The Seven Elements of Business
Some great ideas from the book, “Making Money is Killing Your Business” by Chuck Blakeman
I have been reading an absolutely fascinating book by Chuck Blakeman, as mentioned above. Our mission at HighPower Data Solutions is to help businesses succeed through software automation. There are so many cool things which we can do by combining Claris FileMaker with website integrations! So we love it, and anything which can help a business to succeed more is of interest to us. That is why the title of this book captured my attention: ‘Making Money is Killing Your Business’!
Automating your business for success requires more than just great software (which we can provide), but it also requires great ‘systems and processes’ within your business for it to thrive. So I want to highlight a few of the great points which Chuck makes in his book, starting with just a very basic understanding of what makes a business function at all.
In his book, he explains the “Seven Elements of Business”. So let’s start right here with the fundamentals, because it is our desire that your business succeeds. What are the Seven Elements of Business, according to Chuck?
Element 1: Vision & Leadership
This comes down to asking the all-important question of “Why?”. Why do you do your business? What is your mission and goal?
Element 2: Business Development
You need to have a plan to constantly get new clients. That is business development. Without it, you will be out of business when your current clients go away.
Element 3: Operations & Delivery
This is what most people think of when they think of their business. This is what you ‘do’ in your business. But it is important to do it consistently, as well as excellently. But if you, as the owner or leader of your business, spend all of your time in this element three, then the rest of your business will suffer. So you need to develop systems to deliver your product consistently well, and then move on to focus upon other aspects of your business.
Element 4: Financial Management
You need to know your numbers. You need to know how to price your goods and services so that you have margin left over at the end of the month. This means knowing how much you need to make every month, week, and hour.
Element 5: Customer Satisfaction
It is much easier to keep an existing customer than to find a new one, so do what you can to know how your customers feel about your service, and how to improve their satisfaction for what you provide.
Element 6: Employee Satisfaction
Just as important as your customers, are your employees. In a very real sense, they are your company; they are the people that your customers interact with, in many cases. They answer the phone, greet the customer, make the sales, and provide the services. Treat them well, and train them well.
Element 7: Community, Family, Self
You are in business to do more than make money. You are there to fulfill your life mission. There is a community out there which can benefit from the value you can bring to it. You have a family that needs you to be there, and you have your own mission and purpose in life to fulfill. A business needs to free you up to do what you love.
And this last point relates to something we are passionate about:
One of the services which we provide at HighPower Data Solutions, is to build SYSTEM software. What is SYSTEM software? It is complete business system software which Saves You Stress, Time, Energy & Money. This is software which completely runs your business. It saves you Time and Money. It saves you Stress and Energy. We automate everything which we can automate, so you do not have to do anything except what you are good at, and the reason you got into business.
Give us a call, and we can talk about whether you need to build automation into just one part of your business, or if you are ready for the complete business automation SYSTEM software. Either way, we will help you to find a better way to run your business.