Has your business reached the point where you need to scale your systems up and hire people? First of all, congrats on the growth! Secondly, it’s important to acknowledge that growth requires change. If you’re going from a small business of one to building your very own empire, the rules change.
When you’re a business of one, you do everything that needs doing. You do your own PR, marketing, accounting, and content creation. As you grow, CEO’s need to start handing off some of those tasks and responsibilities to their expanding team. Changing your role is critical to the successful growth of your company, and shows that you trust the staff you’ve hired.
What do you let go of and what do you keep doing as the CEO? Where are your skills best applied, and what do you need to let go of? How do you compliment your own work with others, and where do you branch out with the business?
We’ve outlined four ways that CEO’s can scale their business up and find the right talent for their operation.
Hire People Who Thrive Where You Struggle
Yes, when it was just you running the show you had to do everything. but think back- there was a task that you hated doing, or an area that you struggled with. No one is great at everything. When you reach the expansion point, you should hire people who thrive where you struggle.
If you’re an excellent marketer but struggle with the bookkeeping, it’s clear where you need to hire help. Why bring on a marketing expert if you’ve already got that covered?
Similarly, look for someone whose personality compliments yours in the workplace. What does that mean? If you’re the kind of leader that is a whiz behind the scenes but loses their cool when confronted, hire someone who is the opposite. Hire people that can interface with difficult clients and keep their cool. That allows you to fade into the background where you shine and passes off a job you don’t want to do to someone who is great at it.
Make Simple Improvements to Existing Structures
Few businesses are charting totally new territory. Most businesses make changes to existing structures. They sell their changes as improvements and upgrades to make their clients lives easier.
It’s a brilliant strategy, and one you should incorporate into company growth. If you’re not sure about which direction to grow in, remember KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid.
Having the opportunity to grow your business is a rare one. You want to capitalize on it, not have it blow up in your face. How many stories have you read of businesses that overshot their growth plans and ended up going bust?
Instead, lean into areas that align with your current offerings. You can even start by just improving on what you currently offer. If you have a clothing company, work on getting faster shipping times or a bigger range of clothing sizes.
Continue to deliver killer service in your immediate wheelhouse and implement changes and new programs that build off of existing content.
Listen To Your Customers
Feedback is essential to a successful business in todays world. When customers can leave their thoughts on every single social media platform and a variety of review websites, you need to be mining those platforms for ways you can improve.
Seek out feedback and listen to what your customers are really saying. Companies that don’t do this not only risk failing but also court bad PR. (Looking at you Uber)
If you have the capacity, set up test groups. Send out emails that ask for product reviews. Solicit reviews on your social media pages. Feedback just makes your business stringer. Don’t shut it out because it might hurt your ego.
Know Your Role
Scaling up requires the CEO to step away from certain duties. In order to scale up, you need to hire people and hand off some of the smaller scale things to focus on the new areas that will push you forward.
That means things CEO’s need to make room in their schedule by giving things up. Outsource what you can. Hire people who can help you grow. Smaller scale things like setting up appointments can be handled by an assistant, thus freeing up your time.
What do you do best? Make that your priority and start handing off the things that detract from that.
Growing your business is an exciting and yes, stressful time. Use these tips to help chart your growth in a way that will allow you to keep growing. You want your business to sustain you for the long term. That means making the smart and sustainable decisions time and time again.
