Are you killing your business? Mistake Two

Don’t let your actions sound the death knell for your business.  
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know (i.e. A Lack Of Skills And/Or Knowledge)
Many businesses are founded because the owner is good at something and enjoys doing it, so they decide to set up a business providing this service to others. 
This is a great starting point – but what they forget that is that a business also involves finding clients, marketing, recruiting and motivating staff and managing cash flow and, as you grow, you’ll also need to develop systems and procedures and perhaps even deal with internal politics. 
Remember running and growing a business involves a many skills and it’s unlikely you’ll have the expertise in all the areas yourself. So learn to recognise where your skills and knowledge fall short and take action to remedy this gap in your business.  Sometimes this will involve learning the skill yourself, but often its more pertinent to outsource – otherwise you are in danger of falling into the “doing too much yourself” trap (see tip one).
Alternatively, you’ve pretty much always run your own small or sole trader business, but have never had experience in working in a larger organisation so lack the experience of the kinds of systems and procedures which are necessary, or dealing with the politics which will almost certainly start to manifest in one form or another as your company grows.

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Hilary Briggs

A management consultant with over 15 years of industrial experience having held senior management positions at Rover Group, Whirlpool Corporation and The Laird Group plc. For the last 10 years, she’s worked with SME’s to improve their performance. Hilary is Managing Director of productivity specialists R2P Ltd.
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A management consultant with over 15 years of industrial experience having held senior management positions at Rover Group, Whirlpool Corporation and The Laird Group plc. For the last 10 years, she’s worked with SME’s to improve their performance. Hilary is Managing Director of productivity specialists R2P Ltd.