Starting a business is one thing, sustaining it is another. You will find that the first is much easier than the second. There are many things that come into play as you put systems in place, hire employees, acquire new assets, and build relationships as you go along. It is best to instil good habits from the very beginning, streamline certain processes, and make everything sail as smoothly as possible in order for you to be more efficient and focus on achieving bigger goals.
The following are some things you can do in order to have a more sustainable business:
1. Be in a good location.
Location is everything. Is your office accessible enough to you, your colleagues, your clients, and your suppliers? Is everything as central as can be, in order to decrease time spent traveling, being stuck in traffic, and getting people and products from one place to the other as quickly as possible?
If people are complaining too much about the traffic, the pollution, or the general accessibility of the area, it may be a good time to think about relocating. Being in a good location is vital to the sustainability of any business.
2. Invest in good employees.
You may have heard this before – human resources are the most challenging to manage amongst all the resources the business has to deal with. People are fickle, subject to moods, are sensitive to how you treat them, and are dependent on feeling fulfilled on the job. Make sure you are investing in your employee satisfaction initiatives, so that they can find meaning in showing up and doing good work every day. Your employees wanting to stay with you also saves you money – high satisfaction rates reduce your need to have to hire and train new people, allowing you more time to focus on other endeavors that can grow your business.
3. Streamline certain processes.
Are there things that you can delegate to other people, or even better, to systems that can automate certain routines? For example, you can invest in a payroll service so that you don’t have to worry about payday salaries, computations, writing checks, or even having to meet with your employees every time you have to hand them their paychecks. These time-saving methods also save you energy and effort that you can use to do more complicated tasks.
4. Make sure to implement standard operating procedures with your workforce.
This is especially important especially if your company is already quite big. These standard operating procedures help make everything flow more smoothly. Make sure everyone is familiar with them so that they know what the protocol is, what to follow and what not to do, and how to do their work in a way that ascribes to the company culture.
These are just some of the many things you can do in order to make your business more sustainable in the long term. Invest in these fundamentals so that you can enjoy more efficient day-to-days with your team.
