Short reads on the parts of running a business that quietly cost you time, money and customers.
Custom Software
Some work grows in a straight line with your business. Some grows faster. Knowing which is which tells you what to fix before you grow.
Automation
Not using Excel. Maintaining it. Fixing the formula somebody broke, merging two versions, chasing the one person who has it open.
Digital Presence
The ones who never called are invisible. You cannot count them, you never hear from them, and they are usually the largest group.
Data & Reporting
What he bought, what he was charged, what he owes, what he complained about, and when you last spoke. Five facts, usually in five places.
Custom Software
The same error, every few weeks, from different people. At that point it has stopped being carelessness and started being the way the work is arranged.
Automation
Each tool was a sensible decision on its own day. Together they are a business where nothing adds up without a person in the middle.
Business Growth
In most businesses the honest answer is nothing. Nobody finds out, nothing flags it, and the only person who notices is the customer who went elsewhere.
Business Growth
Searching does not feel like waste because it feels like working. It is the most invisible cost in a small office and usually the largest.
Automation
Every business has one. The person who knows the rates, or the parties, or how the machine behaves. Nobody planned it that way and everybody relies on it.