13 Best Practices for Building Solid Small Business Operations
Running and scaling a business will always be challenging. But having
a solid foundation of smoothly operating practices underlying your
company can make it much easier.
To find out how successful entrepreneurs were building their operations, we asked 13 founders from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:
“As a business owner, what do you feel is most important when it comes to building solid small business operations?”
Here’s what YEC community members had to say:
1. Setting Team Expectations
“Setting proper team expectations and accountability has become one
of the most impactful things to my business. Twice a month we bring all
managers and executives together for a big meeting to discuss each
department and their accomplishments and challenges. It is also a time
for other departments to give feedback to management. At the end of
these meetings, everyone leaves with follow-up tasks.” ~ David Schwartz, EMMDeavor (DBA Qruber) & Wireless Watchdogs
2. Managing Without Ego
“Many CEOs, COOs and executive level staff have various methods that
they swear are the best ways of doing things. But what many people don’t
take into account is that there are other variables at work, such as
the dynamics of the company and the people within it. Solid operations
come from management who can admit when their systems are failing and
are willing to change to improve.” ~ Travis Steffen, Cyber Superpowers
3. Having a Clear Process
“Having a clear process that every team member understands is
extremely important. When a task needs to be completed, there is a clear
funnel and order of operations that must be followed. This improves
efficiency and reduces the chance of fumbling information and having
things slip through the cracks.” ~ Michael Quinn, Yellow Bridge Interactive
4. Creating a Foolproof Foundation
“You have to start at the very base of your business in order to
build a successful enterprise from it — and for me that is having a
solid core team. I try to look at the first couple of people I hire when
assembling a new business as a new family of people that will take me
to the next chapter of an awesome life. They need to share my ambition
and drive to accomplish.” ~ Rob Fulton, Matikis
5. Soliciting Feedback From Your Team
“To build a solid set of processes for your business a lot has to
align. But the bigger you scale, the more you’ll likely need to
delegate. So how does a business owner stay efficient when the day to
day may be further away from the core operations? It’s important to
gather feedback from your team often to make sure you’re addressing
inefficiencies and constantly improving as you grow.” ~ Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc.
6. Keeping Everything Transparent
“Yeah, I know it’s a buzz world. But I truly believe in the power of
transparency to build solid operations. Cross-checks, social
collaboration tools and breaking down silos are all ways to ensure that
each operation is optimal for my unique business needs. Across levels
and departments, operations should be communicated, tested and
approved.” ~ Maren Hogan, Red Branch Media
7. Documenting Your Processes
“If you are able to provide clear and concise documentation for your
team, it leaves very little room for things to be miscommunicated. It
also leaves little room for your team to not know what to do or for them
to be confused. These are the biggest time wasters in an organization.
Documentation makes it easier to onboard new employees and saves your
business from being reliant on any one person.” ~ Dave Nevogt, Hubstaff.com
8. Building for the Future
“Although it’s important that systems and processes address today’s
pain points for your business, it’s much more imperative that they are
built to handle changes that could be coming years down the road. You
have to look ahead and plan for all plausible changes in your business
to ensure the operations you’re building do not become quickly
outdated.” ~ Brittany Hodak, ZinePak
9. Keeping the 3 P’s in Mind
“Marcus Lemonis of CNBCs show “The Profit” always says it, and it’s
on point. Building a solid operation is all about the three P’s:
Process, people and product. Build your operation to flow and operate
well with that and you’ll have a successful business.” ~ Pablo Palatnik, ShadesDaddy.com
10. Using Data-Driven Decision Making
“Typically, operations is a complex initiative and involves various
stakeholders. Additionally, there are various external conditions
impacting outcomes. It is very important to maintain an objective view
into how efficient your operations are. And the place to start is data
collection. Data driven decision making should not be an
afterthought.” ~ Ashish Rangnekar, BenchPrep
11. Choosing the Right People
“No one person is going to be be the best at everything. It all comes
down to choosing the right person and personality type for each role so
that no one is doing tasks that they resent. Forget coaching weaknesses
and focus on leveraging strengths and passions. Then watch everything
fall into place.” ~ Amanda Aitken, Girl’s Guide Courses with Amanda Aitken
12. Providing Excellent Customer Service
“Provide the best customer service you can. That is the most
important thing you can do. You will at some point have a dissatisfied
customer, but how you handle it will give you a solid reputation in your
industry.” ~ Amanda Barbara, Pubslush
13. Owning the Operation From Start to Finish
“Hire someone to own the operation from start to finish. This person
should be obsessed with the details, the metrics, the numbers. They
should be elated when they hit their goal and inspired to do better when
they miss it. They need to eat, sleep and breathe it.” ~ Phil Dumontet, DASHED
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