The 3 Pillars of Business

Each business is unique in its own way- with different elements coming together to make it a fully functional system.

However, there are three pillars that must be in place in order to allow any business stand strong and grow. Without these pillars, the business may stagnate or, even worse, crumble.

Therefore, it’s important to make sure these pillars remain strong and continue to evolve to suit the needs of your ever-growing business.

So, what are these pillars and how do you ensure they’re running smoothly in your business? Let’s find out!

Marketing

While many might not see marketing as a crucial business function, it’s the core of your sales and with sales, you have no business.

Marketing allows you to separate your business from the rest in your industry, establish and grow a reputation, and grab your potential customers’ attention! 

There are many forms of marketing you can use to build credibility and visibility for your biz. These include social media marketing, search engine optimization, content marketing, email marketing, and many more.

To keep your marketing pillar running smoothly, the biggest thing is to keep it simple! Make sure you’re maximizing your marketing efforts by focusing on what works for you and your biz without overwhelming yourself in the process.

Operations

Operations is the core of your business. It’s all the processes that take your product from raw materials scattered throughout the world to a packaged product on the shelves of your local supermarket or your service from nothing to a concrete, viable service delivered where it’s needed when it’s needed.

Operations can encompass many processes- from hiring and firing to research & development and supply chain management. 

As your business grows, you’ll want to make sure you’re checking in with all of the processes you put in place to ensure they’re as efficient as possible. This can look like checking in with employees or contractors to see if everything is running smoothly on their end, reviewing your supply chain to see if any tweaks are needed to make it more efficient, and ensuring your products/services are where they need to be when they need to be there.

Finance

Money makes the world go round, and business is no exception. 💸

Without money to pay for everything your business needs to run, your business won’t be able to run! That means if this pillar crumbles, your whole business comes down with it.

Managing your business’s finances can include keeping track of debits and credits to your business, making purchases to further your business, and analyzing your expenditures to see where you can cut down on your costs. 

To ensure this pillar remains strong, make sure you’re constantly keeping track of and evaluating your finances. 

WEX Tip: Set aside time every designated period to take a hard look at your finances and evaluate where you are, where you want to be, and how you’re going to get there. For example, we have a monthly meeting for our membership platform to do just this!

So, how does your business stack up with these three pillars? Are they strong? Pliable? Due for an update?

If you’re not entirely sure, it’s time to set aside time to evaluate.

If your answers aren’t where you’d like them to be, take action and fortify your biz!