.

Without Mastery of your Money, Time or Delivery what are the consequences to you and your business? If you attain Mastery, what will be the benefits?

If you would like to learn more about how to gain Mastery in your business or have other challenges relating to the running of your business, call me, your local business coach Richard Norris, on 01738 450401, or visit my website www.actioncoaching.com/richardnorris. Richard can help you take your business to the next level so that you can achieve success that you would never have thought possible.