There are so many things in your ‘small’ business that are very necessary to grow and scale, but aren’t very practical.
Does the one-person company need to setup an accounting system? No, not necessarily, but it would certainly be important if they plan on treating their business like they own a ‘real’ company and not a job. When your business in one or two people, setting up a dedicated accounting system is not the most practical thing to do, but it is necessary and critical to scale up, get ahead, and grow with intention.
A personal example of this was my Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. I knew it was a very necessary tool for me to manage my business, but I kept wondering if it made sense or if it was practical for me to take the time login to a system, click all around, assign a task to my staff member for when they logged in or checked their emails when I could just yell across the room, or send a quick email?? Of course not. But yelling across the room or sending several task emails throughout the day IS NOT SCALABLE. in other words, if my volume doubled overnight, would yelling across the room be an effective way to do things? Absolutely not – the process would break.
Nor could I remember to create proposals or send follow-ups from the top of my head, like I had done in the past. I was so small that I could remember all the clients I needed to get back to, but once high growth occurred, my mind was no longer enough. I needed to invest the time in establishing this infrastructure and creating these systems when I was small — when it wasn’t the most practical thing to do. This is part of facing the resistance and working ON your business as much as you work IN your business.
My message is to do the things that are necessary, before they become practical so you are setup to grow. The time it will take you to invest in these processes is far less than the pain you’ll experience when you grow without them.
