Studies have shown that women tend to be motivated to start their own businesses in order to strike a better balance between work and family life. Conversely, men tend to be more motivated by financial success in their ventures.
Whether you want to spend more time with your children, be your own boss or thrive on social and financial success, the essence of being the boss of your own business lies in the search for freedom of choice and options. That is the reason why 97% of self-employed people say they would never return to traditional employment.
Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs end up trapped in a vicious cycle of endless work days, financial worries, anxiety, a lack of time, options and choices and freedom…
The 5 Power Hubs
The only way to create a life with freedom of choice and options is by gaining efficiency in managing the 5 Power Hubs of your business:
1. Person
You as the owner of your business. You need to gain personal efficiency so you can focus on the important things, delegate clearly, communicate efficiently and manage your time like a boss!
2. Plan
Although business planning is a strategic exercise, it is the centre piece of your business, which allows you to gain focus. Without crystal clear focus about the direction of your business, you will be pulled in different directions and lose efficiency.
3. Promotion
Your marketing and sales efforts must be efficient to yield the highest return on investment.
4. People
You need to manage your relationships with your clients and your associates/partners in an efficient way so that you create life-long allies for your business. Efficiency in relationship management brings clarity, purpose, and builds trust, which is the number one component of business growth.
5. Profit
Finally, as I often mention, businesses that thrive are the ones who know how to manage their cash and finances efficiently.
Putting the 5 Hubs into action
I know all this sounds nice and fancy but how do you even achieve all of this? How do you become efficient in your marketing and sales? What does it mean to gain efficiency in relationship management?
You are right… It is harder than it sounds and you need to dedicate time and energy to making it happen.
Let me tell you how I lost £500,000-worth of business in one phone call, simply because I lacked efficient client management skills.
When I first moved in London, I was offered a managerial level role in one of the biggest global network advertising agencies. I was new to the agency and I was also new to the role. I had a team of 20+ people and it was a massive jump for me. So, I had to prove myself.
One day, one of my team members pulled me into a ‘difficult client’ call. The problem was, the client wanted three apps in one month, which was totally impossible!
I looked at the problem from our perspective only, went in and defended the agency like GI Jane. I was very persuasive and made myself clear. I was a winner!
30 minutes later, I received a call from my boss saying the client was pulling the entire business if she had to deal with me ever again because she thought I was rude, hadn’t tried to understand her, was unhelpful and made her feel like ‘she was a lunatic to ask for such service’.
Had I been efficient in my communication, meaning had I been able to understand her and make her feel heard, not only I would have closed the deal (because we had misunderstood her from the start!) but I would have gained a life-long client.
What I thought was being efficient was in fact the very opposite of efficiency, because I didn’t even understand what she really wanted.
So, unlike what most people think, gaining efficiency in client relationship management does not only mean setting up systems, rules and boundaries… it is actually mainly about building trust via your communication skills. Once you achieve that, you can build your systems.
In conclusion, efficiency is one of the most important components to achieve the core desire of all entrepreneurs: freedom of choice and options.
That’s why we created a training course focused on building efficiencies within your business, specifically designed for women solopreneurs and micro-business owners.
