We all want a company that lasts, but we need to create a foundation that allows the company to be flexible when adversity comes its way.

I have found the following 3 keys to building such a foundation for small businesses.

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Async

When work requires that everyone be together at the same time, it often takes longer to get done. Synchronous collaboration are expensive. You situations like

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• Different people are focused at different times
• Many work on their projects in different orders of priority
• Travel and time zones disrupts synchronous work

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Building workflows around async principles allows anyone to work on anything at anytime

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Remote

Small companies often have

• Salesman that travel
• Drivers that are on delivery
• Engineers that are on site
• Others that work while out of the office

Building a company that does not require location dependent for access to information, ability to work and communication, and enabled to create and participate in workflows, removes all barriers for small teams to accomplish more with less time.

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Scalable

Don't build the same company twice. At each step, for each implementation, take time to consider if what you are implementing is scalable.

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"Will this work if the volume 10x's? 100x's?"

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Consider this for your business when implementing

• Systems
• Forms
• Roles
• Methods

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What will happen when there are 10x more people, more packages, more orders, more product?

You'll find if you build your business and it's operations around these principles, it will be more flexible and more easily adapt and grow as the environment shifts.