Don't Be Afraid of Your Business' Skeletons

The Halloween season wouldn't be complete without a post about skeletons!  

But the skeletons I want to talk about today are different.  They are your business' skeletons.

Business skeletons?  What are those?

Your business skeletons are the things that you know have needed fixed or done in your business for a long time, but you have not gotten around to or keep putting off because you can continue operating with them the way they are.  They might a lack of processes or not being buttoned up legally or in accounting.  They could be keeping a line of business that should be removed.  They could also be something that is embarrassing and to confront it would bring it to light.

Business skeletons exist in a lot of different ways and if not dealt with will eventually cause issues and come out.  It's best to confront them head on now, than to wait til later.

What kind of issues can they cause?  Well, let's say you've built a nice business, but have been lax in your contracting with clients and thus have no consistency or even records of contracts in some cases.  If you have a problem with a client you have nothing to go back - no clear set of rules for your relationship.  Or worse yet, maybe you go to sell the business, but have no record of contracts with your clients - the buyer would definitely red flag that and your value would probably not be what you expect.  

Another example is not delegating and creating processes with systems for others to follow.  As your business grows, you will reach a breaking point and could get crushed under the weight of tasks that fall only to you making you a giant bottleneck and limiting the growth of the business.

Every business has skeletons.  The key is to admit it and fix them long before they can become an issue.  Yes, they are often things we don't want to deal with or don't seem as important as the day to day in the business - until they are.  Deal with them now and you'll find it much easier to grow, scale, and succeed!