It’s estimated that the average person makes nearly 3,500 decisions every day. As a business owner, this number is multiplied many times over.
Some of these choices are minor. In the grand scheme of things, they don’t make much impact at all.
Other choices have a compound effect, seemingly small results that build up over time and result in significant consequences.
The key to making business decisions that get results is to pay attention to both the small and large things. Otherwise, while you’re focused on putting out wild blazes, the small fires sneak up on you.
Ready to learn how to tackle your business decisions in a way that gives you results instead of more work? Follow these three expert secrets throughout your day.
Contents
1. Apply Each Decision to a Goal
If your actions aren’t goal-oriented, they’re not moving you forward. In fact, sometimes they move you away from your targets.
Entrepreneurial and finance guru Darren Hardy applies this concept in his New York Times and Wall Stress best-selling book, “The Compound Effect.” He explains how each decision we make, including our non-decisions, impacts our future.
Every Choice Affects Your Business
Consider your health, for instance. If your ultimate goal for owning your business is to retire within 20 years with a large nest egg, how is your health helping you reach that target?
Are you putting your money into six-dollar coffees every day to help jumpstart your morning? At five days a week, that’s over $1,500 a year. If you follow this habit for 20 years, you’ve spent $30,000 on coffee and contributed nearly 200,000 extra unhealthy calories to your body.
However, if you take that same $120 a month and use it to pay off interest-laden debt earlier, you’ll be debt-free long before you get to retirement.
Whether you apply a decision to your long-term goal or not, it’s going to impact it. You should think strategically if you want to make choices that get results.
2. Consider Other Alternatives
When you research successful entrepreneurs, you’ll see most of them have a common characteristic. They’re open-minded.
Your way may be a great way, but it’s not always the best way. As technology becomes more sophisticated, the world changes. You might find that there are better techniques by staying open to other perspectives and alternative methods.
Imagine business owners from two decades ago, pre-affordable computers and instant internet technology. Those who stayed offline and refused to get with the modern era of e-commerce have mostly become obsolete.
Will You Keep Up With Your Clients’ Needs?
Your client’s trends will change over the years. Even if you’re the sole proprietor of your business, find someone you respect and trust. Bounce ideas off of them to make sure you’re staying up with those changes.
The key here is to know your weak areas and work with someone who is strong in those aspects. For instance, maybe you like the hands-on part of running your business and prefer to leave the actual financial part to an expert. Be willing to listen to them when they tell you there’s a problem.
Something as basic as short-paid invoices can become serious financial burdens over time. Your accountant could recommend working with a company like Now to accelerate the invoice payments. This would increase your working capital during a slow season and prevent long-term economic issues.
It may not be in your comfort zone to do this, but you’ve hired an expert because of their different perspectives. Listen to them and make the decision that will get you the best results.
3. Stop and Re-Evaluate
Is what you’re doing working?
Take time regularly to stop and re-evaluate. Run the reports from your software programs and look at them with an open mind. Ask for feedback from your staff and clients. Read your customer reviews online and keep up with negative and positive feedback.
Just because you’ve “always done it that way” doesn’t mean it’s the way you should always do it. On the other hand, a handful of complaints shouldn’t convince you to change something that works.
By re-evaluating regularly, you know if you’re on the right track or not. Nothing will sneak up on you, and you’ll be able to confidently make decisions based on real-time information.
Conclusion
Your business is a combination of both small and large aspects. When you ignore one in favor of the other, the effect ends up being more work and less forward momentum.
These three secrets from the experts will help you learn how to change your decision-making thinking. Spinning your wheels will be out the window when you make these actions habits.