23 Feb Our 5 Favorite Habits that Drive Business Growth
There are good habits and bad habits, and then there are habits that will help you successfully – and intentionally – grow a business. When your goal is business growth, it can be easy for reactionary patterns to take over and take you off track. You’re supposed to do this or you should say yes to this not-so-great client – it is growth after all! These habits can mean losing the balance between work and life or losing track of true fulfillment. With sustainable & intentional growth in mind, these are our 5 favorite habits that drive business growth.
1) Get Clear on YOUR Version of Success
To have the desire to grow your business you have to have a clear vision of what success looks like for YOU. How else do you know your business is growing in the way that you desire? We tend to get hyper-focused on keeping up with the Joneses or comparing our success to external markers when growing a business. And we end up creating a business that may be “successful” but not fulfilling. It is important to take the time to determine what success means for you and then build the systems and growth strategy that supports this. You will also want to create the habit of reviewing your success plan periodically (say every quarter). This is key to making sure you are still on track and it lets your version of success evolve as you do.
2) Personal Development
Your business grows when you do. Not just professionally, but when you invest in your personal growth. Pursuing personal growth is important because this knowledge and skills are applicable to your business. Business is, after all, about relationships with other people. Improving your communication skills, ability to self-regulate or manage emotions, and even becoming trauma-informed will make you a better leader. The better you know yourself, the better you can often empathize and understand how to best serve others – key when expanding and growing your business. We recommend grabbing a book, investing in a personal development program, hiring a coach, or working with a therapist. At Path & Compass, we consider personal development to be one of the best habits for business growth – we encourage it among our own team, which in turn allows us to improve our working relationships with clients and each other.
3) Build a Cash Reserve
Building a cash reserve is incredibly important and a habit that, if any, you should start now. This reserve will protect you and your business in downturns, allowing for a faster bounce back. It will also serve as a buffer in emergencies or when work is lean. Most importantly for business growth, it can be used when an opportunity arises or investment is needed to reach new markets or streamline costs. Getting started building your cash reserve is similar to building a personal emergency fund. Set a monthly savings goal and make it a non-negotiable. Until you’ve met your goal, pay into it as though it was a bill.
4) Delegate and Outsource
It is hard to ask people to build your dreams – even harder sometimes to receive that help in meaningful ways. But you won’t have space for the other key habits, like personal development or rest, if you don’t. And your business won’t get any bigger than you. Making it essential that you learn to delegate, take a step back and trust your team to do the work at hand. If you need help to stop micromanaging so that your business can thrive, check out our previous blog to learn how to effectively delegate. Struggling to outsource or offload the work? Hiring a business coach can help you see your blind spots and create the framework to make it easier to work through delegation and trust struggles (and look – you’re tackling personal development here, too! Two habits in one 😉
5) Build In Rest and Relaxation
All work and no play can dull your creativity and motivation. Rest is key to imagining – when we are exhausted, we don’t have the capacity to imagine another way. Stepping away to recharge will often ignite the solutions you have long been searching for, making you more efficient than if you “tough it out”. It also is a sneaky way to work in more receiving in your process. You let the ideas and answers come to you (look at you working 3 of the habits that drive business growth now!). Granted this might seem counterintuitive. Especially in a world that pushes a hustle mindset. But the hustle & grind mindset was created by systems looking to exploit our labor and diminish our humanity. We know you are not building a business that is interested in any of that.
Rest is also achieved with activities that recharge you. Lighting a candle, getting up and walking around your house or office, grabbing a beverage, or letting yourself daydream can all be acts of rest. Rest – even stolen back in small ways is still rest. And you are ready to fully embrace rest in your business, Tricia Hersey of the Nap Ministry is an awesome guide.
At Path & Compass, we aim to help business owners create a life and work that feeds their souls. And sometimes that means hiring a business coach, who can help you create habits that drive business growth. As well as provide a safe space to talk through the challenges of owning and growing a business. If you need help finding a direction, with a step-by-step plan, visit our website to book a consultation with Krista!