Strategic Advice

WORKING IN THE BUSINESS VS WORKING ON THE BUSINESS – WHY IT MATTERS

Running a small medium sized enterprise (SME) usually involves lots of ‘hat switching’ between tasks. When you have your own capital at risk, the success of the company becomes even more important to you.

Unlike advisers from big consulting groups, we know what it is like to have ‘skin in the game’. We know what it like to worry about revenue loss from losing clients.

Working in your business

Thus, most senior people in SMEs spend almost all of their time “working in the business and not on the business”.  This is usually unavoidable.

When you are working in the business, you are entrenched in the details of everyday tasks. Your focus is on getting the job done, work that directly produces revenue for your business.

Working on your business

When you are working on the business, you are considering the big picture stuff. For example, ways to grow the business, create new products, finding new customers, ways to cut waste and costs, process improvement and similar.

When you’re working on your business, you’re looking ahead, developing your company, and doing tasks that that will help you sustain your business in the long term.

The problem

Despite their access to resources, even leaders of the biggest organisations have trouble making enough time to work on the business. They tend to operate daily in a reactive way, responding to problems as they arise.

The problem is more acute for small businesses that don’t have sufficient internal resources to delegate tasks down the structure.

Leaders who work on their business are proactive. But few have enough time to work on their business.

The solution

There are a number of ways we can help you create the time required to work on your business.

For example,

We can:

Monitor changes in your industry and keep you abreast of trends, opportunities and threats.

Show you ways to improve your operating and administrative processes.

Undertake specific projects that are necessary, but you don’t have the time to undertake.

Find efficiencies that will reduce costs and increase profits.

Show you ways how to manage growth without increasing costs at the same rate.