6 Steps To Take When You Cannot Afford Your Team

6 Steps To Take When You Cannot Afford Your Team

So it’s a pretty rubbish home for people in the UK at the moment. I’m recording this at the beginning of 2021. And we are in another lockdown, which for many people I think has brought up a lot of fear, anxiety, exhaustion. Even having some time off for Christmas has not really made much difference. I feel properly the same as relative before I had the time off, and I think many people are feeling the same.

But one of the big things that I have seen people say, or had conversations with people about is that they cannot afford their team anymore.

For a lot of people they persevere a lot of business owners they kept their team, and the first lockdown happened, and they persevered. They got through it. But this time around. There’s a lot more fear.

A lot more fear financially, that their business just isn’t going to work anymore. I get it and it’s such a horrible place to be and so wish, none of us was in this position, but we are. And the best way around this is to really really hone in on what you need at the moment.

Now, if you know me you know that I’m a real stickler for planning, always have been. But, if anything, I’ve really learned over lockdown. It’s that you can’t plan, all the time. Sure you can make plans but my plans were kind of really sticking plans they were plans that will happen before COVID hit. Since lockdown I have become more okay with the fact that plans may not come to fruition, they may not happen.

And if it doesn’t, It is okay.

The plans are still there. As long as we can innovate and we can really continue to push the boundaries and push what we are doing in our business. We are in a really good place. Make sure that you are planning, but you’re not planning to the extent that if you don’t meet those goals.

You’re going to become really down and sit on the sofa for a week, eating ice cream. Because we need to be really pushing forward, and we need to be focusing on the now. So making sure that we are not planning too far ahead and make them flexible.

But what I really wanted to talk about today was going back to the point about your team.

So, a lot of people have instantly jumped at their business and thought, What can I get rid of. I’m terrified that I’m not going to make the money, I’m terrified that my business just isn’t going to survive.

For some people that might be the case. But I want to be really really honest with you and I want to give you 6 Steps To Take When You Cannot Afford Your Team. And I think these six steps are really going to help you figure out if that is actually the case, or if there are other things that you need to be looking at before you look at your team.

1. Business audit

So, is it really that you cannot afford your team. Are you in panic mode? Have you heard the news and then you’ve just jumped to what expenses or investment stuff that you need to stop because you need to hold on to as much money as you possibly can in your business. Looking at where you are now, but also where you are now if you were to remove that team, what implications that’s going to have on your business long term?

Because sometimes, if you remove the team because you think of it as an expense.

It has a long term financial effect on your business. Sure, you might be holding the money in your business that you would have been spending time on your team. Currently, but you’re also restricting yourself to be able to go out there and get more business and get more money through the door.

So, without a team, you need to really look at where your business is and whether or not taking away that team is going to mean that you have effectively taken away any way of generating more income on new income.

2. Are there other investments that you are making that you don’t need or use?

Many times people think of the investment of their team as being a big investment and that’s the investment that they need to stop. Whereas, actually, they look through their statements and they realise that they’ve spent the same if not more on memberships and subscriptions that they’ve joined that they don’t use or they don’t do anything with!

If they were to have cancelled those memberships and subscriptions, they would still have the money there for their team. So make sure that you are looking at all the investments that you’re making. And you are being really really truthful and honest with yourself in the return that they are bringing to you and your business. If they’re not bringing any return. Then is it really for you for now?

3. Streamline your strategies

Are you focusing on the strategies that are working for you now? Or are you focusing on too many strategies? Have you got too much going on, and you’re not really sure if these strategies have been working? Because you haven’t tracked your metrics, or you haven’t done it consistently?

So the metrics around making sure that you streamline the strategies that you’re using means that you can’t really see what’s working. And if again it’s not bringing you a return. Maybe it’s time to streamline those strategies or try something a bit different.

4. Automated 

So, that means once you automate as much as you possibly can. You can then have your team, focusing on income-generating tasks. Effectively by automating the things that you can automate that are reoccurring that do not really need that human interaction. It means that your team is then freed up to do stuff that could potentially bring you in more money and more revenue.

So making sure that you have automated, your tasks is essential when you are looking at your team. And the structure of your team and the responsibilities.

5. Prioritised what tasks need to be done

And with this, I mean, have you looked at the tasks and the processes that you’re doing currently or your team’s doing currently? And are there any that aren’t really bringing you the return that you expect? Maybe they could be postponed for the time being, until you get some more income through the door.

That then means that you can potentially reduce your team support, and you’re not taking the support away completely.

Because when you take the support away completely it’s really hard to adapt to being in business on your own. With no one around to help or support you, especially if you have become very used to having people around.

It means that you still have some support there, and probably some support that you still can afford. And you feel comfortable affording. You’re not reducing all the support you have. You need to then focus really really tightly on what you’re then getting that team member to do.

Because the last thing you want to do is to remove that support and only have part of support there. But then have that team member working on things that don’t do anything for you or don’t do anything for your business.

6. Systemised

Making sure that you spend your time wisely. That means that you are going to avoid or do your best to avoid burning out. Because one of the biggest reasons that business owners burn out is because they try to do everything ourselves. And, I get it.

You need to have money for support or you need to have profits in your business, and you need to pay yourself. But when you don’t have any support around you, and you are trying to do everything yourself because you’re trying to save money. I can guarantee you that if you’re in that place, you are putting in a lot more hours to your business to get everything done than what you’re paying yourself. I’m right, right?

That means that you have really increased the likelihood of you burning out.

Once you hit that burnout phase. Not something that a little weeks holidays going solve. It is a really big serious health implication, and it’s going to take months, sometimes even years to recover from burnout. So, making sure that you think of that ahead of letting your team go is really, really important.

I’m not saying that you can’t grow a business without a team, because you can. Plenty of people have. But you get to a certain stage and it becomes impossible. You need to make sure if you have a strong team before that stage. Make sure you have the foundations in place because if you don’t have the foundations in place, you are not going to be able to grow your business without your team.

One of the biggest foundations that you need to have is systems. And the reason behind that is because when you are trying to do everything you don’t need to be sitting there procrastinating thinking about what you’re meant to do next. You need a system that’s working there that’s organised that can tell you what you need to do at any one time.

So making sure that you have systemised your business as much as you possibly can.

And you don’t then put yourself in a position where you are working 25 hours a day, and burning out. You aren’t then going to be putting your business at risk to fail. I hope that’s helped, and I hope that’s really helped those people that have asked me those questions around what can I do when I just cannot afford my team.

And I’m sure there are so many people that are in that position at the moment. I get it completely, you need to be looking at your operational costs and that’s just good business sense. But please please please do not look at your team as just an expense and not an investment.

Look at the bigger picture before you make any decisions like that.

Because you’ve invested a lot of time and effort into those team members to become integrated into your business. The thing is, if they’re really good, then they are probably not going to be around when you need support again. Or they’re probably not going to have the capacity.

So, please think really hard before you make that decision of getting rid of any team members, and it should really be a last resort. As I say, you can grow a business without a team. But your business needs to be super organised super systemised. You really need to have automated the backside off of it, to be able to do it without it affecting your life and your health.

I hope you enjoyed learning the 6 Steps To Take When You Cannot Afford Your Team. Any questions do get in touch.

6 Steps To Take When You Cannot Afford Your Team

6 Steps To Take When You Cannot Afford Your Team

6 Steps To Take When You Cannot Afford Your Team