Three Ways to Add Leverage to Your Small Business

Remember those drawings from science class of how a lever works?

The lever was a long bar that rested atop a triangularly shaped fulcrum. One end of the lever was underneath the object to be raised. The other end of the lever was where downward force was applied to raise the object at the other end. The keys to whether or not the lever could raise the object were: 1) the distance of the fulcrum from the object to be raised, 2) the length of the lever, and 3) the force applied to the fulcrum.

In short, the longer the lever and the more force applied, the easier and faster you can move the object.

When mapping this diagram to the business of an independent professional, we find:

• The professional is the fulcrum
• The object to be moved is the business objective to be achieved
• The lever is the resource to be amplifed
• The downward force can be a body of knowledge or expertise; external resources (such as mentors/coaches, training, experts, etc.); an investment of time or money; the use of skills, tools, or talents; and the use of systems, processes, procedures, and structures.

Here are 3 of the many ways in which you can employ leverage in your business:

• Take your resources and repurpose or reuse them in new and innovative ways to add to your services, products, or resources. Hence, the body of knowledge represented by the original resource is multiplied into several services/products/resources for your business. For example, I could take this article and use it both in my ezine and on my web site. I could also make it into an eclass by expanding it with calls to action on the part of the reader. Once it is expanded into an eclass, it's just another step into making it a web-based class. From there I could take it into being a multi-session teleclass or an on-site seminar.

  Can you see that without much additional effort you can take one resource and multiply it into 5 or 6 additional resources for your business?

• Take a resource and percolate it through multiple businesses for increased visibility.

  For example, I could take this article and post it on several web sites that provided content for others to put in their ezines or on their web sites. I could also directly contact the webmasters at several of the bigger web sites that service my same target market of independent professionals and offer them the use of the article on their web site. Bingo! One article, multiple places of exposure.

• Tap into other forces to achieve a desired objective.

  For example, if you want to short-circuit the learning process on a particular business subject, you can hire a mentor or coach, attend a workshop or seminar, or buy a book or tape training series. In this way you are using the power of other people's knowledge and experience to speed your learning. And speed of learning is just another type of leverage.

The ultimate purpose of applying leverage in your business is to achieve your desired objectives with more speed and less effort. Where are you missing opportunities to apply the power of leverage in your business?

Copyright 2004, Rose Hill, Inc

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Rose Hill, Founder and Owner,of Biz Whiz Expert (http://www.SoloBizVille.com) and Team Member of Solo-E.Com (http://www.Solo-E.Com) has been self-employed since 1990. Knowing how to run corporate departments and how to market corporate entities, products, and services did nothing to prepare her for successfully running and marketing a one-person business. That is why Rose created the SoloBizVille and SoloBizU community - to specifically to help solo entrepreneurs jumpstart their business success without all the trial-and-error learning.

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