It’s autumn and, after an amazing burst of colour, the leaves have dropped. We have cool crisp weather and where I live, we will have a beautiful coating of snow on and off for the next 5 months or so where the trees will look bare but be ready to burst out in new leaf as soon as the conditions are right. The tree is a great analogy for our business. Like the leaves that feed the tree in summer, we have tools and strategies that feed our business and help us to grow. If the tree kept it’s leaves all winter, they would drain energy and cause it to die. As our business grows and the environment we conduct business in changes, we need to look at what strategies and tools no longer serve us.

Where are you in your business? Are there tools and processes that you are hanging onto that are draining time and resources from your business and impeding growth? They may have been exactly what you needed before, and we can be grateful for how much they helped. If you want to grow your business, it’s worth a review of where you are and where you want to go to see if it’s time for new tools or refining your process.

 Here are some questions to ask yourself:

 1 – how long does this task take?

 2 – what revenue-generating activity could I be doing instead?

 3 – do I enjoy doing this task?

 4 – what value does it add to my business?

 5 – what is the cost of doing this and/or the effect of not doing it?

 You don’t have to have a solution to answer these questions. Simply knowing what it costs and what it means to you is the first step in making further decisions. You may see solutions yourself, or you can work with other people to see what other options there are.

Change is uncomfortable, however, the regrowth of fresh new ways of running your business will recharge your energy and help you grow to the next level.