Harnessing the Power of a Business Playbook: Building a Solid Foundation and Creating a Valuable Asset for Your Business

Is your business built to sell?

You may never decide to sell your business, but wouldn't it be nice to know you created a sellable asset?

A Playbook does more than organize your 4 P's; it also increases the value of your business. 

This series has been about learning the basics of building a solid foundation for your business and creating a strategy that will take your company from where it is now to where you want it to be.

What's in your Playbook?

This episode is part 4 in the “Why you need a business playbook?” series. Click for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Resource Books:

The Business Playbook

Built to Sell

Ready to learn more about creating a business playbook for your company? Click the button below. 👇🏽

Podcast Transcript:

0:01 Kiva Slade

Hello and welcome to collab with Kiva. I'm your host Kiva, Slade. From the marbled halls of the US Congress to my racing themed office chair. I've learned that there is no perfect path to the life of your dreams. My journey over the past 20 years has included being a legislative director for a member of Congress, policy director for a nonprofit, stay at home mom, homeschooling mom, jewelry business owner, and now the owner of a service based business. Whether your journey has been a straight line, or full of zigs and zags. Join me and my guest as we share insights, hope and lessons learned from our female entrepreneurship journeys. Made the collaborative sharing of our stories be the tide that lifts your boat. Let's dive in. Hello, and welcome to collab with Kiva. I am your host, Kiva. Slade, so excited. Today, we are diving into Part Four in the series of why you need a business playbook. And today's episode is about how a business playbook helps you to generate valuable asset for your business. I'm excited, I'm also going to dive into what should be included in your business playbook. So let's get started. If you're thinking about your business, you probably already say Kiva, I have a valuable asset I have my business. In Yes, you're right. In that sense, how ever and you knew that was coming? The real asset, when you think about your company, is that collective experience and knowledge? That is a part of your business? And if that's not captured, say in a playbook. What exactly do you have? And you might say Kiva, I have no intentions of ever selling my business. Super great, wonderful. It doesn't mean though, that we don't act as if we may one day sell. Let me tell you what I mean by that. Put yourself in the shoes of a possible buyer. Would you buy the business that you can take over and operate in basically have repeated, repeatable revenue? Or would you buy the one that you're purchasing it, but there really is nothing there that exists that tells you how to continue to operate it how repeatable revenue is possible, where the clients are, or any of the daily operations. I'm thinking you would go with business a in business be the ultimate goal here whether you want to sell your business or not, is developing a business that daily operations do not depend on you. There are more than enough business books that tell us that most of you who have started a business are what we call visionaries. Steve Jobs, total visionary, okay. Gates, Richard Branson. So many people that are visionaries, you have more ideas in a day, and some people may have an entire month. Okay, you see things differently. So it's ultimately important that the day to day operations of the business do not rely on you. And that factors into your business becoming a much more valuable asset. In some industries, we call this turnkey. It's a turnkey restaurant. Why you come in and you turn the key. That's where literally the phrases come from. And it is already functioning, it's running. Everything is moving along the way that it needs to. You don't have to come in and figure out what's taking place figure out who you buy your shrimp from figure out where do the linens go at the end of the day to be laundered. All of that information is there and it's included in that actually increases the value of your business

4:59

because has, if you got to a point where you were looking to sell your business, that information is going to be more attractive to a buyer. They're not having to come in and start from scratch. Okay, maybe if some of you the baking example, if you're making a cake Are you the Get out the flour, the Aigues, the baking soda, the salt, every single part of the raw ingredients, or are you the, let me get this box, add in a an oil and wallah, I have a cake. If you're in a hurry, that box, it's probably going to be an option for you. Because it makes you the process that much easier. And at the end, you're still going to get the same thing which is kick. Okay. Three, this, what I'm saying is that when someone's looking to take over and operate a business, they want to do it pretty much in the same way. You're buying a business because it's successful. It is doing some amazing things, you want to keep those amazing things going. You keep those amazing things going. By having that information detailed out in a business playbook. If you haven't read yet Built to Sell by John Warrillow, I highly recommend this book. And he teaches you and it's in. Honestly, it's written in a story format. So it's super easy read super quick to it talks about creating a business that can thrive without you. And that doesn't mean that you go away that you're no longer involved in the business and no one's trying to crush your hopes and dreams. But I am trying to show you there is another way a better way in which to have those hopes and dreams. So make sure to check out built and sell. And I'll include a link to that in the show notes. But it really does focus on the importance of whether you want to sell or not your business should be built to sell. For many people, we're looking to create legacies. Maybe your children will take over your business. How much easier will it be for them that they're not having to figure everything out all over again, that they're able to take over the business and keep things moving forward at a great speed and able to do the things that need to be done. So when the fourth reason for creating a business playbook is just that it generates a valuable asset for your business. And we once again, which of the two businesses would you want to take over? Which were the two businesses would you want to purchase? You're gonna want to purchase the one that has things documented, you're not gonna want to purchase the one that does not. So that leads me to talk about what's in your playbook, because some of you might be wondering, so let's talk through that. The first element in your playbook, this is going to be my four Ps. Okay, so is the profile. The company profile is how you introduce what your business is about. So I want all of that brand information culture, values, mission, vision, and the history. It's something exciting for people to read, even those that are your team members how we got to this point. Because let's be honest, most businesses start with kind of like some idea of a twinkle in his eye and you're like, This is what I'm going to do. And you start down that path of doing it. We don't know all of the things that took place between that thought and where we are today. So that history actually comes in handy for people to have a greater understanding and maybe even a deeper understanding of your passion of why you've done what you've done. And also in that profile section. There's that information for new hires basically, or potential investors as to why you exist. Who do you serve? How do you serve them? Because all of that information helps differentiate you from other businesses that might be in your same niche. So we have your profile, which is the first P. second P is the people,

9:57

those who work in the business Let's be honest, we are nosy folks. And so when we start in an organization, and now with technology before we even start, our curiosity takes over. We're on LinkedIn, and we're probably on social media platforms, getting a feel for all of those people. Who are we going to? Who am I going to even interview with? We're looking at as much data as we can. But once you're inside, it helps to know who isn't what seed. Okay, so the people element is literally about who works in the business. Who's Who, what do they do, who reports to whom, and all of that business. The third P is policies. Every business has them, even if they're unwritten in some businesses, but that's our operating rules, what typically goes into what traditionally was called like an employee handbook. Okay, office hours office access, dress code, vacation time, legal compliance issues, state federal regulations, anti harassment, safety informations. There's a ton of things that depending on the nature of your business, we'll go into that policy section. Okay, and the fourth P drumroll process. Okay, that is the part that is literally the play in playbook. Let's be honest. It's how things are done. It's a step by step start to finish sequences of all the different tasks. Because why do we want to do this? documenting those things leads to us being much more efficient. And a efficiency leads to what many profits? Let's be honest, that ability for our business to do things efficiently leads to increased profit. That's why we do these things. And again, don't skip this step. Because you have to document in what I like to say stand arise before you optimize. So if you don't have those processes in your business, document it whoa, don't talk to me about you wanting to scale. You can scale what's not standard. What's not or an out was not documented, because you don't even know if you're scaling the right thing. You really don't you think you do. So are four P's profile people policies process. Those are the things that are going into our playbook. So with all of those things, you want to have some people I know, you're gonna say Kiva, I want to start with policies. No Kiva, I want to start with process, I have to get this narrowed down. Actually, that's because I think there's like a historical thinking there, we're going to talk about our SOP. So standard operating procedures. I really think that that's the last thing we actually work on. If you think about it, and put yourself in the shoes of a new hire, what do you need to know? First? You need to know that profile? What do you need to know second? Who you're going to work with the people? What do you need to know? Third? The policies, what's the what's the rules? What's the lay of the land, the last thing you're going to need to know is the processes. So stop putting the cart before the horse in actually work on those things in order to profile people policies, then the processes they need to know the business. They need to know who they're going to work with. They need to know the rules the lay of the land. And if you're gonna go straight to the fourth P No one wants to feel like micromanagement is taking place at such a quick rate. So with that being the case, those are the things that need to go in to your business playbook.

14:57

So we got our four p's and we're doing this This because we've already talked about reason number one, was when we discussed Episode 15, how to unburden yourself as a CEO, because at some point for that business to continue growing, it's gonna have to come out of your head. In Episode 16, we discuss setting high standards in your business. So critically important, Episode 17. We talked about enhancing the employee experience in now here in this episode 18, we are focusing on the fact that a business playbook helps generate a valuable asset for your business. Because even if you don't think you're going to sell, it is super helpful to build your business as if you are going to sell someday. Okay, so we've discussed the four reasons why you need a business playbook. And then also the four P's for what needs to go in your business playbook. All superduper important. And I think that it's important to realize that your playbook needs to be accessible. For any of us who've worked in an organization where there's an employee handbook, and it's just probably crusty and dusty somewhere and everyone doesn't know where to find it. It's super needs to be accessible. Okay, people need to be able to get to it when they need it. So that once again, they can feel empowered to do the things that they need to do. They're not waiting on someone else to give access to it. Okay, it needs to be searchable. Let's be realistic. If we're looking for something, we need to be able to search quickly for what that policy is, who that person is, what that process is, I feel another huge part of it, it needs to be collaborative. It's important that as a small business, that you're kind of developing your results, that you're using more of a bottom up and not a top down approach. Okay, because let's be honest, there's hardly ever any person who understands every single aspect of your business, it just doesn't happen. It also needs to be instructive. Like actually explain things, not just the list of tasks, but literally explain instruct in that area. Because learning is different from doing and we all have different learning styles. And so we need to be making sure that our playbooks are teaching, that set of skills that people can then go off and perform not have to be like, oh, goodness, I need to kind of come back yet for the 565th time as to what that is. Okay. It also needs to be fluid. It's never one and done people. When you develop that playbook, you have to re visit it, you get new people, People's Action needs to change, okay. And if there's new policies that come into play policy section needs to be updated. The same with processes, because typically, when you get new people, you're just changing some of those processes. Okay, I feel that it also needs to be structured. Like there literally are sections to it, not just a bunch of files in Google Drive, or OneDrive, or Dropbox. And it just needs to be structured. It's not also, like trying to fit your playbook into your project management tool, let your project management tool be your project management tool. Let your playbook be your playbook. It also needs to be trackable. Let's be honest. How many times have you said oh yeah, I went through that and you didn't really go through it. No judgment, just asking. You can just answer that yourself. Okay, so it has to have a way that you can hold your team accountable for the knowledge you assigned to them. Like if you're going to spend the time to make this instructive and all of the other components, it needs to be trackable. So if you're assigning things in the playbook to certain team members, then the tracking of that creates a two way feedback loop. So you know that there's alignment and understanding and they have that same sense of alignment and understanding

20:00

Okay, so with those elements, and I'll list those all out in the show notes, you are going to have for yourself a powerful and dynamic playbook for your business. If you're saying Kiva, okay, I've listened to all the episodes, I'm ready. I want to have this playbook in my business. Make sure you reach out but call with me. And we will definitely get you going on that business playbook. So make sure to check out the show notes for all the additional details. And I will see you next time on collab with Kiba. Bye. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of collab with Cuba, you know my heart, and it wants you to know that you are uniquely made and that your business path is unique to you. I hope that now you have some clear takeaways from this episode that have left you inspired and motivated to keep pressing forward on your unique path. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And of course, your reviews on Apple are greatly appreciated. If you are a small business owner, and you are ready to build out your business playbook, and you're ready to document and delegate what takes place in your business so it can grow beyond you. Make sure you visit me on my website, the 516 collaborative.com and let's schedule a time to talk. I'll see everyone next time. Bye

Meet Kiva Slade - the Founder and CEO of The 516 Collaborative. With a unique background in high-power politics on Capitol Hill and sixteen years as a homeschooling mama, Kiva found her calling in the online business world as a trusted guide for entrepreneurs looking to build the business of their dreams.

Kiva's work began behind the scenes, orchestrating the back end of businesses and managing teams. But her inner data diva couldn't help but notice that small businesses needed help harnessing the power of data for growth. So she and her team set out to uncover and tidy up the data required to enable clients to grow their businesses confidently and easily.