How to Organize and Structure Your Small Business
The key to success in small business is to think like you're a big business. Nowhere is this so true as it is in structure and organization. Even if you're a one-person shop, it helps to think about your business tasks as though you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
A successful business is driven by systems, not by personality. By structuring your business formally, like a major corporation, you make it easy to delegate tasks, figure out job descriptions for new hires and organize the business for eventual sale. If, on the other hand, everything is organized just in your head, this means you can never take a vacation, never take a sick day, never retire.
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Instructions
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Define major divisions of responsibility. Almost every company will have at least three: Production, Sales and Administration. Keep these categories broad.
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Define subdivisions of responsibility. In a manufacturing business, Production would include fabrication and ordering of raw materials. In a health club, production would include group fitness instruction and personal training. For each major division, figure out what the major 'departments' of that division would be.
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Define duties for each subdivision. What tasks need to be done by people working on each subdivision? For group fitness instruction in a health club, duties might include teaching individual classes, cleaning the fitness room and tracking member attendance.
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Assign a specific person responsibility for each duty in each subdivision. If you're operating on your own, just write your name next to each and every duty. This helps you organize your workday. More importantly, it helps you pick specific duties to pass on to new hires as your business grows.
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