Do you have a tendency to hold on to things in your business too long? Maybe it’s your team, staff or employees, maybe its programs that are no longer profitable.

Holding on to things because they’re familiar or because it’s comfortable can get in the way of moving your business to the next level. A little change is needed to increase your profits.

You have to resist the urge to hold on to things longer than you should. It’s easy to get into a routine and to start to just do things the way you’re used to doing them because it’s the way you’ve always done it. Not because you’re being conscious and aware and making the right decisions for your business or your life, or even because you’re looking at your business numbers, your return on investment or other numbers to see what they’re telling you.

Pace Yourself by Planning Well

A very wise mentor once said, “If you hire slowly, and fire quickly that’s a good thing.” In some ways this is true. If you apply that principle to the bigger picture of your business, it really makes a lot of sense. Make decisions in your business smartly and quickly, and then execute them. Then evaluate those decisions to determine if they worked or if they didn’t.

If they didn’t work, then tweak them and test again. Your business success is really about testing and measuring, and determining which things are working. If you’re doing something that’s working, do more of it, not less of it.

A lot of business owners have a tendency to stop doing the things that are working and hold on to the things they’ve always done, instead of letting go of the things that aren’t profitable anymore. You can easily get stuck in the rut of what’s comfortable in your business (and in your life too).

Be Flexible to Change

Change can sometimes be uncomfortable, but you should be moving your business forward with profitable programs and services. Even if it isn’t what you’ve always done, you should be flexible to change. Stick with the things that are putting you at the forefront of your industry. Focus on the things that other people aren’t even doing or haven’t caught up with yet.

Analyze what’s happening in your business, and make sure you’re on the cutting edge of things. Don’t hold on to the old stuff simply because it’s familiar and comfortable.

Be prepared to cut the things out of your business that need to be cut out. However, be well aligned to move on to the things that are working. This is a small change but it will go a long way in improving your profitability.

Branch out, try new things in your business, and keep doing them when they work and are profitable.