When it comes to running your small business, you have to wear many different hats while keeping the big picture in mind: coming up with a stellar product or service, marketing it, finding talent, financial management, and all of the microscopic aspects in operations. With so much to manage, it’s very easy to get lost in the details and lose sight of the big picture.
The big picture is the sum of the parts of running your company. After all, you’ve chosen entrepreneurship for a reason rather than other career tracks. When you look at the big picture, you rise above the details for a minute to see what drives your success and where your business is headed in the near future.
Here’s how you can see the big picture in your business, and what you gain from taking this approach.
Benefits of seeing the big picture for your business
Big picture thinking is what gives you an understanding of what your business is capable of right now, and where you want to take it in the future. As this article puts it, the big picture is a “bird’s eye view” of your entire operation: but rather than seeing valleys, roads, rivers, and other natural and manmade sights from a mountaintop, you’re looking at both your current financial performance alongside your marketing strategy, tax compliance, and future plans.
This big picture view can show you things that may not have seemed obvious when you were focused on the details. When you zoom out on your business, you can more easily pinpoint roadblocks like:
- Outdated systems
- Decisions driven by emotions rather than data
- Ineffective business goals
Big picture thinking helps you see where you need improvement and how you can communicate these needs with your internal and external teams. You’re reminded of your own mission, and why you do what you do.
Strategies for seeing the big picture
If you’re very detail-oriented and used to focusing on the small things to get through daily operations or stressful projects, shifting to big picture thinking can be a challenge. Here’s how you can make the adjustment and start to see things in terms of the big picture.
Set aside time to think
Set aside periodic intervals to check in on the big picture, such as the end of the month or fiscal quarter. Or if not at specific times, after certain projects or processes where you’ll be in a clearer headspace to tackle it.
If you don’t do this, you’ll still be stuck in the details all the time.
Know your goals
Setting goals is one of the cornerstones of entrepreneurship. Having an easily quantifiable goal that can be measured through some type of KPI is the best. While goals like, “I want to open a new store in this area” or “I want to gain more social media followers” are a start, they are too vague.
Whereas setting a KPI-centric goal like “I want to generate $10,000 in revenue every month” gives you a benchmark to aim for and continually compare your past results to.
Goals are a direct result of big picture thinking: it’s not so much how you’re going to reach the goal, but so long as you reach it. Setting your goals, keeping yourself familiar with them, and staying on top of them reinforces goal-setting behavior.
Going back to the “bird’s eye view” analogy, your easily quantifiable goals function in a similar way: you have a top-down view of your operations and can now contextualize them in how you’re going to reach that goal, such as investing in a faster computer to serve more clients or developing new messaging to justify higher fees.
Know your industry
In addition to your individual benchmarks, you need to look at your industry.
Find out what your competition is charging for the same product. How profitable are comparably sized businesses, or relative to your location? Pay attention to these financial aspects as well as other quantitative and qualitative aspects like employee turnover, customer ratings, SEO rankings, social media presence, and other KPIs of successful companies in your industry.
Seeing how your business stacks up in comparison helps you keep track of the big picture, particularly if you make this comparison on a periodic basis.
Know your numbers
Knowing your own metrics and how they affect the big picture is the most important thing you can do as an entrepreneur. How do your goals connect to your overall finances? Where do you need to make adjustments? Which goals are you blowing past, and where are you falling behind? When you have a good understanding of your numbers, you can answer these questions and follow up with action.
Work with an experienced accountant
When you work with an experienced accountant who speaks small business, they can help you see the big picture. A financial expert who’s unbiased but is also invested in your success will ensure that everything lines up, so you can celebrate continued growth and profitability.
Finding the right chartered accountant for your business doesn’t have to be a hassle. Contact creditte today to speak to one of our financial advisors who’s ready to take your company to the next level.
