Have you ever had a wonderful experience with a brand, product or service that you really wanted to tell your friends about it?

Actually, I’m guessing you have. When we experience something wonderful, we want to tell people about it.

I am happy to share with others when I’ve had a phenomenal experience at a restaurant, a retail store, or with my hairstylist or my insurance company.

We want others to have those experiences as well and for those individuals to continue to be successful because of the great work/food/products/services/etc. they’re putting out into the world.

So now let’s flip things.

Do you think people say the same for your business?

There’s one critical question you can ask your customers in order to measure how well you’re doing as a business to know if you have high levels of customer satisfaction and the answer to this question is also proven to be predictive of your future stream of revenue.

The question is…

Maybe the reason your business is wearing you out isn’t necessarily because you’re burning the candle at both ends, or worried about making your bills, or because of another late order arriving.

While these are all worrisome and tiring, these could be symptoms of a deeper issue.

It could be due to a lack of capacity and diversity in one or all of three key areas: employees, suppliers, and/or customers.

How dependent you and your business is on any one employee, customer, or supplier can be a real indicator of business health, how high your business risk is, and how you, as the owner, are shouldering the effects of this directly. And, if that one employee is YOU, well that would be a signal of a lack of capacity or diversification of employees and skills sets.

I was recently speaking with a business owner who is dependent on one employee (themselves!) who tried to hire another employee recently.

They said ‘it didn’t work out’ and ‘it wasn’t a good fit’. And, they doubted that there would be a good employee out there that could do what they’re looking for.

I probed a little more and it became clear that they really didn’t believe another person could do what they could do and could serve the clients the same way they could.

I have heard variations on this theme from a number of business owners.

So what’s the answer?

Take a look at the three areas I mentioned and see how your business fares in these areas.

Is your business satisfying your ‘WHY’?

In order to fulfill your WHY for being in business, the company you created has to be able to make the impact you had intended it to make.

Whether that’s impacting families through therapeutic approaches, providing housing for seniors, providing financial security for families, or helping others build healthy businesses, without your own healthy business, it becomes harder to fulfill that mission.

That’s why I love these markers of business value. It’s not only your own business you’re building, but having a healthy business means that you can change the lives of your clients and customers.

That’s the real and compelling legacy here and a huge reason why I do what I do. One of my big WHYs is to help you to be successful in growing a strong, healthy, and sustainable business that impacts others.

I’m deeply motivated to improve the lives of others through economic growth and supporting businesses that make a difference in our communities so we all thrive.

One of the markers of a healthy business is how cash flows through it. (This is the fifth driver of business value.)

One of the most common pains I hear from business owners is that there’s not enough cash. Or it shows up as their desire to ‘do more marketing’ or '‘increase sales’.

Is your business a cash suck?

Or does it generate cash quite handily?

If cash is rarely on hand in your business when you need it, you may want to consider exploring these areas:

I came across a quote that grabbed my attention and it’s aligned with some themes I’ve been noticing lately. Themes such as: putting time and effort in for a future reward, making commitments, and decision-making.

“Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.”

― Robert H. Schuller

I think of the athlete winning their race and how that’s accomplished on the heals of thousands of hours of early practices, doing drills over and over again until the movements are ingrained into their muscle memory.

The artist creating their beautiful piece only after years of perfecting their various brush strokes and meticulous mixing to achieve the perfect colours and shades.

The ballet dancer who makes a leap or a pirouette look as graceful as can be, like they’re floating across the stage; perfected after years of doing daily barre exercises.

What motivates a human to do those daily or regular, sometimes grueling or methodical behaviours and practices to move them forward to a goal, a vision, or a destination in the future?

A few months ago I was searching dog breeders and their websites….yes, it’s happening. Something the kids have been wanting for years is finally going to happen :). We are now on a list to receive our puppy in the Fall.

The point of my sharing this is that as I was looking at breeders’ websites, they started to sound very similar - they all offer puppies of a particular breed, they all guarantee the pedigree, most offered first shots, and so on. But a couple of websites stood out. Some offered more resources than others after you received the puppy. And this got my attention.

We will be first-time dog owners and this was very reassuring to me. Having shopping lists and resources for new pet owners was right up my alley. One breeder offered support through a community page.

The point I’m making here is about differentiation. They all really offered the same or similar ‘offering’ (a cute little puppy of the breed I was looking for) and yet a couple really stood out to me as a buyer.

In this series of understanding the different (eight be exact) drivers of your business’ value, today’s driver is really about what the future holds for your business.

First, I want to acknowledge all you’ve accomplished to date - building something from nothing, or taking an existing business and building it to the point where you are now. I know you’re not finished yet, but, it’s important to acknowledge how far you’ve come.

Congratulations!

Revel in the past rewards, accomplishments, awards, client success stories, and fulfillment you’ve enjoyed to this point.

Having a great history is one thing and while this can provide a wonderful sense of pride and fulfillment, someone interested in taking over your business in the future is not only thinking about where you’ve come, but how much is possible in the future.

In other words, your company’s growth potential.