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According to a recent National Small Business Chamber (NSBC) poll, 86% of small businesses in South Africa said they had suffered negative effects as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. And as the economy gradually begins to open up again, every small business owner will be looking critically at their business and creating a business continuity plan.

A vital element in your business continuity strategy must be the aspect of ‘growth’ – the plans involved in scaling your business up. Much of this can be achieved by simply creating a more efficient business model so that you are free to strategise and plan for greater success and business-resilience. Scaling up should not be confused with expanding the size of your business. It is more concerned with improving the cost efficiencies and earning potential of your enterprise because, let’s face it, many business owners have the idea to create a business and let it run in the background while they concentrate on opportunities for growth.

TAKE STOCK – THEN OUTSOURCE

As part of your scaling plans list all of the tasks you currently do in your business. This process could take a bit of time but the point of it is to understand what you can and should delegate. You can even define your tasks as work you hate, work you must do, and work you can’t do.

For each task, decide whether you could get somebody else to do it less expensively or with greater output than if you did it on your own. If so then you need to pass that work off to somebody else.

Alternatively, add values to the work that needs to be done. The work you do that has greater value is the work you should focus on – and some of the functions that have little value is the work you should delegate.

Consider outsourcing to somebody who could do the work far better than you. Apart from utilising efficiency-driven cloud accounting tools such as Sage, Xero or Receipt Bank, outsourcing accounts analysis, tax and payroll tasks, while they may seem high in cost to some, would take you so much longer than it takes them, and wastes valuable time that you could focus on high-profit tasks related to your business.

But, what are some of the things you should never delegate or outsource?

• Culture – The core beliefs and values that you must continue to nurture and teach no matter how large your staff grows.
• Overall strategy and company vision – You must own the idea of where you are going and why you are going there, as well as how you plan to get your business there.
• Client relationships – Your staff may run day-to-day interactions but make sure you still show your face and keep open communication with your clients.
• Recruitment – As a small business owner, make sure you know who you have working for you. When it comes to delegation, this component will be key.

DOCUMENT YOUR PROCESSES

Much of the success of your business may be thanks to the actions and knowledge of key staff members. What happens when they leave? Do they take your processes with them?

In order to delegate and outsource effectively, it makes sense to document your systems and processes for others to refer to. You may need to adjust these documents occasionally, but apart from the initial development, this should really work behind the scenes for you.

Using a project management tool is a great way to manage your delegated tasks and your processes.

PRIORITISE BY AVOIDING DISTRACTIONS

Small business owners often get bogged down with day-to-day tasks and easily get distracted with these smaller functions.

To avoid the distraction trap that many entrepreneur fall into, start creating priorities and managing your days, weeks and months based on doing the higher value (based on time and profit) activities that you identified in the previous exercise.

Scaling of a business happens when daily tasks are outsourced and you can focus on next steps toward growth and stability.

For further information, e-mail info@plusexecutive.co.za