Take a Systematic Approach [Capital Raising for your Business]

One of my favorite authors of all times, Robert Kiyosaki gives us the best example of a process to clearly describe the earnings potential of an individual, self-employed, business and ultimately for investments.

He describes it via a 4 quadrant box that differentiates the income levels and the amount of activity required to earn based on those quadrants.

He calls this the cash flow quadrant:

For those familiar with the concept, they know that this is by far one of the most accurate examples of how to systematically move across each quadrant in order to build substantial wealth.

Note: I said "systematically"

With that said, when businesses approach the idea of raising capital, they need to have a strong process in place that allows the business to function like a system.

This may sound obvious but a lot of people tend to disregard the actual "system" part of a business. It needs to look, feel and act like a fully functional machine.

What does a fully functional system look like?

• Processes and Procedures for Administration
• Processes and Procedures for Sales
• Processes and Procedures for Human Resource
• Processes and Procedures for Vendors/Suppliers
• Processes and Procedures for Continuity of the Business
• Processes and Procedures for practically everything in your business to help it run automatically without you're direct involvement

Why is documenting and organizing processes for a business important?

Documenting all things for your business is a way to create more efficiency and to save tremendous time and resources for future planning. These preliminary steps will help you avoid going back to the drawing board and redoing everything from scratch if and when a challenge arises.

It's also important for you to be open with such systems when an investor requests to know more about your business. Having a set of well documented procedures and processes may potentially help the investor or future financial partner navigate through your business seamlessly.

Nothing is wrong with being organized and creating efficiencies where possible.

And, most importantly, keep in mind that not all systems and processes need to be positive. It can be a result of a bad experience that taught the business a valuable lesson. Perhaps documenting a bad customer experience based on feedback and creating a way to resolve such experiences may be a good process on its own.

Whatever the case, systematically documenting and creating processes is the best tool your business can have when it comes to the point of growth or expansion.

Another important point to note is that the documented processes and procedures also need to be reviewed and tweaked from time to time. This will allow the business to evaluate its processes regularly while giving it room to create more efficiencies.

In Summary

Sooner or later a successful business is bound to grow. By having a systematic approach when it comes to documenting and being organized, the growth is easier to handle. And, remember that not everything needs to be documented and done by the CEO. It's important to encourage your team to take initiative in helping build your business into a master system.

At the end of the day, everyone needs to work with each other to make it happen.

#business #systems #funding #organization #cashflowquadrant