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Growth & Scaling

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4 Types of Business Strategies to Fast Forward Your Growth

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

There are a few things in business that are optional especially if you intend to keep the doors open and the lights on. Business growth is NOT one of them. Growing a business in any economy is not for the faint of heart. Growing a business — minus a strategy — is a major drain on your resources triggered by half-baked decisions.

To paraphrase author, Richard Rumelt, in his book Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters, setting strategy is not a game of establishing goals. Strategy is how your organization moves forward. Strategy is the craft of figuring out what is worth pursuing with the capability of accomplishing. It’s a cohesive approach to moving forward that requires you to say “no” more often than “yes” to what lies ahead.

Show Us Your Growth Strategy

When asked which strategy is ideal for your small business, the not so very satisfying answer is — that depends . .

Strategy is an area in which one-size-fits-all doesn’t work. In fact, when crafting a strategy that is the right fit for you and your small business, there are several aspects to consider.

Our friends at the Houston Small Business Chronicle suggest using the PESTLE analysis when identifying a clear business strategy. PESTLE stands for political, economic, sociological, technological, legal, and environment. Taking these considerations under advisement, combined with your mission and vision, helps identify the potential opportunities and threats that ultimately influence your selection of strategy.

Common Core Strategies: The Big Four

Although there are different types of business strategies available, you want to select the growth strategy most appropriate for your business. In the absence of a full analysis and customization of your business strategy, you may find it helpful to select one of the most commonly known strategies.

  1. Diversify – Does “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” ring a bell? If so, that sums up the diversify strategy. Developing new products in new markets can be a riskier strategy given the unproven marketplace. However, if innovation is a business value (think Apple, Inc.) it may be worth the risk as long as you understand what’s at stake. Strap on your tool belt for this strategy, though. New skills and knowledge required for success.
  2. Market Development – One of the more common growth strategies selected by many a mature entrepreneur is to expand existing products into new markets. It makes sense. Once you’ve proven your business offering in one market, your acquired knowledge and skill can potentially support growth in a new market. The new market may be industry-related or geographical. This type of transition doesn’t happen without proper planning, however. A keen understanding of the new markets — and its competitors — is important if you’re going to make head way.
  3. Product Development – Probably one of the most comfortable strategies for entrepreneurs is introducing new products into existing market.  This is commonly called the product development strategy and mirrors the market development strategy. It requires a keen eye and detailed-attention to pay attention to the ever-changing needs of your clients to figure out what innovation they are ready to adopt. Even if it appears to be an easier strategy to implement, it doesn’t come without challenges. New business skills and continual tweaking are needed until success is achieved.On Strategy does a nice job of poking the brain cells with their product development strategy teaser. Here are a few ways to extend your current offering:
    • Adapt (to other ideas and developments)
    • Modify (change color, motion, sound, odor, form, shape)
    • Magnify (more for a higher price, stronger, longer, extra value)
    • Reduce (smaller, trial version, shorter, lighter)
    • Substitute (other ingredients, processes, power)
    • Combine (other options, products, ideas, assortments)
  1. Market Penetration – What’s an entrepreneur to do when new products and/or new markets don’t exist? When surrendering is not an option, expanding your current products in your current market is the way to go. Be prepared to do battle, though, should you adopt this strategy. In order to snag a larger piece of the pie, you’ll be seizing some of your competitor’s market share. They may not take kindly to that.

As you can see, there’s a bit more than wishful thinking when it comes to business growth. However, setting aside some time to conduct a thorough analysis and custom-design your business strategy can certainly give you a leg up on growing your business.

Start with a Free Consultation

10 Common Business Growing Pains Overcome in a Mastermind Group

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

Every business experiences “growing pains” as it moves from infancy to adolescence and finally, maturity. Whether or not your business grows out of its awkward stage depends — on lots of things — starting with the pain itself.

Some of the growing pains that business owners commonly share with me include:

  • Limited cash flow
  • Insufficient financial reserves
  • Conflicting priorities
  • Leads not converting
  • Challenging and/or difficult employees
  • Loneliness and isolation
  • Self-doubt
  • Lack of control of your days, let alone your future
  • Easily getting caught up in the minutia
  • Unrelenting overwhelm

Can you relate? I bet you can. And, in a weird sort of way, isn’t it nice to know you’re not alone? Growing pains are common among small business entrepreneurs. And, like many business owners, you can likely add a few more to the ever-growing list of challenges that come with growing a business.

Underlying Causes of Business Problems

No matter the industry in which your business exists, the challenges are eerily similar. Many of the growing pains that you experience occur as a fallout of any — or all — of these elements:

  • Unfamiliar that growing pains are a common business occurrence
  • Unaware of practical solutions
  • Uncomfortable in speaking openly about your growing pains
  • Desire to sweep them under the rug, ignore them, and hope they will disappear

More specifically, growing pains intensify in force when co-existing with any of these factors:

  • Ad hoc planning.
  • Missing implementation of loosely crafted goals and plans
  • Absent growth strategy
  • Scant revenues
  • Unproven business model
  • Underpricing
  • Poor operational development
  • Roles and responsibilities not clearly defined
  • Missed opportunities
  • Ill-defined marketing and sales funnels
  • Loss of objectivity
  • Excessive optimism when setting expectations and goals

Beyond Band-aids

Would you ever place a band-aid on a gaping wound? Or treat a brain tumor with aspirin? Of course not! Yet, we commonly “treat” the symptoms of our growing pains hoping for a durable resolution.  Although it may relieve immediate pressure, it certainly isn’t sustainable. Under stress, the band-aid pops off and we’re back to square one. It’s just not worth it!

While attempting to grow your business in a silo, we often don’t know what we don’t know. We’re too close to our own situation to see — with any clarity and distinction — the causes of our pain. This is why we’re increasingly advocating for business owners to participate in a mastermind group.

The Solution? Mastermind Groups

Most of us are familiar with mastermind groups. They bring advice, learning, and support to its members, focusing on what’s most important. In fact, they are more vital to today’s business success than ever before.

Facilitated by an experienced small business strategist and coach, discussions tap into the collective knowledge of the group to help you stay ahead of the rapid-fire changes happening in your business. Additionally, bouncing ideas off each other offers solutions that actually work! It’s a perfect sounding board for accelerating your success.

Mastermind groups provide an opportunity to speak candidly in a trusting environment. With complete transparency, there’s no concealing, skirting the issue, or getting around the source of your growing pains.

With expertise from those who have experienced identical growing pains, you can rest assured that countermeasures recommended by your colleagues are guaranteed to bring you relief — and the maintainable result — you’re after much more quickly than if you try to suffer through it yourself.

The sooner you’re able to implement viable solutions to your “growing pains,” the more quickly you’ll experience a less-stressful phase of business growth and development…

Ultimately, the trajectory of your business depends on it.

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If you’re tired of being a lone-ranger and are considering a mastermind group for your business, consider joining us at Eureka!  Designed exclusively for the small business owner with less than $1M in revenue and/or fewer than 10 employees, conversations are relevant and timely.

The Business Strategy of Network Effect & Its Impact on Your Ability to Scale Your Small Business

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

If there is one objective shared by almost every small business owner, it would be the capability to scale their small business. Scaling, unlike growth, allows you to increase your revenue substantially. Minus the addition of significant costs, profits are greatly enhanced.

Growth, in comparison, means adding resources or infrastructure to handle greater demand. A growth in revenue is generally accompanied by an increase in cost. Subsequently, although your business revenue grows, you may not experience a growth in profitability – or scalability.

One of the best ways to make your business scalable is to apply the business strategy of network effect.

Say What!? What is Network Effect?

Network effect first came into being as early as 1908 when Theodore Vail, the first president of Bell Telephone, gained a telephone monopoly. It was later popularized in the tech industry by such giants as Robert Metcalfe of 3Com and Rod Beckstrom of ICANN.

Essentially, it’s a phenomenon whereby a product or service gains more additional value the more people use it.

Examples of today’s network effect include Airbnb, Google, and Facebook (although it’s arguable — and a matter of personal opinion — of the additional value of Facebook). Certainly, the internet, itself, is a good example.

When the internet was first conceived, there were few users. Those who were online derived value from its use. However, as more and more of us went online, the value of the internet to everyone online increased exponentially.

The Value of Network Effects for Small Business

Let’s face it, as a bootstrapped solopreneur in the service industry, you trade time for money. Your business model very likely looks like that of a lawyer, accountant, designer, or consultant. It requires you to be there — to be present — and put in time to generate revenue. You and your client exchange time and expertise for money. It’s that simple.

The problem with this model is that there are only so many hours in a day. Even at that, few service-based professionals are 100% billable. It doesn’t take long before your ability to generate revenue is capped.

Granted, you can hire other skilled professionals to grow your revenue capability. However, it’s merely a “rinse and repeat” of the same model with revenue capability capped as the number of billable hours is achieved for each person in your employ. Economies of scale are difficult, at best.

And, if you’re like many of the business owners I chat with, you really don’t want to be managing a gaggle of people. Thanks, but no thanks.

The application of network effect for the small business owner with minimal resources can create a huge advantage in your ability to scale. As more users are added, greater value is created by and for all users.

This dramatically reduces your individual work load and requirement to be ever-present. Plus, costs are easier to control and maintain making your product/service more affordable. This affordability factor attracts more users and the entire cycle repeats itself.

Additional users => more use => additional value created for all users => cost containment => greater affordability => further users.

Me, too?

Not every business can, nor should they, attempt to inject network effect into their business model. But, for those who can — and should seriously consider doing so — here are a few considerations as you begin the process.

1) Consider what type of product or service is currently being used by a high volume of people and considered valuable and incorporate that particular product or service into your business. An example might be a credit card.

2) Study the most valuable product or service that your business provides that currently engages the most users. Consider how you might leverage that product or service using network effect.

One of the most valuable services being generated by most service-based professionals today is content — good, quality content. In fact, although the internet is choking itself on an overabundance of content, the truth is that most of it is not good or helpful to the end user.

By leveraging your content to inform, educate, and spark conversations among readers, you begin to create greater value for everyone who consumes your content. The conversations and contributions made by other readers expands the knowledge and understanding of the topic, beyond your original contribution — as long as, of course, that quality (content and user) is upheld.

3) Focus on one target customer in one location and perfect the model…like McDonald’s did before becoming a franchise behemoth. Create your micro niche.

4) Set up conditions for other people to collaborate and connect and cause each other to grow. Consider how each new client (aka user) can be made more valuable to each and every client.

The Bottom Line

Henry Ford said, “Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together, is success.” By leveraging the increasing value of your product or service as the number and quality of users grows, you can more quickly scale your small business…with less work needing to be done by you!

Avoid Making This Everyday Mistake with Your Business Strategy When Growing Your Small Business

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

Like any small business owner, you accepted the challenge of business ownership. Bravo! You knew you were in for a wild ride, but little did you know how your decisions could drive or derail your goals.

There’s little room for error in a small business.

Unlike larger, better capitalized businesses, we start with bootstraps (for pulling ourselves up) and a prayer (for getting out of jams). We parlay our passion, experience, and crafty chops into a business that makes Mom proud.

Our desire to grow is strong. Our determination is unparalleled. Our enthusiasm is contagious. Our belief — although wavering at times — remains steadfast.

Then, what’s the problem?

WE FORGOT TO SELECT A STRATEGY! Whoopsie.

Whether it’s a strategy for growth, content, social media, marketing, or sales — it’s completely MIA (missing in action). And, it leaves an indelible mark.

Understanding Business Strategy

Strategy is important for a variety of reasons. It helps us make decisions. It aligns our vision with our goals. It prevents us from making choices that pull us off course and take us down a rabbit hole in search of Alice in Wonderland. It helps us filter opportunities and risk.

It’s a good thing to have!

Minus a strategy, we become a wandering generality. We struggle. With a lack of congruency between our action and our intentions, building momentum and gaining traction makes it difficult to pop our head above the clouds.

All one needs to do is google “business strategy” to learn of senior executives around the world who claim to lack certainty in identifying a winning strategy. Is it any wonder we struggle? If global executives tussle with strategy, we don’t stand a chance!

Could it be strategy is missing because we don’t understand how to create a strategy that works? If that’s the case, you’re not alone.

Choose Your Weapon

Frankly, all the google-speak around innovation strategy, capabilities-driven strategy, merger and acquisition strategy, etc., etc. makes my head spin.

For the sake of small business, we just need a little nudge to get us moving in the right direction of finding the best strategy that makes business less of a daily burden.

Pour yourself a cup of coffee and pull up a chair as you consider your response to these questions:

  1. How will the business be built and managed?
  2. How will you capitalize on market opportunities?
  3. How will you solve critical problems?
  4. Will the strategy you’re considering result in growth and profitability?
  5. Is your strategy easy to understand?
  6. Does it align with your vision and mission?
  7. Does it serve the test of time?

There you have it. That wasn’t so bad, was it. Realizing the answers to these tightly-woven questions designs your decision-making tool — your samurai sword — to slay the enemies that thwart your progress.

Advanced Adventure into Strategy

In the event you’re feeling audacious and are ready for a deeper dive into strategy, feel free to download our handy dandy worksheet.

Be prepared! It does require time (10–12 hours) and brain cells.

If you want to dial in your business strategy as best as you can, here’s my suggested approach.

  1. Download the worksheet
  2. Set aside one hour per day for the next two weeks.
    Don’t tackle it all at once. It can be overwhelming and gets in the way of thinking as clearly as needed for this exercise.
  3. When your assigned appointment time arrives, resist the temptation to cancel on yourself. Set your timer and dig in. Tackle one piece of the puzzle at a time.

At the conclusion of the two weeks, you’ll have your business strategy dialed in. It will be much easier to keep your business on track and moving forward as you begin to employ your strategy.

In the words of the famous philosopher, John Mayer, “If you had started doing anything two weeks ago, by today you would have been two weeks better at it.”

Ready to begin?

The Business Strategy to Breakthrough to Success

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

What small business entrepreneur hasn’t dreamt of achieving great things through their business. It’s what ignites our passion in the early days of our start-up and fuels our determination during the whitewater of growth and development.

For some entrepreneurs, winning the game of business eludes them — or at a minimum, is puzzling and perplexing. Yet, with the right business strategy, you can breakthrough your metaphorical glass ceiling.

Take A giant Step Forward

If you were fortunate enough to grow up in a neighborhood of ragtag kids, like I did, you may remember the game of Mother May I. One child played the role of the leader or captain, aptly named “Mother,” while the other kids took on the role of the game participants.

Mother would stand against one wall — facing the cavalcade of kids (aka the angry mob) — while the little mobsters (aka kids) lined up along the other wall anxiously awaiting their turn. This was usually accompanied by the traditional pushing and shoving while vying for an advantageous position.

The objective of the game was to reach Mother in the fewest actions possible or, at a minimum, before your snotty-nosed friends. As the winner, you would then get to be the Mother for the next round — and boss your friends around.

In order to make a move, permission had to be sought — and approved. Hence, the name Mother May I.

Child after child would take their turn by asking “Mother, may I take three giant steps forward” or “Mother may I take two twirls forward.” In response, Mother could accept the request with a “yes, you may” or reject the request and offer an alternative — “no, you may not but you may take four hops backward.” (That’s just plain mean!)

It was the ultimate “cross-over” game of the time.

the Business Cross-Over Game

Business is somewhat like Mother May I. Our objective is to advance from one destination — our current lot in life — to another, aptly named “our future.”

One of the major differences, however, is that as entrepreneurs, we play both roles of Mother and children.

We lean against one wall of our business desperately wanting to take three giant steps forward, then four hops followed by 10 pirouettes to reach our ultimate business vision.

Yet, to many entrepreneurs, it feels as though there are three giant steps forward followed by four frog hops backward. So frustrating!

Try as you might, progress is much too slow for your liking and all the other “kids” are passing you by in the race to achieve their goals. Even more frustrating!

And, just like in Mother May I, there are two key business strategies for breaking away from the pack and crossing over to win at this great game of business — asking permission and strategic planning.

Permission to Succeed

During the game of Mother May I, if a child states their desire for forward movement without preceding the request with “Mother May I,” their request is categorically denied. (Hit forehead with hand for being such a numbskull.)

And, as if the epic rejection of your request wasn’t failure enough, a request without permission was swiftly accompanied by a penalty of returning to start. ARG! The “fun,” along with some valuable life lessons, never ends.

So it is in business. Desperately longing for success isn’t enough if you haven’t asked for and given yourself permission to succeed.

Strategically Planning for the Win

The object of a good Mother in the game of Mother May I is to bring everyone forward as equally as possible. As a dirty little juvenile playing for the win, this took some conniving.

You had to know your competition, study their motives, and anticipate their moves in order to take decisive actions. Additionally, strategic execution of your plan was mandatory. Overtaking Mother too quickly could cause you to suffer the punishment of backward movement and bring you to ruin.

Again, just like in business. Competition needs to be studied, SMART goals need to be established, and plans need to be executed thoughtfully and strategically to arrive at your ultimate destination.

Have you asked for and given yourself permission to take three giant steps forward?

Have you studied your competition in order to better understand their next moves?

Have you plotted your goals and settled upon the strategic moves you’ll take?

If not, now may be the best time to ask permission of success and proceed with the strategic moves of a five-year-old vying for the win in the game of Mother May I.

The Importance of Environment to Growing a Business

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

Have you considered the power of your environment on your success?

Think about it.

As an avid gardener, I know certain kinds of vegetables grow best in specific types of soil and under particular weather conditions. I don’t stop to consider if the seed planted is “talented enough” to grow. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the environment plays a strong role in whether or not that seed is going to sprout and produce an abundance of produce.

Yet, how many of us stop to consider the impact of our environment on our ability to grow our business? Do we argue for our talents, knowledge, and abilities in our success? Of course, we do, with perhaps little thought going into the role that our environment plays in our achievements.

What if we did — if only for a moment — give credence to the notion of the contributing factors of our environment? What would be different for you?

As I consider the environmental factors influencing my performance, here are a few of my favorite things:

  • Music uplifts my spirit — and it wins hands down over the news.
  • Sunshine — ahhhhh, nothing is more mood elevator than the sun rising over the horizon. It signals the dawn of a great day.
  • Warmth. What is it about being warm that brings me to attention? Must be my North Dakota upbringing. When it’s 30 degrees below freezing, all I want to do is hide under the covers — where it’s warm.
  • Early risings, especially when the early morning hours of the day, when most people are asleep, are used to attack — and yes, I do mean attack — the tasks of the day.
  • Accomplishment seems to be the next important “thing.” The more I can tick off my to-do list early in the morning, the more I am inspired and motivated to take on the next task.

Although some of these “things” are more about habits than they are environmental, I recognize how my environment sets me up to develop habits that influence my success.

Decorating for Success

James Clear recently wrote an article on the impact of our environment on our success. It was, in fact, the inspiration for this musing. And, it did get me thinking about the environment for small business owners — especially those who are bootstrapping and working from a home office.

Certainly, as someone who has worked from a home office for over 30 years, I understand the joys — and complications — that come from such a location. There are distractions (think dishes, laundry, and other household chores) yet there is also a sense of freedom that comes from sliding into my home office in my pajamas and slippers, comforted with my cup of coffee while I watch the sunrise. Frankly, although I’ve considered the so-called benefits of working outside of the home, I’m not sure it’s really worth it in the long run.

Surprisingly, while I pondered the marriage of environment and success put forth by James Clear, I couldn’t help but think about my home office environments of the past decades.

Certainly, there were functional………..(insert long pause here) and that’s about it. Now that I give it some intentional thought, it’s almost laughable. Yet it’s not…and I bet I’m not alone!

The location in which we spend a significant number of waking AND working hours can — and should be — a better place to nurture our success. (Read that sentence again, for effect, and put yourself in the picture.)

What can you add to your environment (beyond a computer that works well) that feeds your soul, nurtures your dreams, and fertilizes your success?

Is it…

Flowers? Beautiful works of art? Luscious green plants? Pictures of loved ones?

Maybe it’s…

Your vision board. Brightly painted walls — that you can write on! (Can you imagine?) A comfy chair. A beautiful rug beneath your desk that keeps your feet warm.

Or, perhaps it’s a cat that sits quietly next to your keyboard purring while you plunk away.

What would you change about your environment that, like the ideal growing conditions for your vegetables, would foster your business growth? It’s well worth considering, isn’t it?

Why not till — and care for — your environment in a way that would support you in producing a bumper crop?

You are, after all, the seed that produces.

What elements of your business environment inspire your growth?

5 Key Factors in Determining Your Business Strategy for Growth

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

Today’s small business owners are grappling with uncommon levels of complexity. As one colleague so aptly put it, “We have overwhelmed entrepreneurs coming out of the woodwork from all directions.”

Head-down discipline is no longer effective to accomplish the business growth and success you desire. Just as much as a business strategy informs you of what to work on, an effective strategy also enlightens you on what to avoid.

A Business Strategy For Simplicity and sustainability

Strategies guide your decision-making, save valuable resources, and prevent you from squandering time and money on the wrong projects or pursuing the wrong market. They prevent conflicting priorities and, most importantly, clarify and prioritize your activities.

In essence, they bring a degree of simplicity to your business unachievable by any other means.

What do you need to know when reconstructing your business strategy? Here are the vital components to consider as you reformulate your business strategy.

  1. Elements critical for growth. Based on your stated mission and vision, are you able to pinpoint the influencing factors required to achieve your mission? Elements such as target audience, location, reputation, distribution, pricing, and product uniqueness are just a few things to consider.
  2. Issues affecting your industry. This includes opportunities, threats, and how you might leverage and/or minimize them to achieve your mission and vision.
  3. Channels for distribution. Pinpointing how your target audience currently purchases similar products/services, including how they will likely obtain them in the future will be a key factor in deciding your distribution channels. This, by far, is the most rapid-changing influencer of business strategies in today’s market due to the explosion of technology.
  4. Strengths and weaknesses of your business. Recognizing factors that contributed to your business success, as well as those that have limited business growth, play an important role in crafting business strategies that serve the test of time.
  5. Factors limiting growth or profitability. No one really likes to look at — or admit to — factors that may limit, reduce, or bottleneck business growth yet this is likely one of the most significant reasons for identifying your business strategies.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It can be if you’re willing to set aside the time to take a step back, observe the changing business environment, and thoroughly think through the important aspects of business strategy formation. It’s truly the most important aspect of business development.

The Best Kind of Business Strategist for Your Business Growth

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

With business becoming increasingly complex, business owners are faced with a variety of challenges — the most prevalent being overwhelmed by all there is to do in a day. This distressing situation is a far cry from what many of us thought growing a business would be like.

With days peppered with distractions, interruptions, emergencies, employee challenges, and client needs and demands — there isn’t much time left at the end of the day during which to think strategically about the future of the business. Without an opportunity for this sort of fore-thought, many small businesses are left to experience the same results year after year.

You may have started your business 5+ years ago but does your business growth reflect that duration of dedication to continual improvement? Or, like many business owners, does this year look like any other — minus your ever-increasing stress level. Once this “groundhog day” experience is realized, it’s bound to let the air out of the most optimistic entrepreneur’s balloon!

The Business Mad Hatter

If you happen to be one of the 24,331,403 nonemployer establishments reported in the US by Census Bureau as of 2015, you occupy all the roles and responsibilities in your business. You not only wear multiple hats — you wear all the hats!

You’re the Founder, chief executive officer, chief financial officer, marketing director, VP of operations…the list goes on and on.

One of your most critical functions seldom discussed is that of your role as the strategist for your business.

Embracing Your Role As Business Strategist

As a business strategist, it’s your responsibility for creating and implementing a strategy that helps your business achieve its goal. Within this role, you set smart goals, establish tactics and, most importantly, create a system for accomplishment of the tactics.

Here are a few things to be aware of in your small business strategist role:

  • continually look for positive outcomes within what can be a restrictive framework when resources are limited
  • exercise common sense in creating viable plans particularly if you’re an overly optimistic entrepreneur
  • look to the future to ensure your plans are moving you in the direction you intend
  • continuously be aware of and take your competition into consideration
  • advance quickly on releasing products/services to the market
  • continually clarify and adjust your direction as needed
  • ask yourself probing, challenging questions — then provide an honest assessment
  • pay attention to gaps between your goals and results
  • pivot when needed to prevent you from continuing to bang away selling a product/service that’s not profitable
  • plan for and leverage risks
  • develop a hacker/hustler mindset

Your role as business strategist is challenging. It’s not only your responsibility to come up with fresh, new ideas to grow your business, it’s also your job to take these ideas, create viable plans along with the structure to bring your ideas to fruition.

Without someone to play this role, many bright innovative ideas never see the light of day…and, sadly, many business owners fail to realize their dream of financial independence.

Don’t let this happen to you. Understand your role as business strategist and embrace it wholeheartedly. Keep your head in the game and operate with focused effort. Trust me…you won’t be disappointed.

What You Need to Know About Small Business Automation

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

It was early in my business when I realized I was repeatedly performing the same tasks. Frankly, it felt a bit like a scene from the 1993 movie classic, “Groundhog Day.”

Small business automation was not yet coined as a “thing.”  Yet, there was already a craving in the business community for a better way to handle redundant tasks — without paying someone to do the same work over and over and over.

So, my brilliant team and I gathered our collective brains to come up with potential solutions. Hence, the Client Café was born.

The Client Café became a private portal that stored routine documents. Rather than digging through numerous computer folders and clogging up my clients’ inbox with worksheets and assessments, the Client Café became the main resource center, saving us countless hours.

Presto! It was the first automation at Synnovatia. (We were so ahead of our time!)

Two Many Tasks — Too Little Time

The fingerprints of a small business entrepreneur are on everything. They’re on bookkeeping, project management, marketing, human resources, operations, invoicing, customer service, payroll, etc., etc. You get the picture.

Ask any business owner the one thing they want more of and, without hesitation, they respond, “time” — which is quickly followed by “help.”

Conceding that hiring staff to handle repetitive tasks may not be financially feasible, a practical solution to free up time is to streamline wherever and whatever we can. It’s the only way to keep our heads above water.

All Aboard the Small Business Automation Train

In order to multiply and magnify your efforts (without adding staff or hours) automation of various business functions is key.

Before plunging head first into small business automation, put your well-earned money where your automation ought to be with a few strategic considerations:

  • Where do tedious and/or redundant tasks occur repeatedly?
    This may include unsubscribing from promotional emails, social media posting, marketing emails, reconciliation of bank accounts and credit cards.
  • What tasks eat up your time?
    This may include managing your day via post-it notes, communication, scheduling meetings, email, project management, banking, managing vendor relations, or overseeing staff.
  • What activities require multiple touches to complete?
    Here’s an example that routinely occurs when collaborating on a document. Can you count the number of steps? How much time you would regain if this process was automated.

A document is sent via email.  Access inbox where you are met with a flurry of distracting emails. Locate the desired email with the document. Download the document. Read the document. Make edits and suggestions. Save the document. Access inbox. Click on new message. Add recipient email. Craft subject line. Type response. Click on “paperclip” to open document folder. Search through folders. Locate document. Select to attach. Click send.

  • What areas of business can be automated?
    Business functions to consider for automation are operations, sales and marketing, customer service/relationship, accounting and finance, human resource management, production, research and development, and administration.
  • What tasks are being done that are a complete waste of time yet needs to be done?
    These are the tasks or activities that elicit heavy sighs and eye rolls.

Options for Automation

Now that you have a better sense of where automation may free you from the dull and tedious, there is no limit to what you can achieve.

To help narrow the possibilities, these are some of the automation tools happily implemented by our clients and/or us.

  • CRM – Hubspot, Zoho, Insightly
  • Project Management – Redbooth, Trello
  • Payroll/Accounting – Quickbooks, Freshbooks
  • Social media management – Hootsuite, Buffer, Socialoomph
  • Email management – Mailchimp, Constant Contact
  • Scheduling – Doodle, Boomerang Calendar, Calendly
  • Task management – Active Inbox HQ
  • Marketing – Hubspot
  • Customer support – Zendesk

Additional automation tools to consider are anything Google (calendar, email, docs, etc.), Dropbox, Zapier, and IFTTT.

Once you’ve researched our recommendations, ask your colleagues about their small business automation applications. There are hundreds of other software options, tools, and apps designed to make your business run more smoothly — and get back the hours for the activities that you enjoy most.

Trust me, this is just that start of your love affair with automation. Before long, you’ll wonder how you ever did business without it.

The One Thing Holding Back Most Small Businesses

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

I’ve been working in the success arena for decades.

I’ve seen and experienced first hand, the thrill of victory. I’ve also been privy to the agony of defeat. More frequently, I’ve played witness to the growing pains and state of stagnation many small business owners struggle to breakthrough.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) tells us that approximately 50% of small businesses fail within the first five years. Sadly, no one documents the number that stagnant and struggle.

Murky Business

A lovely green ceramic basin filled with water resides outside my door. The unblemished water tumbling from the bamboo spout is incredibly soothing. My only job, according to my Japanese landscaper, is to keep the water clear and pure.

My landscaper, Hitoshi, is the former landscaper at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. He’s taught me much about Japanese tradition during his twice-annual pilgrimage to tend to my plants. When I asked him the purpose of clean, clear water, he explains that water, immediately outside an entry, influences conversations that occur within the dwelling.

Water unattended, and left to become dirty and cloudy, results in poor communication and inadequate conversation within the domicile. Fresh water, on the other hand, promotes communication that is clear, hopeful, and optimistic.

As happens with most small business owners, I get busy. My time gets consumed with lots of other things – besides keeping the water in the basin sparkling.  Plus, being a bit confused about how to “simply” keep the water clean without chemicals, I procrastinate. Outside of emptying the entire basin, keeping the water crystal clear seems overwhelming.

Sadly, when a body of water lacks the required attention, stagnation sets in. The water turns various shades of green. Even the feral kitties in the yard refuse to drink from it! Eventually, it starts to stink.

Sounds oddly like a business, doesn’t it? When days, weeks, and months are filled with “stuff,” critical pieces of business development are neglected. Our once clear and inspiring vision becomes cloudy.

Given the complexity of the 21st-century business, it’s only a matter of time until the neglect begins to wear on the fabric of our business that ultimately leads to stagnation.

Vision: The Business Clarifier

Who can’t relate to the feeling of wringing our hands wondering what we should work on next? It’s not enough to wring our hands. Action is required.

What’s missing for stagnant small businesses is a vision that is crystal clear; one that is compelling and absent of doubt. Aligned with your core values, a business vision that integrates and feeds your personal life is, by the way, how you achieve work-life balance.

How clear is your vision?

How much detail can you define in your vision?

Does it excite you to action?

Does it illuminate the road to achievement?

If you were to share your vision, in all its glory and intricacy, would I be able to pinpoint exactly where you’re going?  Or, would you leave me scratching my head in wonderment and confusion about what exactly you’re trying to achieve?

Let’s find out!

Once you have a clear sense of what you want your small business to look like, your future (like the basin of water in my yard) will flow unimpeded.

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Brooke Billingsley

Vice President
Perception Strategies

Synnovatia is a strategic coaching firm that is detailed and knowledgeable about business. i have a small business that grew from $150K to $750K because of the goal setting and resources that Synnovatia provided. It saves me years of learning on my own.

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