Envision Your Dream Business
Can you remember what prompted you to launch your own business? You possessed a talent, and you were aware of it. Why should you dedicate your efforts to someone else’s business when you could enjoy the freedom of being your own boss? – You asked.
However, you soon found out that running a small business alone can be incredibly challenging. At any moment, (day or night) you are constantly juggling numerous roles. From marketing and sales to customer service and accounting, leading to overwhelming stress. You never have enough time to deliver to your customers. And the pressure to stay ahead in a competitive market adding to the burden. The lack of a support system makes it worse, making it difficult to seek advice, collaborate on ideas, and maintain motivation.
If you are in this situation, feeling stuck and dissatisfied with the current state of your business, developing a business model can help steer you towards the business you aspire to have.
Here’s how to begin:
Identify What You Don’t Want
If you’re finding it tough to picture the dream business you want, it might help to start by thinking about what you don’t want. What’s your biggest business frustration?
I recently worked with a client named Julie who owns a fashion business that focuses on occasion-wear for ladies. Julie was overwhelmed by the daily grind, and when she tried to envision her ideal future, she felt stuck. The challenges seemed insurmountable. So, I asked Julie to describe her biggest business frustration. Without hesitation, she said her greatest frustration—and fear—was an empty bank account.
Julie explained that whenever her business checking account dipped into the red, it always blindsided her, causing a wave of panic. She never wanted to feel that way again. By articulating what she didn’t want, Julie discovered a crucial aspect of her ideal business—a finance system that proactively managed her cash flow instead of reacting to it.
She began thinking about her business’s financial needs and identifying the elements of her cash flow she could and couldn’t control. As she addressed the root causes of her biggest frustration, she started to imagine how other parts of her business would need to function to ensure cash flow was never again an unpleasant surprise.
Start with your biggest business frustration and use it as a foundation for your business model. You’ll uncover new opportunities to reshape your business so it works seamlessly.
Lay the Foundational framework for your business
Running a business is like building a house. You need a strong foundation and an equally strong framework to hold it up. Every successful business relies on Seven Important Systems, even if they’re not fully developed yet. They are leadership, management, finance, marketing, customer fulfilment , lead generation and lead conversion.
Maybe your marketing strategy needs work, or you don’t have a clear organisational structure, or you’re not sure how to read a profit and loss statement. That’s perfectly fine.
Your current systems might not be perfect (or you wouldn’t be reading this), but they’ve brought you this far. You have customers, your team is getting things done, and revenue is flowing. Now it’s time to reflect on your processes and the results they’re delivering so you can make improvements.
Think about the ideal version of your business and work backwards from there. Assess each system and how it’s functioning for you—or how it’s not. Remember, every part of your business affects the others. Maybe your top priority is keeping cash flow positive, which means increasing sales. Increasing sales might require hiring more staff. Hiring more staff will necessitate a clear organizational chart. And creating an organizational chart involves figuring out how to structure and assign tasks. Everything is interconnected.
Take it step by step, and you’ll strengthen your business piece by piece.
The Benefits of a Solid Business Model
Once you’ve taken a good look at your current systems, you’ll be ready to design a business model that truly works for you. Not just one that looks good on paper, but one that breathes life into your business. This will ease the burden of having to micromanage every detail. Picture yourself handling daily tasks because you love them, not because you have no choice. Envision a clear path toward running a business that aligns with the life you desire.
Having a solid business model also serves as a powerful communication tool. It clearly articulates your goals and plans to your team, family, investors, bank, or anyone else investing their time or money in your venture. They’ll understand your vision and know where you’re headed. They’ll also see what’s in it for them if they join you on this journey.
Find Your Niche
At this point, it might seem impossible to separate yourself from the daily grind of your business. However, if you want to build a company that can thrive without your constant presence, it’s crucial to envision not just what your business will look like in the future, but also the role you want to play in it.
Julie faced this exact challenge. Before becoming a business owner, she was a fashion designer at a large firm. Naturally, she took on the design and all the sewing and stitching for her clients when she started her own firm. However, along the way, she realized that she also had to manage finances, sales, customer service, systems, and people. Her business needed her leadership in all these areas and she had to develop her personal leadership skills to meet these demands.
By reflecting on her strengths and weaknesses, and considering what she enjoyed and disliked, Julie figured out where she fit best in her organization. She understood that for her business to grow, she needed to delegate tasks and responsibilities. Julie envisioned having a finance director who shared her vision and creating systems that guided her team not just on what to do, but also on how and why to do it.
Her business model required both structured systems and well-defined roles. But it also needed the right people. This combination of people and systems would enable Julie’s business to operate smoothly, even when she wasn’t around—and it can do the same for you.
The way forward
For you to create a future that works, take a look into your business systems. Identify the tasks you want to keep and what others could handle better. Determine the roles you need to fill to meet your business’s needs, and create an organization chart that clearly outlines these roles and responsibilities.
Building the business model you need to ensure your business serves your life—rather than the other way around—requires time and patience. While this work might not bring immediate revenue, it will pay off in the long run.