Only 50% of small businesses survive their first five years. With statistics like that, it’s easy to worry that yours will be next to go out of business. But, there’s one simple thing you can do to make sure your small business is built to stand the test of time.

As business owners, we often find ourselves being pulled in different directions. So-called ‘urgent matters’ pop up and demand our attention without giving us a chance to respond. The problem with letting yourself get distracted with all of this is that somebody else’s view of urgent is often different from our own.

If you’re always readily available whenever someone declares a matter as urgent, you’ll never have enough time to get the important things done. By that, I mean the things that will move your business forward.

So, the next time someone demands your attention, ask yourself if it’s really urgent or if it can wait. Maybe somebody else can handle it? As the owner of the business, your time is better spent working on scaling the business.

My challenge to you is to focus on just one thing that will help to grow your business. Don’t waste time thinking about all the emails that you need to reply to or work on menial tasks around the clock.

Successful business owners know that their time is valuable, and they know where their time is best spent.

Figuring out your one thing, however, is up to you.

But don’t worry, I’m going to help you out with that!

Why you shouldn’t be the nucleus of your business

Mi-PA is a small to medium-sized business. We’ve got 12 members of our team and great ambitions. So, I know what it’s like to run a small business. When you have a relatively small team, it’s hard to pull yourself out of that centre point of the business.

You shouldn’t be the focal point in your business. Yes, your team should be able to come to you with their questions. But it shouldn’t go overboard. If your team ask you questions about every little thing, your time isn’t being utilised as well as it should.

You need to give yourself the headspace to focus on the one thing that’ll push your business forward, not answering question after question. Give yourself the freedom to not have to deal with everything straight away. And, don’t be afraid to let your team know this too.

If you’ve hired the right people, you should be able to trust your team to solve issues on their own. Yes, there’ll be times when your advice and guidance will be necessary. But you don’t need to be present to solve every little thing. Trust your team and they won’t let you down.

Are you living the life you want?

When you first got into business, you probably had a clear vision of how you wanted your life to look like as an entrepreneur. Maybe you wanted to ditch the nine to five grind for a more flexible schedule? Or, maybe you wanted to make more money to achieve the kind of lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of?

Whatever your vision of how you want your life to look like, you can make it happen by focusing on what counts.

Don’t live someone else’s version of how you should run your business. On our Productivity Plans, you’ll see that at the very top of the page it asks you to write down the three things you can do today that’ll move you closer to your goals.

But, you don’t have to pick three. One thing is more than enough right now. By putting it at the top of your daily productivity plan, you’ll remind yourself of what you need to focus on to reach your goals.

If you want to grab one of our Productivity Plans for yourself, let us know! You’ll find our contact details at the bottom of this post.

How to find your ‘one thing’

Your ‘one thing’ should be something that’s missing from the business that you believe will make it better.

What’s the one thing you need to do to carry your business forward?

For me, it’s focusing on creating more valuable content for my business, clients and team members. For you, it might be something like creating a new process to help stop recurring mistakes from happening. Or, it could be to write some useful job descriptions, so your staff knows what 100% looks like within their specific roles.

Your one thing could be anything. Keep in mind that the one thing you choose should help make your life a little easier next week, next month and next year.

So, it’s worth taking the time to think about what your one thing is and then carving out time for it in your busy schedule to get it done.

I’d love to know – what’s the one thing that’s going to help you push your business forward and make your life a little easier?

Share your answer with me over on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, I’d love to find out what you’ll be focusing on in your business going forward!

Want to free up your time so you can put more focus on creating consistent content for your business? We can help. Call me on 0161 820 6080 or email me at emma@mi-pa.co.uk.

Or visit our services page to discover in more detail the diverse range of services we offer like-minded entrepreneurs and businesses right here.