Over 15 years I've helped companies from global corporations to start ups on the same concepts. I've helped them save millions of pounds, countless hours and operating costs.
A few years on from the pandemic so many businesses and individuals are still suffering with financial and economic issues as a result of the global shutdowns
So how can the concept of Business Minimalism help?
15 years ago I got shown my first process map. I worked at a big corporate and a woman who was going on maternity leave had asked me to step into her role. I had absolutely no idea what this process map diagram was or how it was meant to help!
Marie Kondo got me really into minimalism for my home and I'd spent 20 years streamlining businesses, Marie Kondo style!
Suddenly it all became so clear and Business Minimalism was born.
Over 15 years later I've helped companies from global corporations to start ups on the same concepts. I've helped them save millions of pounds, countless hours and operating costs.
Coming out of the pandemic I've realised the importance of the timing of this.
Uber and many other companies started out of the last global recession came from a desire for people to make more money. Ubers drivers needed the cash therefore Uber wasn't short of people to help drive the company into the 11 billion dollar company it is today!
So if you have a business or are part of a company then you may want to look at helping that company not only stay afloat but thrive in the world we live in now - lets call it mid pandemic as we're not anywhere close to having ended this yet.
Over the 20 or so years I've been doing this I've noticed lots of similarities.
I've therefore been able to build a tool and framework that works for all businesses from global giants to single start ups.
There's just 5 things to ask yourself to introduce business minimalism into your own business.
Business Minimalism - 5 things to do mid pandemic
1. Plan it
Do you have an idea of what you do? And if you have a team, do you know who does what? What if the worst happened and that bus we always talk about finally got you? Could someone pick up your work?
The average CEO or founder has on average 3-4 years before burnout or illness makes them realise they are not made of titanium. And when they're at the burnout phase this can actually be when the business goes under. We all hear the stats around 80% of businesses failing in the first 5 years, this is a big reason why.
So the way to get around this is write it down. Write down exactly what you do, what the processes are that you follow, what systems you use and how your customer or client interacts with that (the customer journey). There are tools you can use for this - Visio, Trello or a piece of paper! Write it, update it often and keep it somewhere handy as you'll need it for the next step.
2. Profit Led
Part of Business Minimalism is reducing Operational Costs and increasing profits. After reading the book Profit First this aligns really nicely with this so I really recommend getting a copy of that.
Either yourself or your accountant should know the financial position of your business.
Once you've got this, how do you number 1 reduce your Operating Costs?
Secondly how do you increase your profits?
Go back to the information you captured at step 1 and ask yourself Is every step necessary? When I consult for companies I do this first. I go through every step and ask myself these questions
- Are there any steps that you could change? Or even take out altogether? Think about the things you may have been doing for years as that used to work well for you but perhaps not now you've scaled or grown?
- Who does that part? Is that the right person?
- Am I using the right technology?
- If things were perfect how would I want this to work?
Give yourself the permission to challenge the status quo. This step is the most important so take your time with it or give it to someone else not close to your business to review for you. Sometimes you're too close to it to see where you could actually change things.
3. Service Improvement
This is the fun part! Take steps 1 & 2 and have a think about what you really want to change in your business or organisation you work in.
Capture it on a plan or template. The ideas you have right now could be really small cfhnages or the biggest change you'd ever consider! It's important at this stage not to write your ideas off. Capture EVERYTHING here.
Start to then categorise your ideas - you could use simple headings such as; People, Technology, Process, Training, Financial
4. Quick Wins
You'll quickly begin to see that some of the changes are small but would have a big impact. This might be a big financial gain or you could save a bucket load of time.
So start here. Make these changes first.
Whats really great here is happens you start to gather momentum! This can then inspire you to make bigger changes.
5. Sustainability
When making any changes you'll want to make sure the changes work well for both you and the business.
You can find at times that making a change initially might be really great but you (or your staff) could revert back to their old ways of working. You'll
Conclusion
Now that you know these simple 5 steps, you'll find it so much easier to implement business minimalism.
Love
Nikki xx
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