Building business foundations: what does that actually mean?
CANDICE: Can you bring this to real life context by sharing some backstories on building business foundations and operations?
KAIT: Absolutely - here’s a client example, but also a scenario I’ve come across a number of times…
When you’re a one-person consultancy, you find yourself doing literally everything. From lead generation, to strategic thinking and business planning.
One of my clients was doing just this - wearing all the hats within the organisation - everything she was doing was half documented, half in her head / second nature.
As the business grew, she realised that all of the time spent on administrative tasks was detracting from revenue-generating activities. But also, there was a concern that there was no continuation plan. What would happen if she had to or wanted to step out of the business for some time.
Together, we created processes and documented these tasks clearly for a Virtual Assistant. She hired a really lovely virtual assistant (VA) to start taking care of administrative tasks like scheduling, follow-ups, invoicing. The VA onboarding was streamlined and seamless because of the documented processes we’d come up with.
This shift freed up her time (and mind) to focus on expanding her business but she’s also now got a solid continuation plan in place as she’s actually planning for a period of maternity leave early next year! So while she is learning how to be a new mom, she’ll be able to rest assured that the businesses processes will remain consistent and carried out without her.
Candice: Many listeners may be saying, nope I’d never step away from my business but we don't always have control over that, a good business is one that can still run when you are sick or life happens and forces you away from the business.
The other great point you raised was how difficult it is to be executing and strategic at the same time. When execution is automated or streamlines or efficiently running, Founders can tap into that creativity that initially started the business, when creativity is applied to how we solve problems, address challenges and take hold of opportunity, thats when we are watering the plant that is our business.
Listen to the FULL episode where we chatted more about What building business foundations and operations actually is!
