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. This will hinder your ability to increase profits.
You have to resist the urge to hold on to things longer than you should. It’s easy to get into a routine. You may even start to 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. It might also be because you’re looking at your business numbers, which may not be a pretty picture. When you look at your return on investment or other numbers to see what they’re telling you, you may choose to still to what is familiar.
A very wise mentor once said, “If you hire slowly, and fire quickly that’s a good thing.”
In some ways this is true, and 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 these decisions to determine if they increase profits or not.
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.
Get Uncomfortable with Your Business
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, they stick to what they know. You can easily get stuck in the rut of what’s comfortable in your business (and in your life too).
Change can sometimes be uncomfortable, but you should be moving your business forward. Create profitable programs and services, even if it isn’t what you’ve always done. Stick with the things that are putting you at the forefront of your industry. Work on things that other people aren’t even doing or haven’t caught up with yet.
Work Out How you want to Increase Profits
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.
Cut the things out of your business that needs to be cut out. And move on to the things that are working. Branch out, try new things in your business, and keep doing them when they work and are profitable.