The 5 biggest mistakes business owners face when they want to grow their company

As a business owner with an entrepreneurial mindset and a yearning to grow your company to enable you to have the freedom you deserve, you’ll find that you’ll be having to make hundreds, if not thousands, of decisions along your journey. As a business owner myself, I have made mistakes along the way, and as an accountant and mentor to other business owners, I have seen other pitfalls that come to play as you take these steps to your business success story.  In this article, I wanted to share the key 5 issues I have seen business owners make, and how to overcome them (or to help you avoid them completely).  Solely focusing on the operational side of the business Business owners can get stuck in the day-to-day tasks of their business, providing the services to clients, working on micro-management tasks – constantly feeling bogged down by these tasks, working hours on end, losing their relationships and their social life, wondering why they started the business at all. This is because they focus on operational tasks. For a business owner like you to finally get the freedom and lifestyle you deserve, you need to be able to take a step back from the business and stop solely focusing on the operational side.  This is why recruitment is essential to your business future! You got into the business because you love doing what you do, that’s right, but when you then have to get into the nitty-gritty of every other element of your company’s success, it can feel like you are spending all your time on chasing your tail, rather than doing what you love. You need to note the processes of every operational task you do in your company, this will help you to take these steps to know what you love about your business, and how to help others take on the operational tasks that are not suitable for your valuable time.  For example, take a baker who loves to bake cakes – they can note all the processes for creating the cakes, decorating them, invoicing the clients, sending the cakes to them, managing the marketing, and then with this, and all of the day-to-day necessities noted down, they can delegate them to the people who are great at those tasks, saving the baker their valuable time to be able to work on the recipes – the reason they wanted to start the business in the first place!  Do you see how important it is, to save you time, and to save you stress, to be able to delegate the operational tasks to others? Essential!  Recruitment Expectations As a business owner walks the path to stepping back from the business, they must start a process of recruitment. This can be a huge learning curve for many in this position, as it takes a huge amount of time, money, and energy to find the right fit for your needs. You must consider the employee you not only require in terms of knowledge but their personality. After all, you may be spending many hours, days and potentially years with them, so you need to like the individual you bring into your company. Consider investing time into the candidates to learn their personalities – a skill such as Excel, Video Editing, Content Writing, etc, can be taught, but a personality that fits with your business values and ethics can only be brought by the right candidate.  As a business owner, you must consider the investment you need to make in each new employee you bring into the company, create easy to follow protocols and processes to help them start quickly and implement your business requirements with ease and minimal worry on your (and their) part. Something some business owners miss is the need to give your employee the time, and compassion, during their learning process to help them feel like they can ask you questions without fear of feeling they are taking up your valuable time. It is essential to block out time to train the employee, as well as regular catch-ups with them throughout their process, alongside the usual staff meetings and employee analysis, you must give them the chance to share their opinions and consider their solutions to your business issues.  Ultimately, the future of your company is the people who you bring within it, you need to have people you can trust who can carry out your needs, support your business, and help your customers, whilst you can take a step back and work on the business, with comfort.    Legal Documents  Too often I have seen business owners pass by the legal documents that they need for their business, either for lack of knowing what they require, or because the cost can be so great at the beginning of the journey, they leave it until it’s too late. Getting started can be an expensive business, but there is one thing you must not skip investing in – the legal documents and requirements! From public liability, to terms and conditions, your business needs these essential legal requirements to make sure you and your clients are protected.  Speak with a legal professional who can help assist you in making sure you have everything covered, there are even online health checks you can take for free which will share all the documents you may require in the future and currently, so you know what to invest in for the future, and for the right now. One thing I think is essential is checking through your terms and conditions very carefully – but also ensure they are easy for your clients to read through. This means they will actually take the time to check through them.  Economics  There are so many tax regulations, requirements, and benefits within the UK system alone, that many business owners can feel incredibly overwhelmed by this area of their business. They may be working incredibly hard to get the business done, that they don’t get the opportunity to regularly sit down and see the full scope of the financials of their business. As an accountant, I love looking into the nitty gritty of where a company could make more tax savings, and enable them to grow in the right areas. When it comes to your income, expenses, and tax, make sure you speak to someone who understands the tax requirements. This is especially important if you are not a numbers person, as you may be spending hours of your valuable time worrying and wondering if you are getting it all right.  With the right financial director or accountant by your side, your company will be a well-oiled system that can work for you to make your business goals a reality. As an example, a client who had an IT company came to us, after having a bad experience before with another firm. After we had our discovery call, and started to care for his financials, we were able to help with R&D claims which were something he had not been aware were claimable for his company. We also assisted him in hiring a new team member, and ensuring they were DBS checked, on Payroll correctly, and helped him to get the best solution for his income from the company in terms of tax efficiencies.  With the right people, you can get the opportunity to do so much more!  Exceptional Marketing  And finally, the marketing – the place where you get to share your fantastic business, team, and products/services to new potential clients. It can feel like a noisy world out there, but there needs to be a way for new clients to find you! With a website, and social media as just a starting point, they can often put a lot of effort in at the beginning, but then get so busy that they no longer continue with their strategy, and wonder why they aren’t getting as many enquiries! We love being able to showcase our team and happy clients through our marketing, whether on Instagram with a recent selfie when we attended a conference, or with a client during a tax planning review. You should also be proud to share your achievements, and there is no better place to do that than social media.  Social Media, however, is not the only place you can get your name out there. You can also utilise the words of your happy clients – is there a way you can inform them to new services or clients you’d love to work with, that they may know? Word of mouth is still the most powerful of all marketing tools, and sometimes, it takes a little bit of a nudge to request a referral from a client, so don’t be scared to request it. You can also request reviews from clients who have shared with you how happy they are, so more people can see the real life happy customers that you have, on spaces such as TrustPilot and Google.    I hope this has given you some examples of how to get it right when it comes to your business, and I wish you every success! If you would like to grow your business with a new mindset, plus tested strategies for growth, I’d love to invite you to download my book Rewire Your Business for Success: The 6-step method to increase profit and reclaim your freedom, which you can get on Kindle or paperback, from Amazon!