2021 has been a busy year, from trying to set goals for Adirelounge, ensure the lights are kept turned on, and also be creative (design wise) in a pandemic.
Towards the end of 2020 I took a break to test the structures and systems we had put in place at Adirelounge.
This was the ultimate test, how long can the business run without me doing the daily grind or me being physically present?
Well…
Like you guessed it didn’t turn out well. There were a lot of lapses, loopholes, more systems that needed to be documented and we also lost money as a result of this.
Running a fashion business can be draining and rewarding ( You are the creative, social media manager, following up with production, attending to customers enquiries etc) you know you need help but you are also scared to employ i.e what if my cashflow is not enough to pay this staff? Or you can finally hire a staff then you give them everything so they continue from where you stopped.
With AL (I love this initial) I thought I had everything in place , organisational chart, Advisory board, clear job descriptions and reporting lines for staff. But like every other thing in the world we mostly learn from our mistakes.
These are some systems you can put in place in your business;
Hiring systems
Cleaning systems
Accounting systems
Production Systems
Sales and Marketing systems
Operations systems
There is a book by Micheal Gerber “The E Myth: Why Most Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It”. It takes you through the step by step process on how to create systems in your small business.
This experience showed me what loopholes AL had and how best to close those gaps. The dream is to actually work on the business not in the business.
Like I always say, no matter how bad an experience is there is something to be learned from it.
And I learned mine.
XOXO
CYNTHIA
Are you shutting down AL completely because it cannot function if you aren't there, or you are restructuring it to function without you .
Cheering you on ❤️❤️