Perspective Is Important

Different stages of developing a business and different external factors can force a need to take a different look at the day to day of running your business.

The last few years we have seen some exceptional changes, from Brexit to Covid, causing problems for small businesses - the majority were not prepared for the implications, especially on their cash levels.

This and all of the day to day activities of any business mean ever increasing challenges for the small business owner, some require looking at the big picture - you need to plan for the future and keep aiming for bigger things, even just in order to stay still, while others require some attention to detail.

The big picture is important to see what is going on around you, to assess the competition and to keep up with new technology, to maintain your place in the market or even start looking towards the future and a change in step or bigger growth.

In today's market, recruitment and keeping staff happy is a big issue and can be a very expensive one - to stay competitive in the market, being aware of what other companies are offering will help in identifying where your business excels or otherwise may be missing a trick.

Take a closer look at what is going on in your own business and you may find the flexibility you offer or the working base location, is second to none, don't be afraid to celebrate the small wins.

You may, however, notice that there are things creeping in that don't look so good.

To get metaphorical for a minute - I'm not an expert on trees but zooming in closer to the trees above and they look a lot more detailed and textured!

There are times you need to take a step further into the business to make sure the little issues don't become big problems.

Staff management is one area that needs personal attention at least on occasion, letting one employee have something that another can't, has a tendency to cause little niggles that you don't know about until the most productive staff decide to leave.

Product development can also be affected by small things becoming a problem - are your suppliers still providing the same quality with the same reliability? Do you have quality controls in place or do you measure productivity to know if things are changing?

As a business owner, your time is one of the most significant resources but it is also finite. You need to assess where is the best place to spend your time and you need to know when to get involved in the detail and when to step back.

In the early days you need to be figuring out what message you want your company to give, where do you want to fit in the market, how quickly do you want to scale the business, if at all, and what culture you want to be creating. Once you know this you can put the policies and processes in place to make sure your team is on the same page, if they know what you want, then with the right team there will be no stopping you!

Good Luck - you will make it happen!