Based on working with clients and learning from my own experiences, I’ve seen a few common mistakes that can completely derail us in achieving the goals we set in our business.

My hope is in highlighting these mistakes, it can help to avoid them, helping you to be more successful when aiming for great things in your business…

First: What IS a standard operating procedure?

A standard operating procedure is a set of written/audio/video instructions that describes the step-by-step process that must be taken to properly perform a routine activity.

It’s intended that SOPs be followed the exact same way every time to guarantee that the company remains consistent - especially if you work in a highly regulated or monitored environment such as financial services, some health providers, and even for health and safety reasons…

One of the toughest aspects of running your business is wearing the many hats it takes to run your company.

However, to get yourself out of the spin cycle of your days, investing in building a high-performing team can elevate not only the space you can gain in your business to focus on strategy and goals, but to elevate your company’s results.

Through my work with my clients who are successful business owners and founders, we’ve been able to elevate their impact and overall company performance by embracing three core steps in building high-level support in their businesses:

There are many tips and how-to’s in the marketplace about how to market your company.

It’s almost too much to wade through, isn’t it?

One thing I would invite you to consider is: if you own a business, you’re a marketer…And a salesperson. Whether your marketing and sales are sophisticated or fairly simple; if you have customers, you’ve engaged in some sort of marketing.

Even if that marketing is based on word of mouth and referrals. Your customers are doing your marketing for you in this case.

Marketing isn’t sales and sales isn’t marketing, but they do work together.

If you’ve been tuning in for a while, you’ve heard me discuss the many contributing factors to building value in your company.

I’ve touched on attributes like growth potential, differentiation, financial performance, diversification of people, suppliers and employees, but you know what these all boil down to?

The SVO Model of Sustainability and Growth…

How often do you celebrate your progress and accomplishments?

I know you have all of them - I see you doing all the things in your business and in leadership.

From getting that new role, hiring a new manager, adding a new admin person, capturing a process you’ve been meaning to, taking more personal time, booking that vacation…..

From small to large these are no easy feats and I invite you to celebrate them.

Our vision is to see more purpose-driven companies excel and sustain through generations, making a positive lasting impact on the world.

How does my company contribute to this?

We coach founders & owners to grow by adding transferrable value, create a succession platform and take a vacation.

Part of lasting through generations is capturing the brilliance, savvy and know-how of you, the founder and owner, to ensure you don’t leave a knowledge gap when you decide not to be directly involved in your business anymore.

Your knowledge is gold and is the foundation of how your company started and what contributes to its ongoing success.

Even if you are aren’t thinking about passing your business to another in the future, or at the point where this has even entered your mind; capturing and transferring knowledge is a skill that takes practice and planning. It’s possible and it doesn’t have to be perfect or complex. And, it can be a process that evolves.

I know so many of you are planning on taking time away this month to spend time with family or for personal reasons.

As you prepare to be away what are your intentions?

What relationship do you want to have with work while you’re away? Are you looking to be completely disconnected, occasionally checking in, available when needed, or do you plan to be full on working but just away from the office?

Consider this:

1) There’s what you want

2) And, there’s what your systems and structures will support…

As we enter into the festive season and we begin to think about winding down for the year, I wanted to ask you: Do you perform an end of year review?

This is an opportunity to take stock, reflect and take a look at the bigger picture.

It’s been another tumultuous year and depending on where you live, perhaps a return to more things that are ‘normal’ for you.

Whether this is a practice you do each year or if you’re new to it, I wanted to share my process for my business review…

If you’ve ever had the thought:

“It’s too much work to take vacation, so I’m not going to bother,” then you need to read this.

How can we prepare to be absent from work or business without it causing too much stress so it negates the positive effects that time away can bring?

It’s about planning ahead and creating processes for the things you regularly do so they are more easily teachable and repeatable by others.

The more planning you do, the less stress going away will be.

If you’ve often wondered how you can get your team working towards goals with the same sense of urgency that you have — you are not alone.

As a leader, meeting deadlines and goals are important, and yet you can’t accomplish this unless you have the whole team on board.

So what do you do when everyone isn’t on board? Or, have the same sense of urgency that you do?

What kind of impact on the world are you aspiring to make through your business?

Companies who are moving towards their vision and accomplishing big things through their businesses are very thoughtful about WHO they need to communicate to (and with!) in order to get their message to the right people so they can fulfill their mission and purpose.

Having a big vision and achieving that is largely about getting your message to the people who need to hear it.

The question here is: HOW do you get your message to those that need to hear it?

I write this as I sit here in the sun - taking my work outside to write to you today - because…..why not?

We, in the northern part of our hemisphere, are starting to experience the lovely warmth of spring and anticipating the coming summer days.

Some of us may even be starting to experience a relaxing of some of the restrictions that we’ve been living with for the past 2 months.

As the weather warms and I think ahead to the summer months - approaching summer this year is unlike any other spring ever. Usually, I have things very planned out. I know which weeks will be vacation, I’ll have everything booked, kids’ camps/activities booked and it will usually be mostly all set by now.

This year, in a year where we’re unsure from one week to the next what will be open or what we will be able to do, the coming months may look very different AND my level of planning around it has shifted.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I would share the year-end review that I conduct in my business to close out one year and move forward in the next.

By sharing my process I hope this supports you to hone in on what’s important in your business. 

My mission is to help Leaders and Business Owners create sustainable businesses. In order to create a sustainable business, knowing the metrics that convey the health in your business is so important. This way you spot problem areas that need to be addressed and successes that you can leverage or lean into.

If you chose to grow your business, you know whether or not you have a healthy foundation in which to do so.

I like to keep it simple.

Have you ever heard this one before?

‘If you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not growing’

I personally don’t like this sentiment at all. But I get the idea behind it.

When it comes to looking for new opportunities within your company or organization, it really comes down to two things - who knows you and who knows what you are capable of. In other words, it comes down to exposure.