If you want your business to thrive in the marketplace on a long-term basis and to be of enduring value, you need to ensure that its success is not dependant on any one individual. In many small to medium sized businesses, that one individual is often the owner.

The most effective way you can protect and enhance the value of your business is by removing yourself from the daily operations and focusing your time on developing strategies to elevate and move your brand forward. However, you cannot step away from running your business until you have strong systems in place, a dependable and knowledgeable team, and a stable customer base.

To help you develop a business that can run on its own, consider the following ideas.

Test your business

The best way to test how well your business will perform without you is to go on a holiday. And maybe a good long holiday might be well overdue for you anyway. Make sure you are unreachable during the test time. When you get back, you will be able to assess what went wrong or where your problem areas lie. For example, you may find your staff are not comfortable calling the shots and making operational decisions if you have been micromanaging them.

Build strong systems

Putting strong systems in place is the only way you can remove yourself from the daily operations involved in running your business. Establish clear requirements for all business activities, including how to manage your social media and content calendar through to the processes used for handling customer complaints. By having clear guidelines in place for every aspect of your business, you will no longer need to be there to save the day.

Become replaceable

When you reduce your responsibilities, you need to be able to rely on a skilled and qualified team to run your business. Some of your team need to be capable of speaking to clients or suppliers and have the relevant industry knowledge to make important decisions on behalf of your business. Make sure there are effective training protocols established so that every employee understands the business policies and procedures, and what is required in their individual roles.

Perks of a stable customer base

A steady and loyal customer base provides a reliable and regular source of financial security which will enable you to take time out to strategise your business’ future or tweak any issues in your branding image.

For instance, you may want to put your time and effort into perfecting or redeveloping your service or product to attract a broader target market. Stepping away also allows you the freedom to take time away from your business altogether.