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Facebook has been around for some time now and with 773 million users in over 200 countries around the world, it’s clearly a part of many lives. In Australia, Facebook has penetrated over 50% of the population, with 10.66 million users today (statistics sourced from socialbakers.com). Connecting with friends, school buddies and long lost family is one way to use Facebook. I’ve heard some great stories of families being reunited, friends who have drifted apart reconnecting, and I have even met a person who reconnected with “the one that got away”, their lost love, and they’ve gone on to be married. The personal relationships and connections on Facebook are fantastic and a great use of this free online community. However, for many of us running businesses, the social aspect of Facebook could be considered a waste of our precious time. And I would agree completely. This is the reason why many, many business owners are still wary of Facebook; avoiding it and believing it is a time waster. And with good reason. Facebook can make minutes and hours dissolve, it can be completely social (even nosey) … but it can be an extremely powerful networking, marketing and growth tool for business. Facebook comes with a series of challenges. Business owners must understand Facebook, the community and the technology. They have to get the set-up right, determine your business purpose and goals and support them with policies, develop an implementation strategy, and use Facebook consistently to build their community, their reputation and establish a presence, supported by the social proof of their network. If that sounds complicated, overwhelming or too much hard work .. then you should consider the alternative option, because continuing to ignore social media will ensure your business loses market share. Facebook does take time. There is a learning curve involved and an education process required for yourself and your employees but social media will produce a return on investment for your business for many, many years. If you are hesitant, don’t believe that businesses are using, or can benefit from social media, and you need further convincing then you could have a look at results of this Zoomerang survey. Their free report reveals 86% of SMB’s have a Facebook presence for their business and almost half of respondents use Facebook for marketing purposes.

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There’s a natural cycle of evolution that every business goes through. Some businesses move through the cycle faster than others, depending on various contributing factors, but eventually all businesses who are going to survive will reach a point where the owner begins to feel overwhelmed. A time where there is just too much to do to keep up with day-to-day tasks, provide the product or service they’ve promoted and promised to customers, and to keep reaching out to new customers (just to name a few of the things that are important). When the business reaches this point there are a couple of options: 1. Accept this is it. Continue to work hard, harder than you ever thought possible, to get through what needs to be done. Work late at night, early in the morning, weekends – whatever has to be done to provide the product or service and get the bills paid. Some business owners are happy with that. They feel successful because they have a constant stream of customers coming through the door and they are collecting a reasonable pay cheque at the end of the week. I’d suggest it’s not sustainable for too long, because that amount of stress and pressure isn’t ideal and the business owner will eventually begin to crack. But, maybe by that time the business will show good profits and the owner can sell out. There is a second option though and that option provides the opportunity to build a business, rather than building a J O B. That option is: 2. To allow your business to grow to the next level so you, as the business owner can work on the business, not entirely in the business, and begin to enjoy the freedom and lifestyle that successful business owners are able to experience. Well … that sounds easy! No. It most certainly is not easy and I’m not suggesting it is. It requires good planning, a new set of skills to become the business owner instead of “being the business”, and a great deal of courage. It is that leap that can be the undoing of a small business because jumping into a growth plan without a plan is a great way of draining all of your cash reserves and every ounce of profit in your product or service. Growing your business is not for the faint hearted or the “jumpers” (those are the people that jump then think). There is certainly a degree of risk in growth but it is risk that should be proactively managed. Identifying the risks, developing a plan to reduce them and having a “stop point”. That is a point in time when you decide to abort the plan – before it does lasting damage to your business. There are lots of things to consider when planning for growth in your business, that’s true, but if you don’t want to continue with option 1 they are things you should begin to consider now so that when the time comes and you reach a point where you can grow your business, you are ready. Here are 5 tips to start your preparation for growth: 1. Systemise the tasks in your business that you do repetitively. 2. Identify tasks in your business that are not utilising your time to create value or income for you or your clients. These are the first tasks to go from your “to-do” list. 3. Decide what role you would like to take in your business in the future. Think about your business 5 years from now. What does it look like? Where are you in the business and who is supporting you? 4. Get to know your numbers. Are there products or services that are more profitable for your business than others? Are the low margin products/services worth keeping, or are there other products/services you should put more energy into? 5. Surround yourself with people who are doing it! Be around people who strive for growth, who don’t sit back or take the easy way. These are the people who understand you, know what you want and why, and will give you the energy and inspiration to keep going. Decide which is the right option for you. If you are happy working in your business and that business model works for you, you should continue to do what makes you feel successful! If option 2 excites you and you want to step out of the business, at some time in the future, then begin to plan for it and take action to make it happen.