When it comes to business advice, it’s best to learn from those who do more than just “talk the talk,” but also walk the walk when it comes to scaling small businesses. And since you probably have big goals for your company in 2023, you need to seek advice from those who “walk it” best.

That’s why we asked our top six Trainual Certified Consultants their advice for small business owners looking to start 2023 on a strong note and hit their goals. And since these are the top six out of nearly 400 Certified Consultants, you know this advice is top-shelf.

These consultants have worked with tons of small businesses across various industries. They know what works and, quite frankly, what doesn’t. So, when it comes to scaling your business this year, here’s what our top partners have to say:

1. Don’t rely on common sense when it comes to documenting your processes.

“There is no such thing as common sense,” says our number one ranked Certified Consultant, Connie S. Falls. “There is only documentation.” Meaning, when you’re documenting your company’s processes, you can’t rely on what you think is common knowledge if you want your team to execute those processes the right way.

Here’s an example: If you document your sales process and only write down “follow up with the prospect after the call” (because it seems like the follow-up information is common sense), chances are high that your team member will follow up in a way that they think is best. Which might differ from how your team usually deals with prospects.

Instead, Connie suggests being as specific as possible with your documentation. So, don’t assume anything is common knowledge when you write down the process. 

Going back to the sales process example, if you write down: “Within 10 minutes after the sales call, follow up with a recap of your call, a call recording, and the PDF of the 2023 pitch deck for our products,” you can then better rely on your sales team to carry out that specific process.

🔥 Tip: Want more tips on systemizing your business from Connie? Check out her interview from Playbook 2022.

2. Reduce your financial risk by standardizing your processes.

When people think of reducing financial risk, slashing expenses is typically the first response. But our number two ranked Certified Consultant, Chris Gwinn of Great Lakes Advisory, suggests there are more powerful ways to do that.

“Become more lean by standardizing your operations,” says Chris. By coming up with standard processes of what you do well in your company, it’s easy to bank on getting consistent results every time. That means steadier revenue — and less financial risk. Chris also suggests documenting those standard processes in a system like Trainual that can help get your team aligned on executing those processes in the correct way.

You can also reduce your financial risk by maximizing the productivity of your top employees. This helps you get more ROI per employee and, therefore, increases the profitability of your business.

How do you maximize employee productivity? “Look for opportunities to automate some of the routine tasks through integrations and automated workflows,” says Chris. Take a look at some of the manual tasks that eat up time, and then see if there are any native integrations in the apps you’re using that makes things easier. Or, you can use a platform like Zapier to create custom workflows that will save you time.

🔥 Tip: You can also reduce financial risk by fixing broken processes in your business. Chris breaks down the best way to do that in this guide.

3. Challenge your systems, even if they are tried and true.

“The hardest working person in your business should always be your systems,” says our number three ranked Certified Consultant, Adam L. Wingfield. And the best way to do that is by always challenging the systems you have in place to be better, leaner, and more efficient.

That means looking at all of your current systems and asking: “How can I make this even more efficient?” That could mean using new software to improve the time it takes to carry out that process. Or hiring someone who can take care of things like scheduling meetings for you or doing administrative tasks.

It’s best to do this at the start of a new year as you’re mapping out fresh new goals and initiatives. So, take a look at all of your systems and see where you can make things much easier. Because when you do this, “it allows you to focus more on your business versus working in your business,” says Adam. And that’s the place where true growth happens for a small business.

🔥 Tip: If you’re in the trucking industry, Adam breaks down all of the ways you can implement systems and processes in your business. Check it out!

4. Make your policy manual and employee training fun and engaging.

“What’s one thing that every new employee has to do when they start at your company?” asks John Sproul, our number four ranked Certified Consultant of 2023. “Reading the policy manual!”

“But what’s the most boring thing that a new employee tends to do?” asks John. “Read the policy manual!” He suggests that making your policy manual fun and exciting will not only get your employees to read it, but it’ll also make them much more excited about being a part of your company.

John is the hiring and training director at Camel Express Car Wash and also helps other car washes get their training systems in place. Creating fun and engaging training content is a key staple of what he suggests.

To do that, John suggests adding fun media like GIFs and entertaining videos of your team going through a specific policy in your training materials. It doesn’t have to be a Hollywood production — just take out your phone, record a video of you or your team, and place it in your training document.

It seems like a small thing, but great employee training content is a big deal. It’s the first impression your new hires get as a member of your team. So, to decrease your chances of turnover or low engagement, creating a fun training program is an easy place to start.

5. Turn your bad experiences into amazing processes.

“Bad experiences are broken processes,” says Susan Harper of Sharper Business Solutions. Meaning, if your business experienced a big mistake or error in the past year, it was probably because there wasn’t a good system in place (or no system at all!).

That’s why Susan, who is our number five ranked Certified Consultant of 2022, encourages her clients to take a look at the bad experiences they may have had in their business and see if there’s a way to improve (or create) a system to prevent it in the future.

To do this, reflect on the areas where there were opportunities to learn from in 2022. From there, dive into what the root cause of the issue was. Once you have that, you can develop a system (or improve the current system) to help avoid that issue in 2023 and beyond.

That way, you can make sure you’re not only learning from your mistakes but also capitalizing on them to create sustainable systems that get you even better results as you grow and scale.

6. Spend time to make time.

It’s easy to understand ROI on money. You invest a certain amount to gain even more money in the future. The same principle applies to your time. Especially around delegating tasks and freeing your time so that you can run a more efficient business.

“You have to spend time to make time,” says Erin Mathie of Business Made Simple, our number six ranked Certified Consultant of 2022. That means you have to “create more time in your areas of value by investing time to document and delegate lower-value tasks properly.”

When it comes to documenting your processes as a business owner or a CEO, it can seem incredibly time-consuming. And quite frankly, you’re not wrong.

But reframing your mindset can help. Try looking at process documentation as a few hours of inconvenience that can set you up for weeks/months of time saved in the very near future. Looking at it this way, it’s not time lost — it’s time saved! And that is the difference between businesses that scale and those that don’t. That’s why Erin is a huge proponent of making the conscious effort to invest the time to document and delegate your lower-value tasks.

One mantra to live by here is “document it once, delegate it forever.” And even saying those words can help break the resistance to taking the time to get your processes down on paper.

And lastly, if you need help, ask for it!

Let’s be real: You have big goals for your business in 2023. And big goals require big action! With that, you might need some extra help to take those actions, and that’s totally okay.

But the work still needs to be done. And that’s why asking for help is one of the best ways to tackle your biggest business goals for 2023. We partner with Trainual Certified Consultants to help you and business owners around the world scale their companies to new heights. They specialize in process documentation, Trainual set-up, systems improvement, and many other areas.

Reach out to any of our top consultants mentioned in this article. Or, check out our Certified Consultant directory to find someone who would be a great fit to work with you.

Great things aren’t done alone, especially when it comes to scaling a business. Ask for help when needed, and make 2023 your year of massive growth.