If you are like most business owners you have one or two big problems that keep raising their ugly heads like a two-headed monster that is trying to eat you and destroy your business.

The First Monster That Will Destroy Your Business

The first Medusa is cash flow. Like a prehistoric beast trying to eat you with multiple mouths demanding payment from several directions this brute needs to be managed, fed and then snuffed out of your life or it will overwhelm you. Cash flow typically goes up and it goes down, or it plateaus just under the place where you need it to be in order to have a reasonably comfortable lifestyle. You do some marketing and it starts to bring in some business and then you get busy looking after the customers that your marketing provided for you and you forget to do marketing and suddenly you are finished the one project and there is nothing more coming, up. You run out of money before you get the next marketing project done, and it takes time for the marketing to kick in to bring in new business. There is never enough for the many snake-heads of incoming bills. This ongoing cycle will destroy your business.

The Second Monster That Will Destroy Your Business

The second monster is the Cyclops of time. Like an eye in the middle of the head of this giant, is a clock that is ticking and ticking. There's only 24 hours in the day and you never have enough time to get all the things done that you need to get done. It's like you're a hamster on a wheel but you just keep running and running and you never get to get off. You get to work in the morning, and in your nightmare you race around putting out fires, answering customer issues, making phone calls, talking with clients, fixing problems, and dealing with staff who should have known what to do, and yet got it all wrong. You're halfway through the day before you can even think about new business. You're wearing so many hats and you have run out of heads. The time demon is eating you alive!

Don't Want to Destroy Your Business?

Use Systems... 

The amazing discovery that will change your business and your life is systems. This is how to destroy your monsters.

To keep money coming in regularly and smoothly you need systems. To beat that time monster back into the clock you need systems. Systems are the answer that you have been looking for and you need to apply them liberally to all aspects of your business immediately.

Many business owners know that they need to create systems yet they never get around to creating them. They look at it like it is some kind of a jigsaw puzzle and they just can't figure out where the corner pieces are, or who is hiding the masterplan of the big picture to look at as they build. They don't know where to start, and they think that the project is way too big, so the time monster and the cash flow monster continue to have their way with you.

I'm here to tell you today that systems don't have to be so complicated. Start with the simple things. Any time you find yourself answering a question from one of your customers, right that question down. It's likely that that is not the only customer that has been asking you that question. Once you have a list of questions that customers have been asking you then you can figure out a system to answer those questions faster. You could put them all into a brochure that you get hand to the customer that starts asking you those questions and show it in the conversations. You could put commonly asked questions on your website and you could refer all new customers there to have a look at it when they become your customer. You could create an automated email sequence using Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, or any other email response program, that all new customers will receive when they make their initial purchase from you. You would be able to set this up in a few hours and it would continue to serve you for decades.

Is invoicing sucking up your time in your life? Then set up an automated invoicing system.

Every week, book an appointment with yourself at the same time once a week. Perhaps it's Friday afternoon, or Sunday afternoon when the business is closed. At this time sit and think about the repetitive tasks that you have been doing over and over again that are keeping you from making more money, and taking up all of your time. What system do you need to create next?

Make a list and then one by one work on them until they are in place and fully functional.

Give yourself a time limit like 30 days to get the first one in place. Then 30 more days to get the next one functional. If that is not happening in a timely manner, then you must get a business coach to give you a hand. You will never get it done without the help and accountability. Get someone else’s perspective on this. We have many excellent coaches in our network. Give us a call and we will refer someone to you.  

You can do it. Start small. Start today. But get started before you become fodder for your pet monsters.