Before venture capital (VC), before outside investors, before buy-in from key employees, it’s you – the Small and Medium Business (SMB) owner.  It’s your skin in the game.  Even after you bring on investors, this is still your baby and you need to take care of it likes it’s your most precious cargo.

With growth comes delegation and rightly so.  However you need to make sure you sell every day.  If you don’t, you’ll die.  I live by this maxim, “We eat what we kill”.  I don’t want to be the guy eating dirt soup in the corner of the cave wondering if I’ll live to see tomorrow.  You shouldn’t be this person either.  Delegate your sales, yet remember this is your business.  Make sure it sells.

Similarly, growth requires us to bring on other experts and advisors.  That list will be short to begin with and will expand and reformulate as we grow.  While it is critical to make the right employee decisions, Just Make A Decision!  If you don’t start building the team or remove team members that are no longer a right fit, you have a stagnation problem.  At best you move nowhere.  At worst you experience theft, loss of clients, and loss of reputation.  And no matter how hard you try, you will hire the wrong people.  Everyone does.  Take heart.  We learn from our mistakes.  So, make some.  Remember, this is your business.  Grow it.

As your business grows, get the information you need at all times because your life will depend on it.  With growth comes isolation, hurt feelings, changes in responsibility, and redefined expectations.  No matter the causes, the result is filtered information to you.  Hire an accountant to take care of your accounting, yet stay involved in the financial health decisions of the business.  Your accountant may perceive your intentions for the business differently than you.  Moreover, you may not have effectively communicated them.  In either case, allowing your accountant to cut corners, save money, make purchasing decisions, or soften financial news is a recipe for disaster.  Eventually you will get your information.  However, it will be too late.  Follow this same example through with each key area of your business.  Constantly communicate the plan.  Constantly ask questions.  Dive into the information periodically to confirm what everyone is telling you.  Know your business.

Now that you are building your team and you’re getting your information, be ready to stick to your guns.  That is, make decisions for you.  You may have the accountant’s opinion.  Your salesperson is telling you one strategy and your staff is telling another.  Step back and put this in perspective.  This input is critical and should be used to confirm or refute your position.  Yet, it’s your skin in the game and nothing else matters but that.  Step out of the emotion.  Then dig out that one piece of paper you should have taped to your office wall long ago – your business plan.  What does it say?  Are you on track?  Which decision is best for you?  Your plan is a mirror.  Look into it.  See what’s changed and move according to plan.  If you’re drastically off course, change the plan. (This time keep it in front of you so it doesn’t happen again.)  If you need a hand in reworking your plan, contact us at Kenesco today! (http://kenesco.com).  We’d love to hear your story.  We know we can help you out.

In Summary:

• Before outside investors there’s you.  It’s your skin in the game.  This is your SMB.  Your baby.  Don’t forget this.  The others don’t matter.
• Sell every day.  If you don’t, you’ll die.  We eat what we kill.  Don’t be the guy eating dirt soup in the corner of the cave.  You won’t live to see tomorrow.
• Make A Decision!  We learn from our mistakes.  Hire (or contract) employees and let yourself learn from your mistakes.  This speeds up the growth process.
• Get the information you need all the time by tirelessly communicating what you want and tirelessly asking questions.  Dig into the data once and a while.  Confirm your gut feelings.
• In the end, it’s your decision to make.  Take the emotion out of the equation and rely on your business plan as a mirror.  When on course, stay there.  When off course, refine or reinvent.  If you’re stuck, call us at Kenesco (http://kenesco.com).  We’re happy to help.

David Knea

CEO, Kenesco Computing LLC

http://kenesco.com

+1-877-218-1879

Filed under: Small and Medium Business (SMB)

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