Welcome to Level Up with Jemimah Ashleigh, and Tim Hyde!
Today, we’re exploring what the many levels of business, really are.
So, what are the levels? There are many different definitions – and it can be confusing – especially when you hear about things like Small Business Tax Cuts, or how the Government defines small and medium business. So today, Jemimah and Tim are outlining their seven levels of business – what they are, and the hallmarks and challenges of each.
So, let’s dive in to the levels…
The Business Intenders, or Wantrepreneurs.
The people who are thinking about business and are normally in a job with a secure consistent income as a safety net. Everybody starts their business journey from here, even seasoned business owners. The biggest challenge here is around taking action and starting.
You probably still have a day job, but your business has started and you’re doing everything yourself – from delivery of products and services to the books and marketing. You’re spreading dollars out as much as possible, and DIY’ing just about everything from business cards on Vistaprint, to website design. The challenge here is investing what resources you have, in a professional to get the job done.
This is when your business has become your day job – the security and safety net of a job has gone. The best part of being at Level Two are the leave provisions you get from being your own boss… but your sick leave provisions leave much to be desired. This is where you’ll notice patterns in your marketing too – times of boom and bust, going from doing what you need to bring in the clients, focus on delivering for those clients, and then realizing there are no more new clients and the cycle repeats itself.
At this level, you’re more concerned with implementing the systems that will deliver leads consistently and shorten the process for delivering your products or services. This is also the level at which you begin to take ownership and responsibility for things that would normally be taken care of in a day job – things like sick leave, superannuation, maternity/paternity leave, and…taxes. This is the level at which many Coaches and Consultants tap out, and also begin to build a team and recognise where they add the most value to their business. The challenge here is letting go!
At level four, you’re beginning to involve staff in key functions of your business. More tasks are outsourced to experts, and you’re beginning to pay yourself an actual wage, consistency, with money left over for a rainy day (it’s a real thing!) The challenge here is hiring the right people for the right jobs.
You’re no longer doing much of the work in your business, and you won’t know clients by name anymore or know where they are in your funnel. Your finger will no longer be on the pulse of everything – if you can here, stop and hire a manager – at this level your most likely to become a bottle neck in your own business. The challenges here continue to be around team building – hiring slowly, firing fast, and creating the right culture in your business.
This is an unusual space to find many coaches or consultants – it tends to be filled with manufacturers or product based business. At this level, you’re now a manager in your business and your time will be spent managing staff, and your business will be on value based pricing dealing with bigger and bigger contracts. The interesting thing here is you are more likely to not know who all your staff are, and they won’t necessarily know you either.
At this level, you’re more concerned with key performance indicators and your managing millions of dollars in budgets annually, as opposed to a $20 Facebook ad and hoping to get a single sale. You also have staff on leave frequently, and there will always be a birthday cake somewhere.
TOP 5 LEVEL UP TAKE AWAYS
“We have to know where we are in business, and where we want to go.”
“The difference between someone who is successful and someone who is not successful at any level of business, is someone’s willingness to act.”
“It’s very easy to lose sight of how much farther ahead we would be, if we paid for a professional to do a job for us. “
“My job is to get good people on board, and then get out of their way and let them do their job.”
“Hire slowly, fire quickly.”
“How much are you outsourcing and leveraging?”
“It’s amazing how much harder you work when you have no safety net.”
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