There is no single roadmap to business prosperity, though there are some solid guiding supporting growth strategies.

Which of the following do you already have in place? Which insights are most relevant for implementation in your practice or business?

What are the keys to growing a prosperous business, from Day One?

• Mindset - Believe in yourself and build a growth mindset. If you don’t believe in you, how can anyone else?
• Strategy - To track growth, you must develop a strategic view for growth. Zoom out to identify and assess what you really want to create in your business and whom will you serve. Then, write it down.
• Community - It takes a village. Building a strong netosphere to build relationships, reputation and contacts is key for fostering support, leads and referral partners.

What can I do to grow my business without burnout and overwhelm?

LEVERAGE is the name of the game.

• Your Differentiation/Innate abilities - Do what you do best, and that’s it.
• Your Team - Hire rockstar team members whom you trust and let them do what they do best.
• Systems/Technology - Create structure through documented repeatable processes; automate as much as new technologies allow.
• Time - Be strategic about how you use your time by setting strong boundaries, reducing access, working only in your unique brilliance.
• Relationships - Get and stay connected with your netosphere – clients, referral partners, key influencers, advisory board, etc.
• Accountability - Reach greater revenues by requiring your team be accountable to and responsible for growing your business.
• Marketing - Use omnipresent marketing techniques to produce leads.
• Business Model - Shift how you deliver your work to no longer working hours-for-dollars, so you can work with 2x to 10x your current number of clients, while working fewer hours.

What are the top mistakes that business owners make in growing their client base?

• Lack of a strategic roadmap/plan – Without a written growth plan that outlines forward-looking, attainable goals, there is no way to measure growth or progress. It is similar to the saying “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there”.
• Working too much in the business and not on the business. If you aspire to run a prosperous business and have a life, you must learn to delegate effectively (see Leverage Your Team above) such that you are the face of your firm and actively engaged in the client attraction process.
• Lack of consistency in implementing proven growth strategies. Because legal services requires significant relationship building, consistency is key to building top-of-mind awareness, which leads to referrals, new clients and repeatable business. Without consistent strategic action step implementation, the journey to prosperity can be elusive.

As a leader and a changemaker, you realize that building a prosperous business (whether you are a careerist or an entrepreneur) takes time. Yet, with a solid strategy, vision, written business plan and strong implementation, every day is a day closer to realizing your dreams of business prosperity.

Thanks to Jo Ann Morgano, MBA, CRPC Financial Advisor and Martin Saltzman, co–hosts of the tv show It's Your Money (4:20 – 24:17; 20 minutes), where I discussed these ideas.

As President/Chief Strategist of KLA Marketing Associates and Chief Changemaker of CHANGEMAKERS, Kimberly Rice provides strategic professional and business growth services to forward–thinking professional services firms and women executives seeking to create a more fulfilling and prosperous professional experience and business. She may be reached at [email protected] and 609.458.0415.