Getting from $1m to $3.5m is extremely difficult for small businesses

You are out-growing current resources, but not yet cash-rich enough to get what you need.

This used to be a business graveyard or plateau.

Not anymore, here is how to cross that chasm...
... With the myriad of automation software, no code tools, integrations, and connectors (smb.joshuaschultz.com), you can scale your operations without hiring someone new, and without needing to be a computer engineer.

Here's how to continue scaling with little to no cash!
When looking at streamlining the operations of your SMB, consider this scale on where the most value can be added.

Different functions allow more upside than others, so to really increase

cash flow
lower time
make an impact

Apply automation in this order:
1. Human Resources

Much of people related work up to 20-30 employees is

forms
records
sending / signing docs
storing info
collecting requests

Look at form automation, cloud storage, auto emailers.
2. Finance

Invoicing
Paying bills
Coding entries
Mailing checks
Entering journal entries

This can all be 90-100% automated using tools like

@docparser, accounting integrations, python scripts, @zapier , @integromat , @billcom, etc
3. Operations

This is where you run your business, this is highly dependant, but I have a number of tools located at smb.joshuaschultz.com

Look through there.

If you have something specific in mind (inventory planning, order management, supplier control),

DM me!
4. Sales

Sales can't, or rather shouldn't, be fully automated.

But a large part of it can

Check out lead finders like icy leads, or email systems like reply.io.

Maybe its worth looking at @pipedrive or @close

Look for integrations, and auto data entry.
5. Marketing

We are now getting harder to automate or even augment.

Start to look to outsourcing instead.

@dribbble
@Upwork
@99designs

You want creativity and thought, and that isn't something machines do well. But that doesn't mean you should be doing it.
6. Customer Service

Lots of tools here!

But this NOT something you want to automate.

use the tools to lower customer friction rather than automate the service.

You need a person to do this well and stand out.
7. CEO / Leadership / Strategy

To my knowledge, not automatable at all.

This requires thought, experience, proper thinking, etc.

You can use
1. research services,
2. consulting agencies, and
3. coaches to help ...

They should help you clarify and direct, not done for you.
As you can see, I took you from easiest to automate, to impossible.

Work through the various parts of your company

1. Eliminate what you don't need
2. Automate non-judgement decisions
3. Delegate non core parts of the biz
4. Build tools to help you do the rest faster

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More from @joshuamschultz

7 Jan
Its hard for a company or group of people to work together, if everyone is unclear, not in agreement, confused, or not in the know on:

How the company delivers value.

This is not about what the value is or why... its about how do we, as a company get this to our customers.
The idea of Value Delivery is crucial, and many leaders
1. assume every knows
2. assume when they spoke, everyone heard the same thing
3. assume they don't need to know

This is so wrong. You NEED ever single person understanding how the operations are setup
Why are incentives here and not there?
Why do we hire faster in that area?
It seems all the tech is built in that division?
Is there a reason the employee manual is more lenient with them?

Issues in finance, HR, operations, and IT - but all because of operational misalignment
Read 4 tweets
6 Jan
Why talking to your people is the most important thing you can do!

For a new acquisition, there's a general template I follow for the 1st 100 days.

The Number One point on that list is PEOPLE

I have failed this once, and succeeded once, let me share why this is most important.
1. You are in spreadsheet mode

When working on a new acquisition you are in the numbers and in the models.

Net working capital true-up
First 6 mo cash flow
Valuation multiple
Realizable EBITDA
etc

Many new acquirers don't come out of this, and lose customers, employees, and $$
2. Verifying the Model

Post acquisition, you are verifying the model in realtime, adjusting, making sure you are good with the bank, investors, yourself.

You are checking actual expenses to see if they match.

Perhaps you are implementing a few easy cost cuts.

People!
Read 18 tweets
4 Jan
Risk Decay, a bias in how humans see large risk events, can have a major impact when building a business that can last 100+ years.

Protecting against this is hard, but here is a way that lowers the chance of it ruining your business...
Risk Decay is the idea that our perspective of our vulnerability to a risk declines as that risk falls further and further into history.
When a major risk occurs, it is in our face, emotions and all.

Following preventive measures and spending money on risk mitigation are no problem. Image
Read 7 tweets
31 Dec 20
Matt is hitting the nail in the head here.

While growing a fastener distributor biz, I learned to code, built a custom ERP, learned machine learning, all while applying it to my business(s).

The combo is 100x
Some of the past assumptions on how to run a biz melt away when you understand the tools out there, and can build anything you want.

But

Just because it’s cool, will automate, or can be built doesn’t mean it should. Many tech assumptions melt away too.
Here is a few things I learned while building niche vertical tech software for a few different industries...
Read 22 tweets
28 Dec 20
Just because you need to submit financials in GAAP, doesn't mean its the best way to look at your financials.

I have been teaching an alternative method of breaking down your finances that allows you to see
1. How the machine runs
2. How well it is doing

Here is how. 👇🏼
1. The realization buried in this technique is that you have two machines running at all times
1. operational machine
2. finance machine

The finance machine is leveraging up and down your operational machine.

So we need to separate these to better analyze
Separating these components has the additional benefit of making forecasts and analysis more accurate given less volatility in the individual components than the combined.

So let's start...
Read 22 tweets
22 Dec 20
Did the worst thing you can do in my business yesterday.

Customer ran out of parts - what we call "Line Down".

The number one rule is don't ever cause a line down

The only thing that matters in a parts business is

OTD and PPM

passing quality, and on time!

Some lessons >
1. When a major problem occurs, you should be constantly communicating with the customer. This is the. most. important. thing.

Whether there is news or not, share updates, share what you're working on, share what's working and what's not.

Be Transparent and constantly sharing
2. Dive in past the issue. We ran out of a part, but why? You can use the classic 5Why approach.

In this case it was:

1. a faulty warehouse report
2. an algo missing data
3. an incorrect use of the systems
4. untrained personnel.

All my problem.
Read 12 tweets

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