This week we are going to take a look at the organizational structure of your business.  This structure is the machinery that makes your company operate.  If you were a factory, what would all the nuts, bolts, and gears look like?  Only, we aren’t factories.  We are people-run organizations.  And, often we are only one person.

A self-employed business owner does it ALL.  If you have a small team, or no team, this is no exaggeration.  We sell, we create, we clean, we tweet, we calculate, we compute, we write, we publish, we collect trash.  We know we do it all… but, what does all really encompass?  Have you ever sat down to write down EVERYTHING you do as a business owner?

Today, I’d like you to do just this.  Write down EVERYTHING you do.  I’d also like you to write down everything you should do but don’t have time, energy, resources, experience, knowledge to do.  (These are the things that should get done in your business but don’t.)  Make a list of responsibilities within the spectrum of your business.

I find it helpful to make my list in sections separated by area of responsibility.  For example:

Design

  • Design Samples
  • Design Client Custom Orders
  • Design Website Collection

Sales

  • Schedule Appointments
  • Meet with Clients
  • Write Proposals
  • Write Contracts

Marketing

  • Define target market and market’s buying trends
  • Determine pricing that is most suitable for products/services (and reassess annually)
  • Determine where to advertise, where to market, where to network
  • Assess promotional activities for return on investment

(and so on!)

I come from a business background so I tend to talk in “business jargon” in my own business.  Yours doesn’t need to sound like this.  Make it yours.  Make it something that represents your business.

What exactly is that you do all day?