The Five Questions You Must Answer to Put Your Business on Autopilot

Putting your business on autopilot means that it can thrive without you the owner needing to show up to work in the business every day. I call this building a "Level Three business," a business that thrives with less than 10 hours per month of the owner's time working in the business.

Here are five questions to start you on your way to taking your business to Level Three.

Question One: What is the single most important "driver" in your business? A driver is the thing your business does that "drives" new business in the door. It could be a direct mail letter you mail to rented lists. It could be a website that has huge traffic. It could be your key word ad campaign. It could be your syndicated articles that you write for industry newsletters. It could be your referral base from past clients. It could be walk in traffic from a mall your store is situated in. It could be a display ad you run in your local paper.

What is the single most important driver in your business? When you get very clear on exactly what it is, then you can look for ways to systematize and automate it. Even better, you can look for ways you can expand or leverage it.