The best piece of advice I could ever give … don’t become the bottleneck in your business!
You may have the best processes in your business but if you’re the only one running it (without a second in charge or right-hand person like an online business manager), you’re going to find yourself in some strife.
If this is you, you’ve probably realised that without a right-hand person, when bottlenecks arise at any point of your workflow, it impacts the overall outcome of your tasks and projects.
It will hinder productivity because bottlenecks are simply not sustainable and will hold you and your business back as you try to scale.
So what do you do if you’re the bottleneck in your business?
In my latest blog, I’m sharing all the details on how to stop being the bottleneck in your business.
What is a bottleneck in business?
According to Investopedia, “a bottleneck is a point of congestion in a production system that stops or severely slows the system”.
- Short-term bottlenecks are temporary and usually caused by employees on holidays or sick leave.
- Long-term bottlenecks are built into the manufacturing protocol and often related to inefficient equipment or processes.
Source: Investopedia.com
If you can avoid it from the very beginning, don’t become the bottleneck in your business.
This may sound hard but get your systems and processes in place early on in your business journey, and then hire a right-hand person to help you.
If you discover you’re the bottleneck, don’t worry, it’s possible to fix this issue to save your business time, resources and money, while also saving your sanity!
Being a bottleneck actually offers you an opportunity to improve and optimise your business operations. A bottleneck indicates:
- There is something wrong with your processes.
- A habit that you need to change in your daily routine.
- A change that needs to happen in your processes to improve your operations.
- An area you need to fix before it starts costing you more time, money, resources, and your sanity.
You are the bottleneck if you…
If you are not quite sure that you are the bottleneck in your business, here are some easy ways to identify it.
- The business and team depend on your skills and knowledge.
- There is a lack of delegation.
- There is a lack of trust that your team members can do the job.
- You don’t have the right person in the right seat and therefore only part of the work is done and you need to always step in to help.
- There is too much manual handling in your role, meaning you do a lot of the mundane daily tasks that can be outsourced.
- Poor communication with the team.
- A fear of expanding your management team, for example, recruiting an Online Business Manager (OBM) to help you to manage your daily operations.
Do any or many of these resonate with you?
There are consequences to bottlenecks
Sadly, a bottleneck isn’t a good thing even though it presents an opportunity to improve your business. There are consequences to not fixing the bottlenecks in your business.
Being the bottleneck means:
- A lot of manual handling to fix the issue (that equates to lots of work and time for you).
- You can’t move to the next step in your business before fixing it.
- Your stress levels will go up.
- Your team’s stress levels will go up.
- Team members will feel frustrated because they want you to resolve the bottleneck issues but you just don’t have time.
- An impact on your time and profits.
- It will take longer to complete work and you will miss deadlines.
- Efficiency will decrease.
- Costs will increase.
- The customer experience will suffer and clients will be disappointed due to long wait times to get support.
- Inconsistency with your service delivery.
How to fix the problem if you are the bottleneck
It’s not all doom and gloom – you can fix these issues just by fixing the bottleneck in your business – you!
It boils down to getting help from your team, managing the team and workload, and delegating more – and an online business manager (OBM) or even a virtual assistant (VA) can help to get you started.
Here’s a real-life example from one of my clients (just put yourself in this scenario):
Your marketing team has prepared a blog post and needs your approval before it can be published. Due to your busy schedule this has become a bottleneck in the publication process.
This has impacted the timeline to release the blog as well as any relevant content associated with the blog post – like a social post to promote or a newsletter mention.
To resolve this issue, there are many easy solutions. One of them is to delegate approval authority to another team member when needed. This person will act on your behalf based on the agreed terms.
That person could be an OBM.
As a small business owner, you’re constantly juggling multiple roles and responsibilities. From managing the day-to-day operations to strategising for future growth, it can be overwhelming – to say the least!
That’s where an OBM can come in very handy.
Do you need an Online Business Manager (OBM)?
An OBM is a vital asset for small business owners who are at the growth stage.
They provide management-level support, bring fresh skills and ideas to the table and allow you to focus on your role as the visionary of your business.
By partnering with an OBM, you can streamline operations, increase efficiency, and ultimately drive your business towards greater success.
If you find yourself overwhelmed by the day-to-day management tasks and are yearning for more time to focus on growing your business (or just get time back for yourself!), it’s worth considering an OBM.
The right OBM can be the missing puzzle piece in your business.
Did you know … I’m an OBM and I can safely say, I can help you and your business.
If you are scaling your business and need help, I’ll be your growth superhero for all things business management, so you don’t have to worry and can get on with achieving your big vision.
Book a complimentary, no-obligation call to see if we’re a good fit here.
