Many businesses and companies, comfortable in their growth up to the present time, tend to be leery of changing their present methods of doing business, afraid it may upset the balance that they have achieved so far.

While it’s wise to be cautious in a slow economy, concerns that verge on paranoia will not help your business survive, let alone thrive. There are several methods that obviously help businesses to expand and learning more about them can help.

I don’t need a website or a shopping cart.

My products and services sell very well right now, so why would I bother selling them online also? As of last year only 11% of Canadian companies sold online, yet the value of what Canadians bought online more than doubled. Canadians spent 18.9 billion dollars online just three years ago and the amount is increasing rapidly but a lot of those dollars went to companies outside of Canada, due to the unavailability of what they were looking for in their own country. Businesses need to look at what consumers are asking for and provide it, otherwise they will be left behind by those who will.

My relationships with my team and original supporters are not or no longer important, as long as the job gets done and I make money.

While team members can be a source of relationship problems, the original relationships that you brought into your business should always be taken care of. These include financial and marketing experts who may have originally helped get your business started and gave you advice that kept you from making mistakes that would have caused your business to fail. All businesses, even those where the sole proprietor wears all of the hats, have supporting members and those members should be taken into account as your company expands.

Details don’t count.

Most business owners have no idea from month to month how they stand in comparison to previous months. You need to know your numbers and the numbers are in the details. While working with a team can help your business expand faster, if you aren’t keeping track of the little things, your expansion can quickly slow and even start to contract. The smart business owner does his or her homework and takes care of any outstanding issues before they cause major problems.

Managing and pinpointing the key areas where you need help – either from the outside or from learning more, are the stepping stones of a long term, financially viable business. Understanding the underlying details and determining what needs to stay and what needs to go will help you avoid the mistakes that will keep you from growth. Keep your vision for your business intact by always being aware that there may be something you are missing, new ideas you could apply to your business and changes you could make that will help you avoid major business mistakes.

© Chris Draper, DemGen Inc. 2015

image courtesy of growthagenda

  Once upon a time, there was a young lady who was quite fussy about everything around her. If things weren’t just right, she wasn’t happy and this attitude also pertained to how others lived their lives and what they owned.

Do you have perfectionist tendencies? Do they show up in the way you run your business?

Before you answer, think about the way you do things. Also, ask yourself if you have ever used the excuse that you put a lot of emphasis on achievement. You believe there is only one right way to do things and this applies to your business also, which makes it difficult for you to take advice. What others think of you is extremely important. In fact, their opinions are so important that you care about them more than your own. While trying to do your best is great, when it gets to the point of becoming a neurotic fixation, you are in trouble and your business is also.

How does perfectionism get in the way of your success? Setting unrealistic standards for your business, such as comparing it to one that is much larger, can hinder your outlook. A small business owner needs to set goals that are in line with the type of business they run, not goals that would be much more appropriate for a large corporation. By striving to be perfect in every small detail of your business, you will be afraid to take the usual small risks that the majority of small business owners thrive on. Your customers may find you inflexible because you must do things a certain way, without any leeway to work with your clients and perhaps give them special offers and deals.

At some point, you will realize that your insistence on everything being just right is actually slowing you down. Your version of perfect will take extra time out of your day that you could spend on more important tasks. Innovation will be next to impossible because in order to think of new ideas for your business, you will have to let go of your old “perfect” ideas and the thought of this terrifies you. Your insecurities over your own way of thinking led you to this point and in order to change, you will have to realize that there is such a thing as “good enough”. Perfectionism is actually a form of negativity, about yourself and the way you are running your business.

Trying to do your best is great but only if it comes with a positive outlook, not one that insists that what you are doing isn’t a good job. Focusing on what is wrong won’t help your business, it will just slow you down. Focus instead on what objectives you need to achieve and which major problems need to be overcome. Realize what motivates you. Is it the desire to do well or is it fear that what you are doing isn’t as good as everyone else? Part of running your business should be enjoyment in the actually process, that you have grown this business on your own and you are succeeding. You are trying to make improvements for yourself, not to outshine everyone else.

Oh, and just in case you didn’t recognize her; the young lady in the first paragraph? That is Goldilocks.

© Chris Draper, DemGen Inc. 2015

image courtesy of willbratt