For Small Business Owners & the Self-Employed

Insider Secret:

Goal-Setting for Highly Successful Business Owners

If you're looking to improve your company's chances for success, try thinking of it as 5 separate businesses or divisions

by Alex Goumakos, CPA

Note: The following is adapted from Chapter 6 of Gold Mine Tactics: The Business Owner's Success Manual.

Every company, no matter how big or small or what industry its in consists of the following five separate, but related businesses:

1. Sales & Marketing 

2. Accounting and Finance

3. Customer Service

4. Production & delivery

5. Management and administration

More often than not, many business owners are experts in one or a few of the divisions.  Unfortunately, if you're looking to build a gold mine business, that isn't good enough. In order to be highly successful, it's imperative that you know how to deal with ALL of these five areas.

If you understand that your company is made up of these five separate, yet related businesses, you can set goals that focus on each specific area. When you focus on a specific area it allows you to get a better understanding of exactly what needs to be done in order to succeed and grow. The technique I teach in my seminars is quite simple. You begin by considering each one of the five businesses or departments individually.

For example, in sales and marketing your goal could be to increase sales $100,000 over the next 12 months. In accounting and finance, your goal could be to hire a bookkeeper to help you with the books. Think of at least three areas in each division where you’d like to see improvement. Just keep in mind that nearly everything in your business can be grouped into one of these five areas.

After you focus on goals for each area, identify ways you can bring a division up to par.  For example, if you want to increase your sales by $100,000, ask yourself how this can be accomplished. If you divide $100,000 over 12 months, you'll see that you need to increase revenues by at least $8,333 per month if you want to reach your goal. How are you going to do this? If you need additional sales help, write that down. The additional help is a way to reach your goal. Do the same with each division.

Incidentally, looking at your company as five separate divisions is also a great way to find out if you’re spending too much time in any one particular area. While it’s essential that you focus on all five businesses, human nature being what it is, people like to focus on the stuff they do best while ignoring the areas that need improvement. If you believe this might be happening to you, try keeping track of your time for a week to see where you're spending most of it.

For instance, when you’re working on your books, designate that time as accounting. If you’re putting together an ad for a promotional campaign, put that time under sales & marketing. At the end of the week, your schedule should consist mostly of production & delivery activities (especially if you’re a one-person operation). If it’s not, you need to find out why.

While each company’s activities will be spread around differently, you should limit your time on activities that don’t directly generate cash flow. By taking a look at where you spend most of your time, chances are you’ll see problems in areas you’re not giving enough attention to.

For example, you may be an excellent worker and manager, but not the greatest at understanding accounting and finances.  This doesn't mean you ignore accounting and finances, it means you find out more about it or get the professional help that you need.

In my seminars as well as Gold Mine Tactics: The Business Owner's Success Manual, I show exactly how to pinpoint specific areas of your business that needs improvement.  I then cover specific strategies and techniques to help you meet specific division goals.

Each one of your company's divisions, while separate and distinct, must work together as one smooth whole.   In order to accomplish this, you need to view your company the same way gold mine business owners do: as five separate but related businesses.