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Some days, running a Business can feel like being in a circus. We juggle a lot of responsibilities, it’s tough to stay balanced, and many eyes are watching your every move. With so many big ideas and demands, it’s a challenge for entrepreneurs to step away from the daily grind and work on the business. To take time to review results, see the bigger picture, and check in with yourself. But it’s so important, as you’ll see in this article. Wondering if you need to make changes in your schedule and routine? Read these 5 signs you need to spend more time working on your business.

First sign: Books are not updated

Bookkeeping may be your idea of a good time, but it is a critical part of running a business. Without updated financial reports, how will you know key metrics like profitability, and revenue growth? 

If books are not updated, it also makes it hard to know what tax remittances to make, what bills need to be paid, and what invoices haven’t been collected. This creates stress, losses, cash flow problems, or even business failure. Government tax agencies have been known to get aggressive when they don’t get what they are owed. 

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are bank statements reconciled?
• Are tax filings for the business up to date? Remitting sales tax, payroll tax, and tax on profits? 
• Did I file my own personal taxes last year?
• Are my business finances separate from my personal finances?

Make bookkeeping easier with technology. When I ran my franchise system in Canada, I used QuickBooks. In the UK, I use and recommend FreeAgent. All bank transactions are updated so there is no manual entry. It makes reporting and tax filings so easy, with very little administration time. 

Second sign: Website is out of date

Most companies have websites. Some businesses rely on that site for orders, sales, or bookings. If that is the case, it’s more likely that this is being updated and maintained on a regular basis. But for other businesses, a website is an online billboard. It’s just a way to present information, and not directly tied to revenue. That makes it less of a priority to keep updated. 

Here is an example. Years ago I knew a small business owner who got so busy servicing customers that he didn’t spend any time working on his business. Administration, Marketing, website maintenance – it was all ignored. He didn’t do it, and he didn’t outsource it to someone else to handle. Then he hit a slump. Projects were completed, he needed more customers, and there were no calls or emails coming in. That is how he realized that his website was down. Not only that, but his domain name had expired, and a competitor had purchased it. So when people searched for his company name, they were directed to a website owned by a direct competitor. 

The point is, even if your company website isn’t how you make your money, keep it updated. One, it’s a powerful way to connect with your audience. This is how they may find your location or your contact details. Two, it’s an important step of the decision making process. If I see great content on social media, I click through to the website to learn more about the product or service. If the site is outdated, or inaccurate, or has a 404, this doesn’t build trust, and this can negatively impact my decision to purchase. 

Ask yourself these questions:

• What year is listed as the copyright date on my website?
• Does my website have current prices and services?
• Are names, addresses, contact details accurate?
• When were internal and outbound links last checked?
• What is the site speed?
• What is the site SEO ranking and SERP score?

Sometimes, starting a new site from scratch is faster, easier, and less money than cleaning up the code, content, and plugins of an old site that hasn’t been updated for awhile. The IONOS website creator makes it easy.

Third sign: No marketing campaign

Are you super busy with your current workload? Great! But things change fast. To avoid a revenue drop, keep the marketing activity flowing. Also to keep track of results, so that you know what marketing channel and message is most effective.

This is a great opportunity to spend more time working on your business. Review marketing results from past quarters and years to see not just how many people responded to your ads and outreach, but how many became customers. Who knows what this analysis will reveal? You may find that what worked well before is not yielding the same results. 

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do I know my customer avatar?
• Am I reaching my customers in all the right places, and with the right frequency?
• What is the cost acquisition for new customers?
• What marketing channel gives the best return on investment?
• What is my conversion rate, and how has that changed in the past couple of years?

Fourth sign: Unanswered emails and messages

In a perfect world, all channels of communication would be clear and empty by the end of every business day. However, that isn’t realistic for most entrepreneurs. But if your unanswered emails and messages are piling up each day, and spilling over into new weeks and months, this is a sign to spend more time working on your business. 

Many entrepreneurs juggle it all – sales, support, and marketing. But more established business owners have usually delegated these tasks. So here may be front line staff to respond to customers, and a social media manager to deal with DMs. Amazing. But – having a team means questions for the boss, and a bigger business means more communication. What is going on with your email and messages is an opportunity to set up processes and systems to keep up with communication and administration.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do I regularly block time to respond to messages?
• Am I responding to emails at night, or on weekends, when I could be more present with family, friends, and fun?
• Do I use technology to make communication faster? Auto responders, automations, pre-written responses?
• How long are people waiting to hear from me?
• Have I ever missed something important because it was buried in email, WhatsApp, or DMs?

In our digital online world, we don’t often pick up the phone and make a call. But when we do, we expect a response. Don’t send your customers (or potential customers!) into the void of voicemail. Answering services are professional, prompt, and can use the language and messaging you want your customers to hear. I recommend Ruby to my clients in the United States, and in the UK I love the services of MoneyPenny.

And the fifth sign you need to spend more time working on your business 

Do you have a strategic plan? Or any plan? It doesn’t have to look pretty and be posted on a wall. It can be a sketch in a journal or bullet points on your phone. The point is, do you have a roadmap to follow to direct your business activities?

It’s easy to get into the groove of managing things day by day, week by week. I get it. The administrative tasks of regular operations like fulfilling orders, managing staff, or dealing with suppliers is a busy schedule. And it can be exciting, and feel satisfying. This is ok for a little while. But as weeks and months slip by without spending time on strategy and leave your business lost and without direction. 

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do I regularly review revenue and profits to compare from quarter to quarter, and year to year? 
• Do we track performance metrics that are meaningful for our business and customers? Things like quality, response time, delivery time, satisfaction levels, referrals, retention?
• Do I have specific goals for the coming year?

Why these 5 signs matter to your business

Bookkeeping, website, marketing, communication, and planning are all important elements of working on a business. If these are all up to date, it’s a sign of a well managed business. When these activities are set aside to mostly deal with day to day stuff, it can quickly pile up into a mess that creates problems. Like my networking colleague who lost the url of his company name because he missed the emails notifying him that his domain was about to expire!

So step out of the flow of daily operations and work on your business to get better performance and profits. Looking for more insight into your business? Take this quick 2-minute quiz to get feedback on what is working well in your business, and what you need to focus on.

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