How to Create Consistent Business Growth Without Sacrificing Your Freedom

By Martin L. Smith, CEO, Overflow Marketing Solutions

If you’re anything like me, you’re a proud Michigander who runs a successful small business, and there are two things you always wish you had more of: freedom and time.

As we head into 2020, let’s look at how you can create consistent business growth without sacrificing your time and freedom. Even if freedom left town on a one-way ticket years ago, I’ll show you how to get it back. For good!

For this next part I need a little crowd participation. Follow along…
 
Close your eyes and envision the perfect balance of work, home life and complete paradise. What does that look like?

No really, stop now and imagine it in your mind. How much are you working? Are you spending more time with family? Can you taste the salty beach air? Keep those thoughts. That’s where we’re headed.

If your vision was a mirror image of your current life, feel free to stop here. However, if life doesn’t quite match perfection and you’re interested in how you can benefit your clients, employees, investors and family, while still managing to have more paradise in your life? Keep reading…

Running companies affords us owners luxurious perks such as the power to bring work home, take it on vacation and even the joy of letting it creep into bed at night (via that not-so-smart phone). Sarcasm aside, for many of us, calling the shots comes with a variety of uninvited challenges. Those challenges are often what’s standing between you and the balanced life you envisioned.

To move from merely having the authority to control your schedule to having true freedom, you must actively take control of your time.

How To Control Your Time

To be efficient with time, you should only be operating in your Zone of Genius.

Your Zone is the area where no one can replace you. It’s the thing you’re better at than anyone else in the world, and it doesn’t even feel like work. From this point forward, it’s your job to have everything outside your Zone taken care of by someone else.

Of course staying in your Zone is easier said than done, sine giving up control comes with its own set of challenges. These three tips will enable you to delegate more comfortably:

#1 Document and apply systems wherever possible – Your team needs to know how to proceed as if you’re there even when you aren’t. Your systems should include operating procedures and a mission statement, but fluid elements like corporate culture and hiring for fit also play a large role.

#2 Hire people smarter than you and delegate outcomes not tasks – Remember they’re smarter than you, so stop trying to control the details! Tell them where you’re headed and get out of the way. Let them determine the best path. (I wish I could take credit for this one, but it comes from a friend, Jason Swenk.)

#3 Consistent Cash – You need cash flow to hire for everything that falls outside your Zone of Genius.

Start on #1 immediately. The initial goal isn’t to diagram every task, it’s to create guidance principles that empower your people to decide without you. That foundational structure will act as a compass to guide the rockstar talent you’ll hire in #2.

Moving into Part #3, if you’re not already flush with cash you’ll need to increase revenue to build out your team.

Consistently Generate New Clients

For many companies, Digital Marketing is the best way to increase cash flow predictably.

Because the Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Amazon algorithms are made of mathematical formulas, once a campaign is dialed-in it’s both scalable and repeatable. If done properly, online marketing also synergistically allows you to measure the effectiveness of your other marketing efforts.

Some make it sound complicated, but in reality all it takes for a successful Digital Marketing campaign is:

Your Personalized Growth Plan

I’ve put together a simple Growth Guide (download the PDF here) that will help you determine the right source of traffic, the best method of communication, and exactly what to measure. After answering about 10 questions, you’ll end up with a prioritized checklist that outlines a successful growth plan for your company.

As you already know, cash flow and consistent sales are the life’s blood of any business. Once you free up your time and have consistent growth, the next step is adjusting your life to be closer to your vision of perfection.

When it comes to the growth of your company, it’s a good idea for you to understand how everything works, but eventually you should still delegate anything that falls outside your Zone of Genius. If you’re interested in Digital Marketing, but already know it isn’t in your (or your team’s) Zone, you can apply to have us create a complimentary growth plan.