Business Operations and Development
Growing a business.
No matter how big or small your business is, the main goal is always to grow; whether it be personnel, revenue, connections, customer base, all entrepreneurs can agree bigger is better. As an SBA 8(a) Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB), Crest is familiar with the strive to grow as a business, that's why we began work with a highly seasoned and experienced Business Development and Operations Manager Laura Monaghan. Laura, the newest member of the Crest team has over 15 years of experience aiding businesses of all sizes to grow to their fullest potential. In this article, you’ll get a little bit of insight into how Laura has found success and overcome challenges throughout her work in the business world, as well as an inside look into the necessities of growing your business.
The role of a business operations and development manager is one of collaboration, it involves working with all members of the business, forming connections with potential business partners, and working with the leadership of the company to achieve the goals of the business. As someone who has worked with billion and million dollar companies, Laura has learned a lot about the importance of connecting with every individual in the business. The only way to reach those aforementioned goals is through communication and cooperation from all parties: marketing, accounting, administration, they are all essential in some way to the success of the business. To Laura, confirming the integrity and honesty of each business is the number one focus when she is starting out with a new company. If there is not a level of trust between the community of workers, it becomes much more difficult to accomplish her job. In order to build the strongest foundation for success, the relationships between her and the employees must be unwavering and this becomes much more complicated when the workers don’t even have solid relationships among themselves.
This is a common problem to run into as a business manager though, so there must be a solution right?
Well Laura’s approach is the logical one, reason with them, talk through issues and what would make them a more productive/collaborative member of the team, then hope this appeal will lead to some real strides in work relationships. Now this doesn’t always work of course, especially with those who are stubborn or unwilling to take criticism, but it never hurts to try to show that individual that you are there to help THEM and the business simultaneously.
Now that we're through the complication of business management, let's talk about what business operations and development managers have to offer:
The day to day activities of a BizOps manager deals heavily with finances. Understanding the fluidity of the business’s finances and when and where to allocate specific funds based on the level of profit/revenue coming to the businesses is integral to every other aspect of their job. Laura cannot fully develop a comprehensive business growth plan without fully understanding the business’s finances first.
But why would I need to bring in someone from outside my business to understand my finances? Wouldn’t I know my business better than them?
The point of procuring a BizOps manager is not to impose on the way you operate your business, it is to open your eyes to an outside perspective on how your business could operate at the maximum efficiency. Despite being the owner/ founder of the business, and wanting what's best, you must admit that there are certain things in the business you may not realize is an asset or liability. You may have a background in something other than business, and although you have done all you can to run the business the best way you see fit, a BizOps manager is there SOLELY for the business efficacy perspective. As an owner/ main leadership in the business, you have a lot on your plate day to day. Meetings, delegations, last minute problems, emails, phone calls, making sure the tasks you are being paid to do are completed to the best of your team's ability. Sometimes the business’s health or development can be put on the backburner. That's when a business manager steps in, and takes that pot off your backburner, adds spices and flavors, and sets it to simmer on their front burners.
The only thing required of you as a business owner is to be open minded, flexible, and forthcoming with whoever you hire, which means you better choose someone you trust.
That is why Crest chose Laura and Laura chose Crest…
Crest is a small business hoping to graduate from the 8(a) program in the next few years and although we are constantly evolving, finding someone who’s sole goal is to grow the business in every aspect is exactly what we need to achieve our goals. Laura chose us because we are willing to change the things necessary for success, we are a small business hoping to become an intrinsic part of the cybersecurity community and after working in operations for so long, Laura was excited to get back to her roots in business development as well.
Hopefully this article was a useful persuasion of the benefits of a BizOps and Development manager for your small business. We hope every business looking to grow finds them a Laura Monaghan, just not ours!
