How much is your time really worth as an entrepreneur? Getting a business off the ground and growing it to the point where it becomes profitable takes a significant investment of hours. But you can’t realize anything close to a realistic return on that investment if you consistently undervalue your time.
Topics: Small Business Owner, Growth Coach, non-billable time, Small Business Growth
Are you familiar with the old saying, “Jack-of-all-Trades, Master of None?” When it comes to running a small business, the adage might be better stated as, “Jack-of-all-Trades, Focused-on-One.”
Topics: non-billable time, Small Business, Entrepreneurship, Outsourced Bookkeeping
You hear it all the time; your most precious asset is your time. Many people don't value their time appropriately and end up wasting a lot of their time on unproductive tasks. Small business owners struggle to find time to work on their business and instead get tangled up in unimportant day to day tasks. It's not that the day to day tasks are not important. It's just that if all you do is work on day to day tasks you never work on big picture tasks, which are incredibly important. If you find yourself constantly running out of time maybe the below advice will help you.
Topics: non-billable time, Small Business Growth, Grow Your Business, Scaling A Business, Business Coach
As your business evolves it is important that you stay on task to grow your small business. Many small business owners get caught up in the day to day operations rather than focusing on big picture tasks. If your mentality is that only you can do every task correctly then you are going to hit a serious roadblock while growing your business. Some business owners believe that handling as much billable work as possible will result in the highest profit margin since there is no overhead. The difficulty with that mentality is you can only do so much. Non-billable time is extremely important and critical if you are serious about growing your business. Here are 15 non-billable tasks that will help your small business grow quickly.
Topics: Grow Your Business, Small Business Growth, Scaling A Business, Financial Reporting, Small Business Owner, non-billable time, Business Process, Business Management
Does your small business look anything like you wanted it to when you first started it? I know many small businesses don't end up where owners thought they would. It's not always a bad thing because often time's things end up better than intended. Many small businesses don't end up operating the way the owner originally intended. Some owners hire consultants to help them get their business where they want it to be. Here are a few things in your small business that may end up differently than you intended.
Topics: Grow Your Business, Small Business Growth, Scaling A Business, Life Work Balance, non-billable time
As a small business owner starts to scale their business there are a number of tasks that come up that they might not expect. Most entrepreneurs start out on their own because of a feeling that they are meant for this. Entrepreneurs will claim they don’t have a choice; they are built to run their own business. To some degree I can relate to that feeling. Although, you can learn to start your own business, it’s much easier to do so if you have the burning desire. Starting your own business is a very exciting time. The idea is born, the business plan is written, actions are taken and you are off and running. Your idea actually starts working and people are giving you money. You are elated; you can’t believe your luck to be running your own business. However, starting your own business has lots of curveballs as well. Here are a few things the small business owner might not see coming when they start up.
It is very difficult to scale a business. Product based businesses can be easier to scale than service based businesses, but no matter what, it's difficult to scale a business. Many times business owners don’t have a business background to begin with. Great business ideas can come from anyone. Think about it, you are using a product or service and say to yourself “I wish it could do this.” Bingo a new business idea is born. If you wish a product could do something, most likely many other people have the same desire. So you act on your thought and start a business. Generating an idea is one thing, but turning a profit is another. As you scale your business don’t be afraid to ask for help. Nobody expects you to be an expert at every aspect of running a business. Also, don’t lose vision of what you want from your business. Not every idea has to become the next hot multi-billion dollar company.
Topics: Small Business Growth, Small Business, Scaling A Business, Starting A Business, non-billable time
