At some point in the lifespan of your small business, you have to grow up. What do I mean by this? You stop living in a reactive, chaotic environment and you become more strategic and structured.

When you first start your business, you are desperate for clients/customers. You don’t have the luxury of turning down business, you are just hoping to pay bills and keep the lights on.

Now that you are all grown up, it is time to start running your business that way.

1. Buyer personas are a great way to identify the best customers for your business. Buyer personas (sometimes referred to as marketing personas) are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers. Segment your audience by age group, interests and other relevant demographics. This provides great insight into buying decisions, behaviors etc. Once you understand this, you can target your marketing and the tools you use to reach your customers.
2. Internal processes need to be defined; as you add employees they need to be on the same page. How will services be delivered? How will you communicate with your clients/customers? Spend time outlining all the actions you take in a day and start creating systems. Set up a SOP (standard operating procedures) binder – this way as you grow, you maintain your culture and way of doing things.
3. Write up your job description; what do you want to do as the company grows? How will your position change? You will no longer be accounting, human resources, marketing…the list goes on. Your talents best lie in other areas of the business, you will need to let go to grow.

Evolving your business over the years is the most important task you will have, it is also the hardest. There will be frustrations, sleepless nights and so much change. It is all part of the journey, just know you are not alone. We are all experiencing it.

Quitters never prosper. Don’t be a quitter.

We’ve all heard it before, but when is it time to throw in the towel?

As a small business owner, when do you know that you have done enough? When do you determine it is time to part ways with a client,  difficult colleague, or an employee? We make these decisions more often in our personal lives than we do in our professional world. Why is that?

Small business owners are very solution-focused, we have to be. You can’t cut and run at the first sign of an issue, we think things to death until we develop a plan to move forward. Just ask our significant others, they love this about us.

I am here to tell you – sometimes shit just isn’t going to work and it is ok to quit. I feel like there is a reason shit rhymes with quit. Maybe they are meant to go hand-in-hand.

You will know in your gut the decision you need to make. Here are a few reminders on why quitting is important.

1. Your health is affected. Sleep is f**ked up. If you are tossing and turning all night long and having dreams about whatever the situation is, it is affecting your health. Apparently sleep is necessary – who knew? Is your Anxiety off the charts? Constant burning in your stomach? Headaches? Pressure on your chest? Let’s just say I have been there and it doesn’t go away by ignoring the situation. If anything it gets worse over time.
2. You’re miserable. Do you dread interaction with this individual? Does your stomach do a flip just thinking about it? Why keep that in your life? What good is that doing you or anyone else?
3. The wrong reasons. Are you trying to make the relationship work for the wrong reasons? Many of us will keep at it because we don’t want to be labeled a quitter. If you are having a hard time defending or finding reason, then it is a sure sign it is time to move on.
4. Priorities or vision has changed. If you have a client that doesn’t fit where you are headed as a company, then it is time to part ways. Don’t drag it out, rip off the band-aid.
5. The future is uncertain. Can you honestly see the relationship going anywhere? Plenty of relationships run their course over time, such as college or high school friends. Why should this be any different?

It’s cool to be a quitter. Don’t let anyone tell you differently, small business owners will never be known for taking the easy way out.

As I sit here writing this, I am staring out across a large body of water from my campsite in the Manistee National Forest. Seriously…look at this view! Holy shit it is gorgeous.

Sometimes you just need to leave the office and work remotely, whether it is a large forest, a coffee house or your house. We often forget how important it is to refresh and rejuvenate and that doesn’t have to mean a vacation it can just be a change of scenery.

As a small business owner we have a 24/7 work schedule and it can be exhausting, exhilarating and incredibly isolating. Not everyone will understand, care or realize the sacrifices you make to provide for your family and employees so it is up to you to keep yourself happy and healthy. Here is my completely unwarranted advice to you:

1. Don’t take everything so personal.
2. Build a support system of other small business owners. You aren’t alone, there are others just like you out there and they need a drink just as much as you. There are small business orgs in every state, Michigan has www.sbam.org
3. Find your happy place. Mine is in the forest by a large body of water. Even though I am not completely isolated (I am blogging), it gives me peace. I am also not likely to run into anyone from home, which is good because I haven’t showered in 2 or 3 days (you lose track of time out here).
4. Perspective. Get some. One of our clients, Shefit, spent over 10 years getting their product to market. They dealt with manufacturing issues, funding and more. Guess what, Sara didn’t give up. She had 4 girls to raise, a full time job to work and she still kept plugging away at her dream and it eventually paid off.
5. Perseverance. Keep plugging away. Today isn’t tomorrow and tomorrow things will be better.

In the last 3 or 4 years is when 834 finally found it’s groove, like Stella but much more awkward. This has been my life for the last 10 years and it is starting to fall into place – although it is really fucking hard and scary and lonely and confusing. That is what life is all about, the unknown and doing the shit that scares you.

You often hear how hard the startup stage is for a new business but not a lot of people address the headaches of growth.

Personally, I think the growth stage is harder than the startup stage…it seems damn near impossible at times. At the startup stage you are focused on obtaining customers and delivering the service or product you are contracted for. Your concerns are money and production.

When you reach the growth stage, you have the customers, money and have tackled a lot of hurdles to even get to the point where you can consider growing.

Harvard Business Review says this of growth: Among the important tasks are to make sure the basic business stays profitable so that it will not outrun its source of cash and to develop managers to meet the needs of the growing business.

The key problems you face are growing rapidly and financing the growth.

Some of the shitty stuff you are up against:

• Delegation. What comes first? The customer? The employee to manage that customer? Where does the salary come from? How do you anticipate growth? How the hell do you manage all of your employees? First step is relinquishing some control, empowering employees and taming your Type A tendencies. Good luck.
• Money. You start growing and bam! you are hit with a larger tax bill, salaries of the new employees you had to hire, expanded office space, equipment costs, benefits and more. Doesn’t the government know that growth costs a shitload of money?
• Resources. How the fuck do you do it all? In the startup stage you are the one managing payroll, tax filing, invoicing and more. When you start growing you often have to outsource these tasks. It becomes necessary to hire a human resource company, payroll company, bookkeeper, accountant or custodial service. Your best bet is to find someone who has been through it and learn from them.

When starting out it was just you and maybe 2 or 3 additional employees, now you have a team of 10, 15, 30 or more. How do you manage it all?

There are days, hell weeks…that I am just physically and mentally done, I contemplate selling or scaling back so it is just me and an employee or two…or I buy an island and sit in the sun drinking tequila. Who am I kidding, I can’t afford an island and every day sitting on the beach staring at the ocean…well that’s just boring.

You know, as well as I do, that we wouldn’t be satisfied doing anything else. So, in the words of my friend Sue…

Shake it off Bode, you’re being a pussy.

One of the biggest issues I have struggled with as 834 continues to grow is culture. How do we maintain our existing culture when adding new employees into the mix? Have we really defined culture? I mean, in my head it is perfectly clear…but isn’t that something every business owner struggles with? Are you actually communicating the shit that is swirling around in your head in a concise and clear manner?

Culture originates from the founder, entrepreneur or business owner…that means you demonstrate what the culture is every single day.

Here is 834’s core values that feed our culture:

Be Nice.

• In the way you communicate with one another, with a superior and with a client.
• No gossiping. We take care of each other and approach issues head on.

Don’t be a jerk.

• Negativity can infest the culture of a company, by choosing to be positive, you set the foundation for success.

Get shit done.

• If a client, employee, team or the firm has an issue – how can we solve it? Not sure how? Pull another employee in and brainstorm together.
• If there is an issue, develop a solution. Complaining to complain will not be tolerated.

I thought all of this was a given, was clear to all employees…but had I every really said it? Put that shit in writing, discuss it as a team and make sure everyone has a clear understanding of what will and won’t be tolerated…oh and communicate. As a leader you need to take full responsibility for your shortcomings. If your employees are confused, you only have yourself to blame.

Craving more words of wisdom? Check out this article from Entrepreneur.com.