Amazing business growth? It’s as easy as 1-2-3!
By Dawnell Kelly—
How do you measure amazing business growth? Revenue, sales, customers or all three? Are you stressed just thinking about it? Walk with me.
Chances are that a lot is happening in your company. You also have a list of professional goals. You may want to start a course or start a podcast. What about guest speakers or strengthening social media?
Let’s take a walk to your positive future
Just imagine: you are ahead of all your tasks and bigger projects. You are so efficient that you have more than enough time and energy to book podcast gigs, start your paid courses and write a book.
Take a walk in your positive future.
Your business is exploding at an unprecedented rate. All because at the end of our walk you have found a magical solution. Note that I said “solution” and not “pill”. Magic pills don’t work!
As you get closer, read the solution, structure and organization. “Speaking of falling flat,” you think, frowning, “this doesn’t sound magical at all.” However, we have already walked this short path together, so I urge you to explore the possibility.
Taking the next step
Your mind immediately clears and you are ready to frame the image we depicted earlier. You are back at your desk with renewed excitement about your business. You fearlessly list all your goals for the next 12 months. Your mind explodes in a flood of fireworks as you consider all the possibilities.
Consider all possibilities.
Barely legible, you feverishly write down your 6 and 3 month goals. You make a list for this week. When you take it all in, your heart sinks. This list is long, overwhelming and almost impossible! You lean back in your chair, take a deep breath and clear your head. You have to organize yourself.
Organizing is more than tidying up your workspace; it is a rocket ship in the world of amazing business growth.
Here are your snapshot benefits:
- Increased productivity by staying on track and not being distracted.
- More time by planning ahead.
- Increased flexibility by re-evaluating and updating.
- Increased referrals as you improve your customer service experience.
- Increased business advocacy by your employees, customers and contractors.
- Amazing growth as you reach your goals and expand laterally.
- More collaborations: People like to work with others who are trustworthy, trustworthy and deliver results.
Easy as 1-2-3.
It’s time to introduce the “easy as 1-2-3” part of the equation. Make a list of everything you need to do this week. Label each task 1, 2, or 3.
- It must be done immediately or you will go bankrupt.
- Important and should be done this week.
- Viable, but not critical. These can be moved to next week, or even next month.
As you label tasks with a 1, 2 or 3, you feel the stress and tension leave your body. Relax your shoulders as you relax your jaw. Talk about magic!
Coming back to this moment, what have we learned on our short journey together? Structuring and organizing leads to less stress. Excellent! What does this have to do with amazing business growth?
Do you want to increase your productivity?
Productivity. Prioritizing your tasks to this day is essential to be more productive and grow your business. You need more than a strategy or a plan, you need to take calculated action.
Like Paul Graham from Y Combinator said, “Acting versus not acting is the high proportion of succeeding. Nine times out of ten, hanging out with strategizing is just a form of procrastination.”
Most people use the 1-2-3 method unintentionally and sporadically. That’s why your goals and tasks are listed everywhere from Google Drive and Microsoft Teams to multiple email accounts and management software tools like Trello.
It’s important to zoom out and see your business from a higher vantage point to lay the groundwork. As with the tired but effective house analogy, you need the foundation before building the walls.
In this analogy, the first layer is the foundation, the second layer is the structure, and the third layer is utilities. You can apply this approach to your daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual goals.
Your weekly tasks
Keep in mind that as you add to this list every week, you should be dreaming bigger! There is an element of a wish list with #3’s. This stimulates you and your company to grow.
This also works for individual tasks. Let’s say your job is to prepare for a webinar you plan to host in three months. This task has many parts, so you prioritize them in order of importance.
#1’s – Choose date, time and length. Determine the presentation style.
#2’s – Determine rewards for giveaways, backup plans, and virtual platform to showcase.
#3’s – Create or update giveaway incentives and presentation design. Check sound equipment and lighting.
Your task components
This method is flexible and should be used as a guideline to ensure you are not constantly putting out fires.
Do you have an organizational problem?
For an ongoing organization there should be more #3’s than #2’s and more #2’s than #1’s. If not, you have to hire or delegate because you have an organizational problem. Constantly putting out fires doesn’t lead to astonishing business growth.
As an added bonus, plan #1’s when you’re at your best. If you’re a morning person, do them. If you’re a night owl, now’s your time to shine. If your tasks involve other people, meet them and use this method for your joint tasks.
Organizing opens the door to lateral growth.
As you expand your network through advocacy, referrals, partnerships, and connections, you unleash new collaboration opportunities. This includes social media shoutouts, guest speaker invites, article and video features, coaching programs, and so on.
There is a lot that goes into running a business. Organizing easily helps you streamline your processes and paves the way for exciting growth. Now take a moment to breathe, count to three and make your vision a reality. Simple.
I’m Dawnell Kelly, the CEO of Auxly, an organizational agency for women-led businesses. Checking out www.auxlyhelp.com and connect with me on LinkedIn.
Contents
