Promoting business success can feel like running an endless race sometimes. No matter how hard you work toward a positive cash flow or new channels of distribution, the fight never seems to be over. Nevertheless, it’s important to remember that this constant struggle is the thing that will make you and your brand great. Working hard for your success is the best way to take pride in the thing that you do and to create that incredible long-lasting growth that will power your brand for years and even decades to come.
Creating financial success in business often comes down to the little things, like buying products when they’re on sale or scheduling routine meetings to talk with your team about their struggles. Take the time to comb through this list and implement some new, nuanced strategies for creating growth and financial stability in your enterprise.
1. Start at the ground floor with your business plan.
Goal setting can be tricky for rapidly expanding companies. If you’ve gone from an idea to an office at what feels like a blistering pace you aren’t alone, but you are standing on the precipice of a critical moment. This jump into reality comes with a unique threat. While you are working to expand your brand and shelling out more capital for storage, merchandise, or office space and equipment, the fear of failure may creep in and prevent you from continuing to drive toward success.
This is where a goal-setting framework comes into play. Many new business owners ask ‘what are OKRs?’ but once they realize the power that these simple goal setting and tracking solutions provide they never look back. OKRs – or Objectives and Key Results – provide a mentality that is used by some of the largest companies on the planet to set and follow up on their overarching objectives, across business units and team levels. OKRs are an incredibly useful tool for production floor units and corporate board rooms alike. The feedback loop begins with the setting of objectives. These are the large scale goals that you want to meet over the next month, quarter, or even year. During this phase of the process, your leadership team is often forced to come face to face with the actual direction that they want to take with the company. Many small business owners don’t yet know the nuanced details of this growth vision until they begin to really plan for the future, so an OKR approach can act as this critical bridge to that vision.
Once you’ve unlocked the long term goals, you then begin to set Key Results that act as signposts along the route to these successes. A good OKR framework provides for five or six Key Results per Objective that are measurable with a number figure. This way you can evaluate your progress as a percentage rather than an abstract concept. OKRs are public across the company, so everyone can see what they are working toward and the progress that the team is making as a whole. Whether you are working to improve your times earned interest ratio or bring more customers through the front doors, you know exactly where you stand at all times.
2. Grow your footprint.
No matter what industry you are trading in, you will eventually need to scale up your operation. Finding storage units in Las Vegas (or wherever you’re located) to house your overflow merchandise or equipment is often a great idea when moving between offices or as a permanent storage location. Every business needs this nearby storage solution to keep their gear close by and protected, while still out of the way of the day to day operations. As you continue to grow your business and brand, consider self-storage units that offer climate controlled environments and around the clock security in order to access your units quickly and efficiently, while knowing that your valuable belongings are being kept safe.
3. Don’t skimp on advertising.
Advertising is crucial to growing your brand. Don’t underestimate the importance of fantastic social media and physical advertising campaigns. With a Steadicam rental you can shoot your own commercials and short media spots without accruing wild overhead costs. With rental equipment, you can take advantage of the best gear on the market without having to purchase it yourself. In this way, you can focus on the task at hand rather than on how you’re going to pay for it.
Outsourcing these jobs to freelancers that you trust is another great way to tackle these tasks. If your team doesn’t already include social media pros who know how to achieve the best lighting, stylish camera angles, or content that pops with your target audience, then relying on a professional to get the scenes you need is the next best thing.
4. Keep your online presence strong.
Creating compelling content is another important task for any business, whether small or large. Growing an online presence helps organically drive traffic to your brand, increasing sales in the process. Building out your web presence means getting on to social media to promote your brand and its offerings, as well as building a home page that captures user data in order to send out periodic marketing materials. The internet is a fantastic place to grow your footprint without the massive expense that physical marketing is known for. With your digital space, you can create compelling blog posts that will help you to grow a loyal following.
5. Have fun.
Finally, don’t forget to have fun. After all, you are following your dream. Growing your business and finding success with your entrepreneurial vision is supposed to be the end all be all. Don’t forget to take a step back and enjoy the journey at times. Of course, you will always need to keep an eye on your business processes and progress toward the future, but this doesn’t have to be stressful, boring, or painful. Fill your days with excitement because you are doing what so few people get to experience: working for yourself and living your dream.
