• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Business Success Tools

Grow Your Business

  • Home
  • What We Do
    • Grow Your Business
      • Succession
    • Grow Your People
    • Grow Your Teams
  • How It Works
    • Stages of Growth Engagement
    • Growing Your Revenues and Profits
    • Growing Your Teams at All Levels
    • Growing Your Leadership & Management Capabilities
    • Growing Your People – Developing Your Workforce
  • Assessments
  • Blog
  • About
    • About Pam Butterfield, Founder of Business Success Tools
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Growing Your Business / Stage 2 Biz (11 - 19 employees) / Stage 2: Keep the Momentum – Focus on These Critical Challenges

August 8, 2017 By Pam Butterfield

Stage 2: Keep the Momentum – Focus on These Critical Challenges

hiring employeesYou aren’t sure when it happened. But without really being cognizant of it, you now have 14 employees. Fourteen people (and their families) rely on you.

You know things are getting more difficult to manage. It’s getting harder and harder to keep up with the flow of work. Your employees are sending you ‘not so subtle’ messages that unless you do something soon to ease their pain, they are going to get too burned out.

You are now the proud owner of a Stage 2 company with between 11 – 19 employees. You just experienced a Flood Zone, one of two ‘chaos zones’ that companies move through as they grow. A Flood Zone requires you to bear up to an increase in the quantity of activity. Your first reaction to a Flood Zone is to add more people. Don’t.

Instead, as you Ramp Up in Stage 2, you need to be focused on Profit/Revenue, getting critical processes in place and avoid the trap of just ‘throwing more people at your problems’.

This mistake alone has accounted for too many businesses imploding too soon. There are five critical challenges you will face as a Stage 2 leader. In talking to leaders who have made it to Stage 2, they are usually completely overwhelmed.

You probably haven’t spent time thinking about ‘managers’ or shifting the responsibility of managing these 14 people to others yet – you are not only trying to keep them on target with projects, but you are still doing everything you’ve been doing since you started your business.

As a Stage 2 Business Owner, spend time organizing your day around these five activities. Make a commitment that you will address each one, at some level, every day.

Challenge #1:  Hiring Quality People. But, Pam, you just said, “Don’t throw more people at your problems!” I’m not asking you to hire more people, I’m asking you to hire quality people. My guess is you have one or two people on your staff right now that the company has outgrown. They are good people but the company has moved on and they haven’t. Let them go and hire someone you can begin delegating specific tasks to.

Challenge #2:  Improve Sales. You are no longer in survival mode. You have moved into growth mode. That’s why generating revenue through sales is so critical. Follow the money. Enough said.

Challenge #3:  Manage Cash Flow. Track your cashflow daily if necessary but no less than weekly. Don’t let your expenses get ahead of you. When thinking about spending money on something, take time and ‘inquire’ as to the WHY of your decision. Ninety percent of CEOs think they make good decisions – 60% of them are a bust. This isn’t time to squander resources.

Challenge #4:  Recognize the Leadership/Staff Gap.  If you aren’t talking to your staff, individually, on a weekly basis – and I mean having a dialogue about how they are doing, what they need, how you can help them – you are looking at the beginnings of a communication chasm that you won’t be able to bridge. Start talking now and don’t stop.

Challenge #5:  Limited Capital to Grow. This is a challenge that has potentially dogged you since day one. It is typically true for companies in Stage 1 and Stage 2 who haven’t received venture funds. Have you looked at your business model? Do you have a model that creates a recurring revenue stream? Passive income? Have you recently evaluated your pricing model? Don’t get complacent. Worse, don’t spend all your time working IN your business. Intentionally think about your business.  Find the time to work ON your business.

Congratulations on making it to Stage 2! Learn about Stage 3 companies to avoid getting to the ‘point of no return’ when it comes to business owner burnout.

Filed Under: Stage 2 Biz (11 - 19 employees) Tagged With: business growth, entrepreneurial growth, small business growth

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Family Owned Business
  • Growing Your Business
    • Stage 1 Biz (1 – 10 employees)
    • Stage 2 Biz (11 – 19 employees)
    • Stage 3 Biz (20 – 34 employees)
    • Stage 4 Biz (35 – 57 employees)
    • Stage 5 Biz (58 – 95 employees)
    • Stage 6 Biz (96 – 160 employees)
    • Stage 7 Biz (161 – 500 employees)
  • Growing Your People
    • Developing and Retaining Employees
    • Leadership and Management
    • Workforce Development
  • Growing Your Team
  • News
  • Succession Planning
  • Uncategorized

Footer

Contact us

Send an email
Or call us at (860) 643-4744

About Business Success Tools LLC

If you want to increase employee, team or overall organization performance, or transition your business to its next owner, Business Success Tools has the right tools for you. We will help identify and develop your strengths, move you past any obstacles, and achieve the growth you’ve targeted.

Read more about About

Connect

  • Email
  • LinkedIn

Copyright © 2023 · Business Success Tools LLC. · Log in