I’m going to start this article with a bold statement. Here it is… Your access to achieving long term and sustainable success in business, will largely be determined by your ability to remain proactive.

WOW… Ok so that was a mouth full. What does it mean?

Well, it means that by spending more time working ‘on’ the business and less time in it, you will have more control, less fires to put out and you will be able to grow the business with a lot more confidence.

If you’re like most business owners, you’re probably thinking, yes, that makes sense… I know that… but how?

Here are 3 strategies to transition from from reactive to proactive and to gain more confidence and control in your business.

One: Daily Dump.

This has nothing to do with your fibre intake and everything to do with a pen and paper. Once a day, take 10-15 minutes and do a brain dump of everything that’s in there. Avoid making this too structured. Just write down anything and everything that’s consuming your head space.

Please note: you are NOT writing a TO DO list! It would be an epic fail to work directly from this list. The intention of the daily dump is to clear your head completely, so you can then prioritise, delete (remove from the list with no action taken) or delegate the task.

Two: Systemise.

One of the main sources of reaction in a business is a breakdown or absence of a documented system. Most business owners and managers underestimate the value of written systems, despite the fact that the research shows 96% of all breakdowns specifically relating to a breakdown in system (and not people).

Systems can be written, voice recorded or filmed. They can take the form of a manual or checklist. There is no exact right or wrong way to systemise, the important thing is that it’s easily consumed by your team.

Three: Let it go!

Learn to let go of the menial tasks and delegate. To be able to delegate effectively, here’s a list of actions you can take.

• Regular team training
• Meeting rhythm – Daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly team meetings
• A copy of the ‘One minute manager meets the monkey’ by Ken Blanchard and the ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective people’ by Stephen Covey. Seriously, if you haven’t read these books, buy them, read them. STAT.

This is only scratching the surface, so if you want some more information on how to gain more control of your business, get in touch with PROTRADE United today.