12 Power Strategies Report | Business Growth Strategies

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12 Power Strategies to Scale Your Business Simply and Sustainably

The Two Basic Premises Of the Dynamic of Success

These two premises are important to understand. They will help to go beyond the definition of insanity – doing the same things over and over, expecting a different result.

1. Your business/life is a reflection of who you are.

A reflection of your beliefs, thinking, communication, language, behaviour and performance.

The sum of who you are today got you, your life, and your business to where it is. It gave you today’s results. If you want something different you need to be different; you must change first. You need to be the you of tomorrow to get there.

You must become congruent with your future vision in your heart and mind, today. And… have a core ideology (your Core Purpose and Values) that is your compass for why you are doing what you are doing. Using these, you can be inner guided.

2. Your business is a living, breathing organism.

It is energy in motion.

All energy is a wave, an oscillation, a rhythm of push and pull, yin and yang. There is always balance (even if at times it can be hard to see!).

There is a time to push, to be out there actively marketing and doing business and a time to pull back, slow down, stop, notice what’s working, what’s not and respond. And… a time to simply regenerate, to celebrate wins.

12 Power Strategies – a Summary

Focus

You are in business for a reason. What’s yours?
Know what you want – specifically.
Know who you must be to achieve what you want.
Know your business – what are the numbers?

Work on your business, not just in it

The purpose of a business is to create clients/customers – to help them to buy!
Think your business through.
Make sure your business is fully functioning – it is like an electrical circuit, energy in motion.
What’s working, what’s not?

Create Clarity and Direction

Know what you want to create.
Values, purpose, and vision.
Have clear aims and objectives, role descriptions, workflows, an organisational chart.
Give your team a clear brief – expectations, activities and results.

Know what you are good at

Stick to what you are good at. Stick to core activities, delegate and outsource the rest.
Remember to delegate authority along with responsibility.
If the business relies on you, it’s not a business yet. Go to the next level.
Have a team working to strengths.

Get Professional Help

Focus on what you’re great at. For the things you don’t know, get professional help. It’s worth it.
Make sure you hire business-builders.
People can be part of your team without being in your business.
Have an accountant who helps you manage cash-flow, profitability and performance.

Create free flow

Create free flow in your business. Your business has a rhythm, tap into it.
Money – cash-flow is king, the lifeblood of your business.
Work-flow – eliminate duplication, poor practices.
Communication – with staff, clients/customers, suppliers…eliminate breakdowns.

Know your Market, Client, Team, Suppliers

Do your homework!
Client profile – who are you targeting, specifically?
Target with laser focus.
Regular contact and relationships.

Leverage your resources, people, suppliers, clients/customers and marketing

Know where you are now & where you want the business to go.
Use technology.
Educate & train.
Test and measure everything – know the numbers.

Create space

In your head, workspace, physically around you, emotionally.
Be at your best mentally, physically and emotionally.
Relax, breathe.
The business is a mirror of you.

3 Principles to Apply to Everything

Simplify

Your workflows, processes and procedures.
Use common sense, simplify everything. As soon as it’s complicated it’s not working.
Simplify for your team, your clients/customers, and for your own sanity.
Eliminate unnecessary stress.

Prioritise

According to your goals, aims and core activities.
Is what you’re about to do consistent with your values, vision and purpose? If not, it does not fit.
Priorities allow you to delegate or dump.
Create a work pattern which allows you to optimise.

Use the 80/20 rule

Decisions – which 20% gives you 80% of your results, has the greatest impact?
Profits & Cash-flow…which clients/customers, products, efforts, activities, time, energy?
Focus on high performance.
Do what you love to do.

12 Power Strategies in Detail

1. Focus.

Know what you want – specifically.

In Your Life

What are your dreams and goals?

In Your Business

What is your vision?

What are your goals for the next 12 months? 90 days?

Know who you must become to achieve what you want.

What are your strengths, weaknesses?

What do you need to be good at to achieve your goal?

What training do you need?

What kind of a mindset do you need to develop?

Who are your mentors or coaches?

You are in business for a reason. What’s yours?

Get clear about why you are doing what you are doing. What’s your reason beyond money, what’s driving you, what’s your inspiration?

Know your business – what are the numbers?

Where is your business today? How’s it performing? What’s working? What’s not? What do you need to earn to break even? How much money in the bank belongs to you? What is your cash-flow pattern?

Develop your information and reporting systems. You can constantly improve every facet of your business if you take the time to stop and notice what’s working and what is not. You can focus yourself and your resources.

2. Work on your business, not just in it.

The purpose of a business is to create clients/customers = to help them to buy!!!!

To do this you must know who they are, where to find them, know their key frustrations, know what they want and how they want you to deliver it to them.

Make it easy for people to do business with you. If you don’t know how, ask your clients/customers.

Think your business through step by step

It is essential to have a plan for your business. Take the time to map out what you want to achieve and how.

Be the devil’s advocate. Challenge every process in your business. Make sure it is in its simplest form.

Make sure your business is fully functioning – your business is like an electrical circuit, energy in motion.

The basic functions of every business are Management, Finance, Marketing, Sales and Operations. Are they fully operational in your business? Is there someone who actively markets your business, products or services? Have you mapped out your sales process?

Do you have a fully operational management accounting system in place with cash-flow, profitability and performance projections for the next 3-12 months? Do you monitor and manage cash-flow and profitability regularly?

What’s working, what’s not?

Regularly check what’s working and what’s not. In your marketing & sales, test and measure everything. This way you can focus your time, energy and resources where they will produce the best results.

Create action plans that specify the desired outcome, then the action that needs to be taken, who will do it and by when. Then make sure it gets done!

3. Create clarity and direction.

Know what you are trying to create

Live it, breathe it, speak it and do it. It’s a reflection of you – of your values, purpose and vision. Write these down.

Values, purpose and vision.

Your values are the key to knowing what your destiny will be. They define your priorities at an unconscious level. They drive you. Your purpose and vision give you clear direction and inspiration.

Have clear aims and objectives, role descriptions, workflows, and an organisational chart.

Know where you are headed so you, your team and business all flow together in one direction. Write it all down. Map it out.

Give your team a clear brief

Members of your team need a clear brief, a written understanding with clear outcomes of what is expected of them, what they are supposed to do and achieve. Give your team the best opportunity to be successful.

The clearer their understanding, the happier they are. If you inspire and motivate them, they will flourish and be at their best productivity-wise. This is all part of a business action planning process.

4. Know what you are good at.

Stick to what you are good at and love to do.

Stick to your core activities, those activities that are a must for YOU to do…delegate or outsource the rest.

Go with your natural strengths and flow. You will be happier. Your core activities should be in line with your role. Some try to be everything. Utilise people inside and outside of the business to support you.

Remember to delegate authority along with responsibility

Give team members authority to make decisions. Make sure it is the right person in the right role, and they have been trained and briefed properly. If they can do what you do to 80% or better, you are free to focus on more important things.

If the business relies on you, it’s not a business yet.

Even if you are self-employed, go to the next level. Build a virtual team around you and in-source and out-source as you need to. Bring your accountant in as your part-time Chief Financial Officer.

Your Accountant’s role is everything related to numbers. Measure everything and have them help you manage your cash-flow, profitability and performance. This includes the performance of marketing and sales.

Have a team working to their strengths

If you want to build a high-performance team, have each person working to their strengths, complimenting each other where there is weakness. This includes you. Who covers your weak spots and keeps you in flow?

Let go of the myth that people are all-rounders. It is not true, no matter how much training we get. We all have natural tendencies to shine in particular ways. Build high performance pods of 3-4 people working together utilising their strengths.

5. Get Professional help.

If you don’t know something – get professional help, it’s worth it.

Your time, resources and knowledge are limited. A professional can coach you, be part of your team, give you years of experience, do things in a fraction of the time you can. They can do things you may not be good at or have any desire to do.

Make sure you hire business-builders.

Imagine having an accountant who actively partners with you to build your business. They call you each month to see how you are going, they come out to see you and run a monthly board meeting. They help you manage your cash-flow, profitability and performance. Plus, they are switched on with tax, and make sure you comply on time.

How switched on is your accountant? It took me 30 years to find one who was really what they said they were.

Not all the team needs to be in the business

Build a virtual team around you and out-source as you need to. Think of and treat these advisers as part of your team.

Have an accountant who helps you manage cash-flow, profitability and performance

Just to make sure you got the message. Be warned… they are waiting for you to brief them. They won’t tell you what you need or give you the questions to ask.

6. Create Free Flow.

Create free flow in your business.

Your business has a rhythm. Tap into it. Get a feel for your business. What must happen for it to flow, to tick along seamlessly?

Money – cash-flow is king, the lifeblood of your business

How well do you monitor and manage your cash-flow? What activities can create immediate cash-flow, short term cash-flow (within 30 days), medium term cash-flow

(30-90 days) or long-term cash-flow (90-180 days)? Where is your focus?

Workflow – eliminate duplication, poor practices

Talk to and listen to your team and clients/customers regularly to identify problems and inefficiencies. They are your frontline; work with them. Let them tell you what is working, what is not, what their frustrations and complaints are. Empower them to also come up with solutions.

Communication & Information flow – eliminate breakdowns

Track it. Draw a map of these flows. Look inside and outside of the business, including with suppliers and clients/customers. Map it. Can it be refined, made easier, less expensive, quicker?

What other flows are there in your business? Where are the blocks?

7. Know your Market, Client, Team, Suppliers.

Do your homework!

Know your business, your key clients/customers, your market, and your product in detail. Markets and businesses are dynamic so keep checking in. What is your key economic driver? For most businesses it is profit per client. How can you raise it? Where does your profit really come from? Do you know? If not, find out.

Client profile – who are you targeting, specifically?

Who is your client, specifically? Do you clearly know your ideal client profile? Are your client’s details on a database? How good, how detailed is the information? What else do you need to know about them, about what they want, how they think that would make doing business with you much easier?

Target with laser focus

The more you know about your client, about what marketing works and what doesn’t, the easier it is to target your efforts like a laser instead of a “shotgun – we hope we hit a target” approach.

Regular contact and relationships

Stay in touch. Your clients/customers, team, suppliers like to know you really care. It can be as simple as a monthly “Hi, how’s it going?” conversation.

8. Leverage your resources, people, suppliers, clients/customers and marketing.

Know where you are now & where you want the business to go

If you know what’s happening, what is working, what’s not, where you are now and what all the stakeholders need, you can focus, change and improve. Constantly check in. Have monthly board meetings.

Use technology

Use technology to create systems to make your business more efficient, to store, handle and use information effectively

Get sales automation software such as a Client Relationship Management system. Use technology to create marketing communications, sales kits etc.

Have your accounting synchronised with your marketing, sales, operations, production etc.

Educate & Train

Educate your clients/customers. The more you educate your clients/customers the more they know how to buy from you and what you can do for them. Your role is to help clients/customers buy more. Even better, turn them into advocates for your business. Let them become your salesforce.

Train your team. Recognise that you are selling through your team to your clients/customers. If you are in wholesale, you are selling through your retailers. Make sure everyone is at their best. Help them, train them. It will multiply your results.

Test and Measure everything – know the numbers

Do small tests first so you can be certain something will work. Focus on constant and never-ending improvement. Conserve money, time and energy.

9. Create Space.

In your head, workspace, physically, emotionally

Have circuit breakers. What do you need to do to relax and get back in your flow when you get stressed? Create your own circuit breakers. You may go for a walk, swim, meditate, or have a massage. Do something that gets you out of your head, back into your body to rebalance and regenerate your energy. Learn how to manage your emotions. The state you’re in affects everyone in your business.

Be at your best mentally, physically, emotionally

To be at their best, most people need room to move. This means having financial space too. Your resources are limited. You really need to manage your focus, time and activity carefully. Be a General, work on your business first. Be strategic in everything you do. Plan it, take action, and know the results you are getting at any point in time. Be willing to change strategies for anything that’s not working until it does. Tinker like nature does to find what works best.

Relax, breathe

It is the key to high performance in any sport. Create and foster high performance for yourself, your team and business. Both you and your business need to breathe. If you are stressed, unhealthy or emotional you may end up working more in your business rather than on it. You know what I mean. When it is not working, we just work harder, doing the same stuff, hoping things will improve. Sadly, hope is not a strategy.

The business is a mirror of you

Be, do and have. First, you must be your vision now: visualise it, think it, breathe it, speak it, believe it, love it and then, take action.

Three Principles to Apply to Everything

10. Simplify.

Your Workflows, processes and procedures

Create maps, draw them, and write them down so you can see them, to think them through and get different, clearer perspectives. This can also be the start of getting your policies and procedures documented – how we do things here. Simply add the relevant paperwork to each step in your business’s workflows, processes and procedures.

Use common sense. Simplify everything. As soon as it’s complicated, it’s not workin

Go for high impact. Start with the things that create cash-flow and profit.

Simplify for your team, your clients/customers, and for your own sanity

They will love you for it!

Eliminate unnecessary stress

Don’t just accept things that are stressful. Change that which can be changed.

11. Prioritise.

According to your goals, aims and core activities

First know what they are. You wrote them down earlier, right? Constantly check back to them to monitor and measure your progress.

Is the thing you’re about to do consistent with your values, vision and purpose? If not, it does not fit

Your values are your inner compass, your guide to your priorities. Learn to be consistently inner guided. You’ll be happier and more congruent.

Priorities allow you to delegate or dump.

Delegate your weaknesses to people who have strengths there. If it is not adding value, dump it.

Create a work pattern which allows you to optimise

Have clear outcomes each day and week. Make sure they are written down. Use a simple diary or notebook. Map and keep track of your ideas, thoughts and actions on paper. Handwriting these important things can be much more impactful than typing them. It seems to anchor them. Think through the consequences, the timing. Do they match your intentions and desired outcomes? If they do, then map out your actions in your diary.

12. Use the 80/20 rule

Decisions – which 20% give you 80% of your results, have the greatest impact?.

Which 20% are the most important decisions and activities? Use a good coach to keep you on track and accountable. External accountability is very worthwhile.

Profits & Cash-flow…which clients/customers, products, efforts, activities, time, energy?

Show me the money. Where’s the profit hidden in your business? Are you focussed on the most profitable activities?

Who and what are the top 20%? Work out which products or services are your best performers. Do more of these. Stop doing the others.

Get close and stay close to the data.

Focus on high performance

Stick to your core activities. Delegate the rest. Build high performance teams based on natural strengths.

Which are the 20% of activities that give you 80% of your results? Knowing this helps you focus on what is important and avoid distractions.

Do what you love to do

Need I say more? Come from your heart and be still.

I hope you enjoyed the report and the workbook and got a lot out of it.

All the best.

Rod Fraser