Every business has its own strengths and weaknesses. If your company has new customers and a constant demand for products, you may be unaware of lesser known areas in your business that you need to address for improvement when you’re just trying to keep your head above water each day.

Failure to Prioritize

There are multitudes of daily operations that need to occur in order for your business to run smoothly. When you spend the majority of your time focusing on immediate needs, long-term goals can get lost in the mix. Too many business owners don’t prioritize the future, thus leaving them exposed to the unknown. As humans, we instinctively attach ourselves to mundane tasks that make us feel busy and in turn, important. Remove or delegate these tasks from your list and replace them with ones that add value to the future of your business. Always think of expenses with your long-term goals in mind, and how they’ll generate future revenue for the company.

Lack of Proper Support

When a small business is first starting out, fewer tools are required to keep it afloat. However, as the company grows, owners should seek additional resources to keep up with supply and demand. Failure to to grow with your business stifles future achievement of goals. These are just a few examples of processes to implement should your business grow:

• Software to manage your finance, keep records secure and log employees
• Online time management tools
• Shared calendars with your coworkers
• Excel spreadsheets to capture important data

Improper Time Management

 Business owners are under constant pressure to meet deadlines and make crucial decisions. The best way to ensure your hitting deadlines and following through on important decisions is to manage your time effectively. Owners who don’t manage their time wisely run the potential risk of spending too much time on one project and forgetting about another, or spending their days putting out fires that could otherwise be handled by their employees. They are easily distracted and tend to find themselves bogged down by the company’s day-to-day operational needs. It’s important for you to determine the tasks that only you as the business owner can accomplish, rather than ones that could be delegated. Also, stay on track of how many hours you’re putting towards a project by scheduling out your day in your calendar or using time tracking software.

No Accountability 

Accountability means coming to terms with an element of discipline, and is the opposite of permissiveness. The best people to hold business owners accountable are the individuals themselves. For many owners, this is easier said than done. If your business is suffering from a lack of accountability, consider a business coach. These trained professionals can help you get back on the right track when discipline throws you a curveball.

Lack of Delegation 

Employees are in place as a fundamental tool to any business. Too often, owners fear hiring additional help or delegating some of their own responsibilities. This is a grave mistake. Not trusting in others to complete quality work and unwillingness to invest in new hiring can be detrimental to a business’ long-term goals.

Take a look at how you spend each day and which of these attributes could be holding you back from seeing more success in your business. If you’re interested in learning more about your greatest strengths and weakness as a business owner, take our quiz to learn about your best attributes and what you could be doing differently for the benefit of your business.

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Download the INFIX Vision & Strategy Guide

A worksheet to walk you through the process of writing your own mission statement. 

If you're ready to stop working IN your business and start working ON your business, download this step-by-step worksheet to walk you through developing your own Vision & Strategy plan.

By the end of the exercise, you'll have a clear mission statement with a construct analysis guide on goals you need to achieve to make your vision achievable and successful.