Building Professional and Personal Support Systems to Grow Your Business

Apr 21, 2023 | Listen

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Building Professional and Personal Support Systems to Grow Your Business

Starting a business can be one of the most rewarding experiences in life. But as it grows, it can become more challenging and overwhelming, leaving you struggling to keep up. This complexity, a natural part of growth, must be properly managed. If not, it can lead to burnout and eventual resentment toward your product, customers, and your entire business. Thankfully, the key to addressing this challenge is having the right support systems and strategies in place, both for your business and personal life.

But how do you create these support systems?

Where do you start and what will they look like?

In this episode, our guest Jessica Yarbrough and I explore the essential systems and strategies you need to support both your business and personal life during times of growth.



Timestamps for this week’s episode

  • 02:59 The main challenges for business growth and how can support systems help?

  • 04:05 Recurring issues during business growth and how can support systems prevent them?

  • 12:35 Internal and external support systems vital for small business growth in work and personal life

  • 18:01 How can entrepreneurs create efficient systems for business growth without sacrificing their personal life?

  • 22:08 What is the next actionable step to take in the next week or two if you want to establish effective internal and external systems in your professional and private life?

  • 23:10 How do you identify high-value activities for your business, especially when it seems like all the tasks on your calendar are equally important?

The main challenges for business growth and how can support systems help?

Ensuring that the business model won’t lead to burnout or, worse, resentment because they have not attained the level of freedom they originally sought.

You need to identify the source of the “business-growth” pain or stress and change your strategy, systems, and even how you handle stress to avoid getting stuck and never reaching a place of enjoyment.

If you're undercharging, that's an internal problem you must solve to get the confidence to charge more. If not, you're going to keep undervaluing yourself, and you're going to resent your clients. If you resent your clients, that's a path to burnout.

Recurring issues during business growth and how can support systems prevent them?

The common thread among those seeking help with their growing business is that they are often stuck at the center of the business.

They are kept busy by the minutiae of everyday tasks and are also:

  • May be experiencing team issues
  • Are struggling with control and micromanaging
  • May have impostor syndrome
  • and experiencing financial strain due to underpricing and a stagnant cash flow

To prevent these issues from recurring they need to:

  • Address pricing strategies
  • Free up time
  • Learn to trust their people

“If you don’t control your calendar, it will control you. Even if you’re making good money, you don’t want to be in a place where you’re resenting your business.” – Jessica Yarbrough

Internal and external support systems vital for small business growth in work and personal life

Having internal and external systems can help entrepreneurs free up time to focus on their business and personal growth.

They can also help entrepreneurs maintain a healthy work-life balance and ensure they have time and energy to maintain relationships and care for their health.

These can include:

  • Outsourcing non-essential tasks like laundry, cleaning, and shipping
  • Clearly defined work hours
  • A disciplined approach to working from home
  • Taking control of their calendar and blocking time for specific activities

Ultimately, investing in support systems for both business and personal life can lead to a more sustainable and fulfilling entrepreneurial journey.

Grinding it out doesn't work. Pulling 12-14 hour days will not get you closer to your goals. You need to create structure and a stopping point.

How do you identify high-value business activities and leverage support systems?

Focus on the tasks that will most impact your bottom line in the next 30-90 days.

Assess the different engines of your business, such as marketing, sales, operations, and client delivery, to see where the most urgent needs are.

Examples include:

  • If you need more clients, focus on visibility and lead generation.
  • You have good clients but struggle with delivery, fix delivery.
  • Is retention a problem? Focus on improving loyalty and so on

Once you’ve identified the most pressing issues, prioritize them and allocate 80% of your time and energy toward fixing them. This way, you can avoid spending all your time putting out small fires without gaining any real traction.

Actionable Step

Avoid the trap of working long hours without breaks, as this can actually reduce your productivity.

Assess your calendar to allocate your time to high-value activities that will yield the greatest return on your investment.

By taking control of your calendar, you can create a sustainable and effective system that allows you to achieve both personal and professional success.


Summary

  • To avoid burnout and resentment of your business, identify the sources of your stress and make necessary changes to strategy, systems, and stress management to reach a place of enjoyment and freedom.
  • Founders often struggle with being stuck in the center of their growing business, overwhelmed with daily tasks, and facing issues like underpricing, team management, and control. To address these recurring issues, focus on pricing strategies, delegating tasks, building effective teams and systems, and learning to trust your employees.
  • Entrepreneurs can prioritize their personal and business growth and maintain a healthy work-life balance by investing in internal and external systems, such as outsourcing non-essential tasks, defining work hours, and blocking time for specific activities. This can lead to a more fulfilling and sustainable entrepreneurial journey for you.
  • Working long hours without breaks can reduce your productivity, so assessing and allocating time to high-value activities is important. You can achieve personal and professional success by taking control of your calendar and creating a sustainable system.
  • Identify the most pressing issues in your business by focusing on high-impact tasks that will affect your bottom line. Assess the different engines of your business to see where the most urgent needs are, then prioritize and allocate 80% of your time and energy towards fixing them for real traction.

Transcript

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About guest – Jessica Yarbrough

Business Growth Strategist and Growth Expert

Jessica Yarbrough is a Business Strategist and Growth Expert. She quickly developed a reputation for being one of the best business strategists for coaches and consultants who want to sell and scale ultra-high-end services. Her background is in international business, and she has built multiple companies.

Jessica is a genius at showing entrepreneurs how to build an expert platform, rapidly raise their value, build credibility, and attract high-paying clients. She loves teaching entrepreneurs how to grow their influence and make the income and impact they desire.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicayarbrough-bizconsultant/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jessicayarbrough

Website: https://jessicayarbrough.com/

Resources:

7 Figure Case Study: How We Helped a Business Coach Scale from $250K to 7 Figures (Despite a Pandemic Year)


About host – Kathy Svetina

Kathy Svetina is a Fractional CFO for growing small businesses with $10M+ in annual revenue.

Clients hire her when they’re unsure about what’s going on in their finances, are stressed out by making financial decisions, or need to structure their finances to keep up with their growth.

She solves their nagging money mysteries and builds a financial structure with a tailored financial strategy. That way they can grow in a financially healthy and sustainable way.

Kathy is based in Chicago, IL and works with clients all over the US.

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