Hopefully what we’ve shared the past few weeks has helped inspire you to truly think like an entrepreneur about your business. If you’ve been too busy to read these recent insights, you may want to take some time to go back and check them out — it could save you from the many well-intentioned but disastrous practices that cause many overwhelmed small business owners to burn out and ultimately close their doors.

I really want the story to end well for you, so let’s wrap up this E-Myth series on a very practical note. If you’re ready to WORK ON your business and experience more growth and freedom, what do you do now?

Here are 7 Steps to launch your business development program:

1. Your Primary Aim

It actually starts with you, not the business. What are you hoping to accomplish? Are you looking to increase your income, or have more free time? What do you value most? Answering these questions will drive everything you do with purpose and energy.

2. Strategic Objective

This is a very clear statement of what your business has to do in order for you to achieve that primary aim. It’s a vision of the finished product that your business will become.

3. Organizational Strategy

The key here is to build around function. Instead of just hiring random people, define responsibilities through a “position contract” – a summary of the result to be achieved by each position in the company, and the work that each occupant of that position is accountable for.

4. Management Strategy

More than amazingly competent people, you need a management system designed to get you a marketing result. The more automatic the system, the more effective your prototype will be.

5. People Strategy

You can’t just expect people to do what you want. Create a place of community that has purpose and order that inspires them into action.

6. Marketing Strategy

At the end of the day, it’s all about the customer. Visualize the people you’re serving – their demographics, and especially their needs they have that you are helping to solve.

7. Systems Strategy

There are three types of systems in your business: Hard systems (like computers), soft systems (like your people and ideas), and information systems (which tell you how these are both interacting – and what needs to change). Create the system that lets them work in harmony.

One final thought: after creating this incredible, detailed, creative, and robust system that anyone can do, are people even valued? Will they even need special skills for the job? The truth is, it’s not that people are unimportant – quite the contrary. People bring systems to life. 

Great businesses are not built by extraordinary people, they are built by ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to support you in this – I believe in you!

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Who Should I Hire? So, Tell Me about Yourself Why is Everyone Quitting? How The Past Can Shape The Future Of Your Business