Right path towards destination

Steve Covey calls it; ‘Beginning with the end in mind’, that is Habit 2 in his Book ‘7 Habits of Highly effective people’, Chuck Blakeman calls it ‘Your Big why’ in his Book, ‘Making Money is Killing your Business’ and my all-time life manual, the Bible, calls it ‘Vision’; ‘Where there is no vision people perish’ Prov 29:18.

As an entrepreneur you need to figure out ‘Your destination’, ‘Your Big Why’ or ‘Your vision’ as Steve, Chuck and The Bible puts it respectively. Until this is clear you are not in a position to understand where you are so that the steps you take are always in the right direction. One of the steps is creating a Business system which is your pathway towards your destination. This is a simple process that helps connect all activities of the business into one harmonious operation.

A business system is not a preserve for the large enterprises but for the small ones as well. The basic necessities to reach your destination are the same whether a small entrepreneur or not. For instance you can’t ignore how and where you source your raw materials since that has an implication on the overall cost of production, neither can you ignore how you handle and store the materials once they are procured. You need to pay attention to every step of production making sure you have skilled workers and are keen to minimize wastages. Once the product is ready; how does it get to your target customer? Attention goes to your marketing approach and customer engagement techniques. Others include financial management and administration which are key support pillars for the others to function. All these are activities that form a Business system and they create for you a highway towards your ‘Big Why”. It is upon you to ensure that this highway is not full of potholes rest you take ages to reach your destination, also to see to it that you have built bumps and put road signs in place to caution yourself against dangers that could hinder you from getting to your destination.

I advise every business owner to have an effective Business system. The main reason why Businesses are struggling to grow is because of gaps in the system. It is your responsibility as the Business owner to identify and take the necessary measures to close these gaps. For example until you know that staff negligence and lack of skills is the reason you are incurring material wastages you will not address that problem (gap). The gap, if left unattended, will either bring your Business to a close or slow you down significantly.

One of our entrepreneurs has this to say after a session with us on the ‘Importance of a Business System’; “As Meatmatt ltd we applied what we learned from M_OliveS .We have put systems in place to ensure quality products and timely deliveries to our clients .We installed a refregerated system and acquired a refrigerated van for preservation purposes. We have skilled staff and we pay attention to segregation of duties. I doubt if we would be where we are now if it were not for the systems that we have put in place. We supply meat to major organizations in Nairobi and Kiambu and I can say that our customers are happy. I am confident that very soon we will be the leading supplier of meat and meat products in Nairobi and beyond” Says Godwin a director at Meatmatt. Meatmatt is on the right path towards its destination. Are you?