Friday, January 25, 2013

Doing Things in the Right Order

Some things in life have to be done in a certain way. Business is no different. There is great value in doing things in the right order, and often much to lose if you don't.

Say you're ready to grow your business. Do you start by shopping for a larger facility? Or do you begin by expanding your sales staff? What are the steps you need to take (and in what order) to effectively broaden your operations? Do you dip into your operating budget to cover expansion costs, or do you leverage your assets to obtain a loan? How do you begin adjusting productivity schedules to accommodate larger operations and how will you initiate shifting your team's workload? What will happen first, second and third? These are just a few of the questions that a growing business needs to consider.



Doing things in the right order will prevent your business from falling into one of many common pitfalls during expansion. Cash gaps arise when you've leveraged your assets too far or there is a drop in your productivity due to operational adjustments. Expansion often puts additional strain on team members, and the effects can be devastating to workplace communication and relationships as a whole. Not keeping your priorities in the proper order can shortly take your business from a growing enterprise into a non-sustainable system characterized by too many crash points.

Start today - capture how you see your business realizing its potential. Write it down. Establish timeframes, stepping stones, and the operational parameters you have to work with. Then comes the crux of the matter - how will you determine what to do first?

What would you recommend?