I wonder if compartmentalizing is part of the problem.

It seems to me that every aspect of business is divided and put into a special drawer and the contents of the drawer are not meant to be disturbed. You have the accounting department, you have the sales department, you have the marketing department, and on it goes.

The key point I want to make is that if you are just a one-person band or if you have many employees – open communication is the key essential to help your business grow.

Let me give you two examples;

• Let’s say you started your business and your spouse is working for someone else. We’ve all heard that you shouldn’t bring work home. I can’t agree with that. The reason I write that is because if you are a one-person band you need to bounce ideas off of someone or even brag about how a project went. What would be wrong with setting a time each week away from your home to talk about these topics with your spouse or a close friend? This way someone else will understand what is happening in your business, and if they have some suggestions you can possibly use them as you continue growing your business.
• What if you have more than one or two employees in your business? Start a 5 to 10 minute debriefing everyday to find out the potential concerns and the great things going on in the different areas of your business.

By doing this you are doing what I call ‘internal marketing’. This will help your business grow and also will help you stay on top of the concerns and hear about the good things going on in your business.