by Monika Beck | Featured Contributor

Have you every thought about how fast you can grow your business?

What does it take to reach success, 80-hour work weeks?

We dream of becoming entrepreneurs to get control over our lives and we often accomplish the opposite. We allow our business to overwhelm us.

How to design your business for growth and remove yourself from the trenches?

Is it even possible?

If your business needs you for every decision, you don’t yet have a business.

You have a job.

If you feel that you have to be there to oversee every detail, you are not yet an entrepreneur.

You are self employed at best. You don’t have a business. You simply created a job for yourself.

Why is it that some entrepreneurs can succeed over-and-over? They can go from one success to the next. They have figured out the systems it takes to build a successful business.

Most people who start a business never transition from self-employed to entrepreneur.

Many fear that systems will create an environment where they loose control over their business. A business without systems creates endless bottlenecks..

There are two reasons for the need for complete control:

• Fear – You are afraid that you are the only one who can make the right decisions.
• Personality – Control is more important to you than success. Ouch. I know that’s hard to take, but it is true for many.

Centralized control is an artificial bottleneck that will limit your growth. Build a business not a job if you are serious about scaling it.

Don’t get me wrong. Every business starts out with the entrepreneur as its single point of failure. The entrepreneurs that take their businesses to the next level have figured out how to remove themselves from the daily routines of running their business.

Ask yourself the following questions to test if you have a business or a job:

• Do you make most decisions?
• Do you sell the most?
• Do you meet most of your clients or prospects?
• Do you generate most of your leads?
• How long would your business make money if you could no longer work in it? (I think this is the most important question of them all.)

You might have people helping you to perform the key aspects of your business. As long as you have full control you are limiting what your business can achieve.

Hard work will never be enough to transition self-employed to entrepreneur.

Working harder might be necessary today, but it won’t do in the long run. It will only result in burnout.

Are you ready to resist the need for your business needing you to create one the needs you less-and less?

Step 1

Create repeatable steps for key processes in your business. What are the exact steps you take to get a sale? Can you break it down into enough steps, so someone can follow it and succeed?

If not, you failed to break the process down properly. Getting the right processes implemented in your business will enable you to hire people.

You read ads for sales positions where companies want sales superstars. A business like that has no systems in place. They want miracle workers. All those businesses without systems need miracle workers.

The few businesses with proper systems can hire a trainable person with the right attitude and turn them into superstars.

The ability to replicate desired results is what it takes to scale your business.

Create systems to create scalable processes.

Your system must include a variety of tools:

• Step-by-step instructions
• Scripts
• Checklists
• Software that automate processes
• Pricing lists
• Templates
• Answers to frequently answered questions
• Testimonials
• Communication tools
• Instructional videos
• Project management software
• Timelines

All of the above is organically developed. It is not one big project with a beginning and an end. It is a living and breathing set of systems you develop as you grow your business.

The bottom line

Most people who start a business never build a real business. They create a job for themselves. Real business success requires systems. Systems sound easy, but they are difficult to implement. They require discipline and attention to details. Systems will transition you from self-employed to successful entrepreneur.

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Savvy web designer with a twist – Monika Beck with Webene – San Diego, CA.

Monika Beck is passionate about website design, web programming, ecommerce, and building businesses. She is a serial entrepreneur and the cofounder of Success Harbor a website dedicated to help entrepreneurs succeed. Success Harbor interviews successful entrepreneurs and publishes topics relevant to business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. Monika started Success Harbor with her cofounder in order to ease the life of entrepreneurs through original research, tips and unique content. Monika is also cofounder of Webene, a website design and online marketing firm based in San Diego, CA. Webene specializes in mobile-friendly responsive websites built on the WordPress platform. Monika loves playing classical music on the piano.

Monika Beck

Savvy web designer with a twist – Monika Beck with Webene – San Diego, CA.

Monika BeckMonika Beck is passionate about website design, web programming, ecommerce, and building businesses. She is a serial entrepreneur and the cofounder of Success Harbor a website dedicated to help entrepreneurs succeed. Success Harbor interviews successful entrepreneurs and publishes topics relevant to business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. Monika started Success Harbor with her cofounder in order to ease the life of entrepreneurs through original research, tips and unique content. Monika is also a web designer and cofounder of Webene, a website design and online marketing firm based in San Diego, CA. Webene specializes in mobile-friendly responsive websites built on the WordPress platform. Monika loves playing classical music on the piano.