If you are starting a new venture, reinventing the wheel or experiencing change in your existing business it’s possible you may be too close to the project to gain the perspective you need to flourish, it happens to the best of us. Sometimes we all need to get back to basics in order to establish our plan of attack.

Wiley business owners recognise that in order to launch and run a business successfully you need to ‘run your business on the smell of an oily rag’.  As the expression suggests – thinking of your business like a motor vehicle and getting it up and humming with a focus on ‘fuel efficiency’ ( your time, labour, cost and resource) ensures you don’t over capitalise, eat away disproportionately on your profits or peak too soon.

Now whilst the oily rag psyche has helped many get their business off the ground, it does have its pitfalls as often entrepreneurs see the financial benefits of going it alone, and this (dependent on the owners skill set) can ultimately lead to diminished quality in the end product or service… or worse it’s the customer that suffers never to return despite the owners best intentions.
How often have you seen it in the worn out faces of business owners? They’ve kept their venture successfully afloat through blood sweat and tears, but perhaps their business has never quite reached their full potential or developed as per the owners vision. Perhaps the business owner has taken on staff but never learned to delegate  effectively, or perhaps they’re still caught in the traps of business DIY without reaping the benefits of freedom that had lured them into business ownership in the first place.

The key is balance and its never too late to ask yourself these questions.

  1. Why am I doing this, is there are a place for me in the market? Who are my competitors? What is my point of difference? How can I further develop that to win more business? What results do I need initially to prove this idea is worthy of development and my further investment?
  2. Who is going to help me? How much of this can I do on my own? What can I bring to this project and where do I need help? Are the staff I’ve employed offering the best return on investment?
  3. What are the easy wins? What is the simplest/most cost effective offering I can go to market with in order to get this business up and running/to increase profit? What will best encapsulate the brand I’m trying to create and maximise market interest ? How can we continue to grow on this?
  4. What is my development plan? When is the best time to launch and when do my crucial pre-launch activities need to happen by? How will I track my success?
  5. How will I manage Sales and Marketing, and how will I manage cash flow?

Working with someone to develop your business road map in the early stages of your development, or as your business starts to change or grow is crucial.
Adding an ally to your fold not only provides you with an outsiders perspective, the right person can gain insight into your business that may currently be out of your reach due to your busy schedule and commitments.  This person should be able to help you break your clever ideas down into a development plan, providing you with  fresh ideas to help you grab the attention of your market or audience and an immediate action plan to help you get the ball rolling. Putting the right ‘engine’ into your business to ensure you run it most cost effectively is a must, as is establishing where you can cut corners and where you can’t.

Lastly, a plan is useless if it’s not put into action, the tip is you don’t need full time staff (and the associated labour cost) to do this.
The Chrome Group offers Business Consulting alongside a suite of services to support the small to medium business into action, filling the necessary gaps where required.  We don’t try and sell the bells and whistles into budget tight businesses, we just get a kick out of supporting our clients with what they need whether it be just our Business Consulting services or whether they require additional support with, Marketing, Social Media, Branding, Content Creation, Experience Design, Events or Creative Services.

If you’d like to have a chat about how we could help you with your project call Carly on 0411 311 243 or email carly@thechromegroup.com.au