How to conduct a review of your business operations

We’re at the mid-point of the year and it’s time to take stock of your year. Use this guide to give your finances, your services, content and systems a mid-year check in!

We are almost half way through 2022 — can you believe it?

As entrepreneurs our days are often so filled with endlessly long to-do lists and client commitments that we rarely stop to question if we could be doing things better or differently.

So this June marks an opportune time to reflect on how well that you feel things are going in your business, and make any necessary changes going into the next half of the year.

This kind of work requires taking a step back and working ‘on’ your business, not just being ‘in’ it.

Sometimes asking the right questions of your business is the key to finding the right answers and building in solutions that truly move the needle. As a business coach for early stage founders these questions are part of my daily coaching conversations – so try them out for size on your own business.

Grab yourself a refreshing drink, find a quiet place without distractions and conduct your own business’ performance review across all your operations.

For each question, give yourself a score between 1-5 and for any 3s or below, come back and create an action plan to elevate  your business to the next level.

• Does your product/service suite meet your business and life objectives in its current state? Consider whether or not you enjoy delivering on them and they meet your business’ requirements.
  
• Do you feel you are charging correctly for your products and services?
  
• Do you have a plan for marketing for your services, that you are able to stick to consistently?
  
• Is your marketing getting you the results you seek e.g. building relationships with an audience and/or building brand recognition and momentum?
  
• Are you networking and leveraging your connections for growth or sales opportunities?
  
• Do you proactively seek growth opportunities for your business such as partnerships or cross-promotions or referrals?
  
• Do you have a reliable pipeline for new business opportunities in place?
  
• Do you have recurring clients and repeat sales from the same customers?
  
• Do you have systems to manage your finances (revenue, costs, profits) and feel on top of those details?
  
• Do you have an order of operations in terms of how you get work done? (vs constantly reinventing the wheel on a weekly basis)
  
• Do you actively contribute to a wider community or projects which can have an impact wider than your business? Eg CSR / Mentoring / Support
  
• Are you investing in your professional growth as an entrepreneur and seeing the results of that?
  
• Do you actively prioritise personal and professional development?
  
• Do you feel that you are able to lead yourself well in your day-day? Ie bring direction, vision, and clear guidance to your business?

Feel free to add your own questions to this list, too.

The point is that you are being deliberately objective about your business and where things are working for you, in the direction you wish for them to go. Whilst we cannot control market forces and customer behavior we can control the work we put in to maximize our chances of success.

So good luck – and why not share in the F&F community the sections you are going to be working on for the rest of this year?