The Startup Business Baby
Three Ways to Help Shed the Baby Fat
Growing up, you remember those weird stages you physically hit where you wondered if your body was ever going to grow into the likes of Bo Jackson, Mark McGuire, or maybe even Mike Tyson? The person you saw in the mirror still had that annoying fat in weird places that would not go away? It actually made me feel insecure because I saw the thing I desired to look like, but had no way of understanding how to get there.
The same applies to business owners in startups and early growth stage companies. We look at other competitors or friends in our business communities and wish we were lean like them. Our books looked as pretty as theirs do. Or maybe even looked so good, that our cheat days (bonuses, company gifts, cool cultural benefits) looked like it did not affect us.
Here are three themes I have implemented in our business to help it look better in the mirror, so to speak.
Embracing a Culture of Innovation
Richard Branson once said, "Innovation is the lifeblood of any business. If you're not constantly innovating, you're falling behind."
One way we used innovation to create operational efficiencies is through creative book-keeping.
As clients are onboarded into our company, they are taken through a process that shows them all the value that they have access to along the way. One of our team members started owning this area specifically and created tremendous value for people interested in its services.
One problem. There was no ownership of the books, systems, processes, etc. While generating plenty of revenue, it had room to absorb overhead. So we shifted payroll to be added to these books and take the overhead pressure off our company freeing up $75,000 on the books.
Be Like Water
“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.” - Bruce Lee
Building a culture of water has to be carried from the beginning. Set boundaries, adjust, remove friction, and let your A players ball out.
This year we have a weekly cadence of accountability to reinforce behaviors driving us to our goal. The beauty is that we bring our work to the team and ask three things.
- Do we Sustain?
- Can it Improve?
- Do we stop and redirect?
These questions allow our team to become shapeless and form behaviors that keep us flowing toward the destination of hitting our goals.
Leverage Technology and Automation
In our line of business, we expect a 3x ROI on each team member in our company.
An easy fix is auditing the systems your team is using on a daily basis. Technology is exponential at this moment in time, so we are looking for ways to grow with it as well.
For instance, our video editor spends hours making our videos, podcasts, and social media posts look pretty and clean. But the one detractor is the time it takes to push out content.
So where does he go? He began leveraging A.I into his work.
To show the ROI on his time he gained back from using this AI editing tool, he took a video that would have used 4 hours of his time to edit (half a working day), inserted this technology, and spit it back to him in 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
THAT IS A 96X RETURN ON INVESTMENT!
Who wouldn’t want to explore this option!
There is so much fat to be trimmed, but we can’t lose it all at once. It requires focus, patience, and discipline to achieve the results we want.
By embracing innovation, “be water” (like Bruce Lee), and leveraging technology and automation, you will fast-track your way to feeling better about your business when it looks at itself in the mirror.
Here to Serve,
Parker Pursell | President of eQRP | LinkedIn
