5 Levels every Business goes through with WERA Capital
The five levels every business goes through, explained with the example of a plumber: clients, employees, systems, digitalisation, and finally protection and exit strategies.
Every business in the world goes through five levels. In this video Stefan Neuss of WERA Capital Partners explains them with a simple example: a plumber who finishes his training, registers a limited company and starts his own business.
Level 1: How do I gain clients?
This is the most important process at the start. Do you need a website? Should you be active on social media? Do you need to understand online marketing? Which services do you offer, what is your pricing structure, and which services should you not offer because you are not good at them?
Level 2: How do I find the right employees?
With enough clients, you will at some point be unable to serve them all yourself. Now you need employees, and the questions start again: which kind, how do you find them, what qualifications do they need, how do you manage them, and do you need to train them, perhaps on your own online training platform?
Level 3: Systems
You have enough clients and employees, and you may have built employee funnels to bring in new staff constantly. To reach the next level, you establish systems and standardised processes. The more you have, the more smoothly the business runs and the more cost effective the internal structure becomes.
Level 4: Digitalisation
Now you ask how to digitalise your systems and processes, perhaps with AI tools or online tools. The aim is to become more independent from employees, so that the business can run without you. You are the face and the director, responsible for the big things. This is also the basis if you want to multiply the business, for example by opening branches.
Level 5: Protection and exit strategies
At this point you may have a solid business with several million in revenue, branches across the country or even a group of companies. The questions change: how do you hand it over to the next generation, secure what you have achieved and gain market leadership? Should the shares be held personally or in a holding company, and where should that company be located? What do you do with the money you made, for example reinvest it in a property portfolio? If your son or daughter may take over the business, you need a structure, protection for what you have built, and an exit or inheritance strategy.
Where are you?
To find out which of the five levels you are on and what your next steps are, book a 15-minute private consultation.