Starting a business is exciting and initially you will have the drive and motivation to work far to many hours per day and put in the work to make sure that your business succeeds. But what happens when this adrenalin subsides, how can you still be sure that your business will succeed?

Many startups that I speak to usually say that there’s just not enough hours in the day and that they struggle to plough through their relentless to-do list. Keeping up business momentum, especially when you may have a family or other commitments can be a juggling act.

As a leadership and performance coach who also has my own business to run, I can relate to these struggles and offer my three proven strategies that have helped businesses to succeed:

1) Ask for help

Asking for help doesn't come naturally to many entrepreneurs but it can be the difference between success and failure. Think of your business and the areas or tasks that you don't enjoy, or constantly find yourself pushing to the end of your to-do lists.

Be honest with yourself about why you don't get around to these things and find someone who can help. You may be saying ‘but I can’t afford to get help’ the question is ‘can you afford not to?’

This could be a coach, mentor or joining a mastermind group. I did all three and would not be where I am today without this support. To run your own business successfully you will need to wear so many hats and for some areas of business you will not know where to start. People love to help other people and they want to teach you what they have learnt so you can get there quicker.

I found some of my best mentors at conferences where I would approach the speakers that inspired me and either asked for them to mentor me or I joined their programmes.

2) Build in structure and focus

At the beginning there is a lot of focus on the vision for the business and who your ideal client is, which is vital, however just as important, and something that often gets forgotten, is building in structure for your company. 

Finding out what systems will save you time and allow you to automate tasks will give your company structure and clear processes for existing and new recruits to follow.  For example I use Calendy.com for people to be able to directly book appointments with me, I also have a CRM system to reach my customers. 

Anything you do more than once should have a process and be easily replicable. If you plan to scale your business, don’t wait to get this all aligned otherwise you will always be one step behind and your growing team will need a lot of your support to set them up. Having a system and structure in place that they can quickly understand and adopt and will add value and create an organised and calm space will help individuals thrive . This will also help you to avoid thinking ‘it’s quicker if I do it myself’ which can quickly lead to overwhelm.

Build structure into your day by identifying the top five things in the week you need to focus on and then each day do a daily top three. This drives focus and ensures you are spending your energy where you will make an impact. It is so easy to get distracted when starting a business and utilising structure and focus will keep you on track.

3) Trust yourself

Starting your business is a big deal and you can get lost in so many different opinions on what you should and shouldn’t do. To avoid losing your business focus in the onslaught of advice, pick a few core people who you know you can trust and whose advice you value. However, if something doesn't sit right and you feel strongly that your way is the right one, learn to trust yourself and back your choices.

Learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and embracing uncertainty is a daily skill in running a business.

It’s a muscle that needs to be continually built and one way to do this is to have a good self-care routine that keeps you calm and balanced. The most successful entrepreneurs all have a morning ritual (yoga, walking, reading etc.) and they put a lot of their success and high performance down to consistently living the ritual. I can 100% vouch for this and it has transformed how I now lead in my business.

Following these steps will give your startup the core foundations to build a strong and stable business that is ready to be scaled; whose leader is fully focused, present and at the top of their game.

Many businesses struggle due to their leader being unsure of themselves or not having the correct focus from the top down. The perfect time to get these processes perfected is in the first few years and businesses that do this will reap the rewards for years to come.