Stuck in the Mud?
Small Business Don't Stay Small on Purpose
Imagine starting your day, coffee in hand, ready to tackle new challenges. You glance at the quote on your wall: "Small businesses don’t remain small by choice." It's a reminder of your mission. Yet, despite your hard work, your business growth is stuck in the mud. The wheels are turning, but there's no traction, and the path forward isn't clear.
If your business remains small, it's not by design. Often, it's due to hidden barriers—either in the business model or within the leadership team. Typically, there are actions a business owner is either taking or neglecting that impede growth. These obstacles are subtle and not immediately apparent, making them difficult to address.
This is a common scenario, one we've seen many times before.
This challenge is precisely why we enjoy investing in the lower middle market. We assist owners—who usually retain equity when partnering with us—in identifying and resolving how to break through the mud. This creates significant value, and smaller businesses often present more of these opportunities.
But you don’t necessarily need us to get out of the mud. Whether you're planning to sell your business now or in the future, we're happy to share our insights and tools to help you enhance your business and increase its value.
It might seem counterintuitive, but businesses that have already done the hard work to become more resilient are always more attractive investments.
We break down the essentials of gaining traction and breaking free from the mud into five key areas.
Prioritizing these will transform your company into a fully functioning enterprise:
1. Operations
2. Finance
3. People
4. Sales and Marketing
5. Technology
Let's explore roadmap for blasting through the mud.. Here’s the checklist.
(1) Operations
Start by evaluating your core business processes. Are you delivering your product or service effectively? Is consistency a hallmark of your operations? Are you profitable in your core operations? Next, look at your organizational chart. Are roles and responsibilities clearly defined? Is there a structured decision-making process? Finally, consider your planning. Do you have a prioritized plan for future actions? Do you regularly communicate with your customers, and do they refer others to your business?
(2) Finance
Start by evaluating your core business processes. Are you delivering your product or service effectively? Is consistency a hallmark of your operations? Are you profitable in your core operations? Next, look at your organizational chart. Are roles and responsibilities clearly defined? Is there a structured decision-making process? Finally, consider your planning. Do you have a prioritized plan for future actions? Do you regularly communicate with your customers, and do they refer others to your business?
(3) People
People are the heart of your business. Are wages fair and aligned with workload? Do you offer competitive benefits? Is there a thoughtful incentive program in place? How about recruiting and retention? Is your hiring process attracting quality candidates? Do employees understand their performance and receive feedback? Do high-performing employees stay and take on more responsibility? Lastly, consider your culture. Do your employees show up and engage with their work? Is the workplace environment positive and motivating? Are employees encouraged to recruit talented friends?
(4) Sales & Marketing
Marketing is your voice to the world. Do you have a functional website and contact system? Is your business visible on search engines? Are you actively pursuing potential customers? Can you define your ideal or "sweet spot" customer? Assess your marketing assets—do you have a strong brand presence and high-quality examples of your work? Are you using professional copywriting and design services? Are you testing and measuring your marketing efforts? Do you know the effectiveness of your marketing? Do you understand your sales funnel and can you articulate it stages and conversion metrics? Can you measure the ROI of your marketing spend? Are you prepared to invest more in marketing?
(5) Technology
Does technology streamline your work processes? Is your technology current and regularly updated? Do you have clear, efficient business processes? Are these processes continually improved and enhanced with new technologies? Do you identify and address gaps in your tech setup? Can you seamlessly integrate new technology? Are you ready to invest more in technology?
Wrapping It
Small businesses often miss growth opportunities because they are unaware of the right questions to ask, lack access to talent, or find it hard to justify the expense and effort without guaranteed returns. Marketing and technology are particularly underutilized.
Curious about how the hundreds of businesses we review annually stack up against this list? Give us a shout! We’re happy to share anonymized insights from our “mud list“.
You don’t need to tackle everything at once. Identify your opportunities and start making progress. That’s what we would help you do if we partnered together.
