From Cottage to Company

Thanks for verbalizing something that many of us small business owners experience – the pains of growing from a “me” based business into a mature company. We all get tend to get caught to get caught in the trap of trying to be responsible for it all – its part of an entrepreneurs DNA after all! What we should be doing is creating standard operating procedures and processes that will support the growth we want and need to take our business to the next level. Hopefully this article will get people thinking about this sooner in the game. Thanks for sharing Chris!

It seems like in most jobs that I've held I have taken the time to document my work, write FAQs, a manual of sorts, etc. Some people see this as being silly because they think it makes it easier for me to be made obsolete, but honestly, I believe the opposite. Having a standard set of processes, response methods, etc helps people know what to do when they can't get ahold of me, and it frees up my time to do not only the work that I really want to do, but also the work that is more specific to only my skill set…rather than things that can be easily duplicated and handled by someone else.

I really agree with you, Chris. At some point in time in one's business one has to let go of some stuff because one can't handle everything, that's just impossible. Cos no one is a robot. And even a robot can't handle everything.

Also nobody knows everything, so with the things that you don't know how to do or have little knowledge of, you should let those with enough knowledge or expert knowledge handle that and that will make whatever that you are doing be it a business or whatever succeed. It's just like outsourcing :).

But as you also said, you should let the human part of your business show cos without that your business will definitely crumble.

I totally get putting processes in place, but for a one-person company (I am) I have made a descision not to grow. Twenty years ago or even ten years ago, I would have not felt this way, but for me, right now in my life, keeping it small is more important.

I think it's very difficult to scale up and as good as processes are, they are bound to remove at least some of the human element. This is not to say it's wrong to scale up. If that's your business objective, go for it and go for it with gusto.

Chris, your secret sauce is that you do act in such a human way. I'm really interested to see how this is maintained as your business grows. If you can do it, that's very cool. I love that your voice is so clear in all that you do. I hope that in the growing of your businesses you don't lose too much of the human side that makes you so special.

Chris,
I like the fact that you have your mom and dad involved… Shows that a cottage, and a business can be family friendly.

Hey Chris, Michael Gerber writes about this very thing in his book called The E-Myth Revisited. There is the Entrepreneurial Seizure and then the concept of working ON your business, not in it.

The Entrepreneurial Seizure is when an employee feels they can do it better than their Boss, and then decides to open a business, only to discover they only know how to do the work and NOT know how to run a business.

The concept of working ON your business means you are indeed actually running your business, working in it merely means you are an employee of an investment you recently acquired.

The tools are important to simplify work load and flow, but remaining human is a full-time job in my humble opinion. I would suggest that going from Cottage to Company requires a good plan and understanding of who you are, and more importantly what your CORE business is. Everything is in the PLAN.

Keeping processes human means, they require time and thought, otherwise you're just going through the motions.

Thanks for another great piece to make me think, which you always do : )

Many Blessings Chris.

I see this as something that has to happen rather make everything automated. If you put in ticket machines at airports, you lay off all the staff. I am environmentalist I should not care but I do care that people lose their jobs.

I think why not go down the 37 Signals, Small is Big route and bootstrap on otherstuff. Cut back on office chairs, use netbooks and Ipads, use second stationary, use co-working spaces, web-conference alot it is better for the planet. I like Owens thoughts too. We need to work on ourselves, our businesses and maybe business itself (Humanise it abit). Dan, pay your workers some extra dollars an hour, see how much gets done. Look at Germany, Germans outperform UK workers almost in every industry. German car companies killed Detriot.

What if Detriot workers got more money. Incidentally good observatation on Detriot Hispanics on your Twitter Chris. The ways to re-energise the economy is keep cash circulating, lose the Herman Miller (Conran in UK) chairs and bootstrap, oh and think small, especially if your business is online.

I urge people not to automate to claw back revenues, economic recovery will be made with more Human Approaches not less, more listening- Gen Y wants Green cars, so give em Green cars. Man where did all that passion come from. lol

The Afterword
I am profiling Don Romano Mazda Canada now U.S too for this type of thinking. A listening-churning strategy and a Small Is Big strategy means for me a concentration on not overproducing for and strict emphasis on producing to what people demand not just producing and producing and producing.

This was one of the hardest to learn to learn from me as my business grew. For me, it has become so much a sense of process B, and no deviation, but rather to create a replica. Process that leads to reply, so I can not encourage others to do what I have created and to expand it.

There are several reasons why it is difficult to share and pass on family homes – but it should not be difficult for you. The correct information, and a "single family" cottage succession plan can eliminate the risk, and concerns over families' experiences. Now it's time to start seeing the property of your family home in a different perspective.

My business after three long years, is finally starting to grow, thanks for the tips .