Well it depends… what do you mean by “Well-Oiled Machine”?
Ah, I like it… answering a question with a question.
Allow me to explain. My definition of a Well-Oiled Machine is a business that:
- You can leave for weeks at a time without worrying about balls dropping.
- Does what it promises every time, without breaking a sweat.
- Improves over time because the machinery is that good.
- Churns out raving fans (even while you sleep).
But, the real beauty of a Well-Oiled Machine is it affords you the time and money to do whatever is most important to YOU.
That may be time and money to invest in growing your business. But it may also be something else.
Maybe you dream of taking a month off to sail around Greece. Or maybe you have always wanted to write the great American novel. For many of you, it revolves around more quality time with family.
If you aren’t sure what that is for you, just ask this question: If time and money were no object, what would make you happiest?
We all have different things we deem to be “most important” but they all require two things: time and money.
So, as a business owner, how do you do get more time and money? a) Win the lottery or b) figure out how to turn your business into your version of the Well-Oiled Machine.
If you’re like most entrepreneurs you’re committed to the latter… And so are we. In fact it’s the “one thing” that motivates us to do what we do.
We love to help aspiring entrepreneurs create the margin, the money and the time to do what is most important in their lives!
And we don’t just “teach” this stuff… we practice it ourselves.
In fact, I’ve used the “Well-Oiled Machine” blueprint to grow several successful companies.
For example, we were able to grow Snider Advisors to #826 on the 2006 Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies at the same time it was winning awards for customer service.
Understanding how to optimize a small business has allowed me to build companies that fund a life I always dreamed about.
I retired at 49 years old and built a horse farm in South Carolina to play polo. My office is in my barn and my horses are all right outside my window as I type this. That was always a dream of mine.
But it isn’t enough. If it was, I would have stayed retired. But, I have a “Why” that has always driven me. In fact, my Why has driven me out of early retirement … again!
My Why is to master things that are considered too difficult for laymen, synthesize what I have learned into a repeatable system and share it with others.
My pleasure comes not from mastering it for myself but by seeing others benefit from the system I create.
Small Business Optimization Consulting: A 4-Pronged Approach
If you want the time and money to fulfill your biggest dreams, then consider our Small Business Optimization Consulting service.
Our small business optimization consulting process consists of four phases:
Phase 1: Elimination
First, we get to know you and your business well. We take the time to find out what your vision is for the business. And then we look at everything (yes the very long list) you do in your business.
Then we apply the “80/20 Rule” to find the 20% of your activities that are responsible for 80% of your results. And from this vantage point, we suggest you eliminate the unnecessary.
We also help you locate “redundancies” in your business where several people are doing the same, or similar, work. Elimination is fun because we can quickly find low-hanging fruit so you can recover wasted time right away.
And with that additional time you can start to focus on small business automation…
Phase 2: Automation
In this phase we analyze your business processes to identify areas where you can replace people with automated processes. You may be pleasantly surprised to find how many of your “human” jobs can be done better by technology and software.
Phase 3: Delegation
After you’ve eliminated and automated everything that makes sense, the next step is to sharpen your delegation skills.
We will help you find the person most suited for each task in your business. This could be an expert in the virtual marketplace or an internal resource. The key here is, most of the time, that is not you!
We won’t lie. Many entrepreneurs find this very difficult. I do. But remember, there is a right person for every job. By finding that person, you are creating opportunity for them.
For example, let’s say you’re doing a task that someone else can do well for $50/hr. As the CEO, your time is worth $100/hr. It should be obvious you are losing money and wasting valauble bandwidth. But you may not realize you are also taking work away from someone else who needs it.
Once you delegate that task you’re now free to embark on your highest value tasks – things that only you can do. It’s free market capitalism at its best.
And it’s not just altruistic. It is good for your bottom line.
Phase 4: Consolidation
After you’ve completed the first three phases you’ll have more time, and clarity, to focus on the work you should be doing. This is work that will have a direct impact on revenue generation, innovation and the like.
But you’re not done yet!
The final step in Small Business Optimization is to find ways to consolidate or “batch” your work.
For example, you may find that writing and being a thought leader in your field is something you should do more of. So you decide to publish a weekly blog post.
You could write a blog post every week or you could consolidate this work by writing a month’s worth of posts in one morning and scheduling them out for certain days. That is batching.
The point here is to focus on your meaningful and important work. What you don’t want is to be constantly switching between tasks since studies show that’s one of the worst ways to work.
Want to Learn More about Small Business Optimization Consulting?
As Morpheues said in The Matrix, “Sooner or later you’re going to realize, just as I did, that there’s a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path.”
Chances are these concepts are not new to you. You probably already know that it’s important to eliminate, automate, delegate and consolidate.
But then why haven’t you? And what’s that costing you?
If your business is not functioning like a Well-Oiled Machine then it impacts your:
Employee morale (chaos stresses people out)
Customer satisfaction (breaking promises is no way to run a business)
Profit margins (failing to optimize your business is eating into your margins)
Time (that most rare resource needed to do the things most important to you)
We can help you improve in all of these areas. Just complete the form below so we can talk about Small Business Optimization Consulting.
There’s no charge for our initial 30-minute consultation. At the end of the call you’ll have all the information you need to decide if this will be a game changer for your business or not.