Are You Ready for Growth? Part 1

Break through your barriers to growth, profitability, and ease of operation

Illustration by Brian Narelle

Most business owners want to grow their business, but also feel some trepidation. “Am I ready? Do I have needed things in place? Will I end up just working more hours but earning no more money?” For example:

• You own a popular and profitable restaurant, and you have the opportunity to open a second location. But you can’t be at both places at the same time! Who would assure strong performance when you’re not there?

• You have a successful professional practice, with more clients than you can handle. You’re thinking of hiring and training others to work for you. But you wonder if you could end up boosting your workload and revenue without making any more profit for yourself.

• Your small bakery sells in your shop and through a few local stores. Now a food broker says she can help you expand sales throughout the region. But this will definitely force you out of your comfortable “mom and pop” style, increasing sales but with lower margin.

These are appealing options, but daunting. Do you have what it takes? Or should you just stay the same? Here’s how you can tell.

Below are some of the most important factors that make business growth easier.

Use these rules for growth to rate yourself.

You should answer these questions for yourself and your business. Scribble in a journal, type, or dictate. But capture your thinking — if this issue is important to you.

There are no “yes or no” questions — no right answers. After each rule I mention one of my workbooks that can help you in that area.

This exercise is from a soon-to-be-published workbook of mine titled Are You Ready for Growth?

These factors are not just important if you want to grow your business. They also hold true if your main interest is building profitability or streamlining operations so that you have more time for other things.

I’m dividing this into two parts. Below is the first set of rules; next issue will have the rest of them.

1. The first rule is “The more you can let go, the more you can grow.”

This rule trips up many entrepreneurs, who, let’s face it, are control freaks. “The business is moi! I’m the only one who can do this work. It’s my sweat and blood. How can I trust others to take over these key tasks?” But those who learn to let go are those who grow, and they do so by applying the following rules.

2. The more strategically you use your time . . . the faster you can grow.

Do you keep a strategic focus and make strategic decisions? What does this mean? Don’t be the “vice-president of minutiae.” You must focus on longer-term questions: Where do you want the company to go? How large? How can growth be financed? What are the opportunities? The threats? Who are your customers and how do you reach them?

To gauge your readiness, ask yourself these questions:

How could you use your time more strategically?

What proportion of your work time do you spend on top executive tasks?

Where do you spend time on lower-level responsibilities that keep you from focusing on the big issues? E.g., being manager or supervisor? Doing the work; handling minutiae?

What is an hour of your time worth when you’re doing the most important things? How could you maximize the return on each hour of your time?

How could you change the mix? What could you do to recapture your time?

See ***Recapture Your Time*** for exercises on how to do this.

3. The bigger you can envision . . . the faster you can grow.

Your expanding vision creates the space into which your company grows. A small vision constricts the growth of your company. You need to be like the hotdog vendor in the pic above.

How big is your vision? How big would you like it to be? Do you want to grow 10%? 100% 1,000%?

Is there a gap between what you envision and seeing how to get there? Describe it.

Is there a fork in the road or a choice point ahead? Describe it. When must you choose?

How can you evaluate your options and select the best path for you?

How to find the “steppingstones” to your vision, and avoid the “thicket?”

For rules 3 and 4, see ***Small Business Success Plan*** for more. It presents a practical planning process, including how to tackle your toughest challenges.

4. The more you think things through ahead of time . . . the faster you can grow.

That means planning, including strategic plans, action plans, and project plans, with built-in review and accountability. It needn’t be a huge daunting plan — one large page should do.

What is your practical planning process? You plan review process?

How do you review your progress on your plans? How often? Then what?

What are your toughest challenges — things that get in the way? How should you include your key challenges into your action plan?

5. The better teams you can build . . . the faster you can grow.

You can’t use your time strategically if you don’t have a quality team behind you. People who grow companies rapidly know how to put a good team in place, then move on to the next thing. They become a leader of independent teams.

This is true even if your team is just a couple of part-time assistants.

Who’s on your growth team? How do you rate your growth team?

What can you do to get the most from your team?

What roles may be missing? What key team members will you need to get to the next level?

How are you letting yourself be held back by the limitations of your team?

Who’s the highest skilled person you could bring in to free you up to focus on growth? E.g., a “chief of staff” who handles all the stuff that bogs you down.

How can you financially justify hiring a really top-quality person?

For rules 5 and 6, see ***Promote Yourself to CEO*** for exercises on how to build and manage your growth team.

6. The more you can inspire and guide . . . the faster you can grow.

You must be a leader, not just a manager — or a worker bee. You must have the vision of growth and be able to communicate it to others.

How well do you communicate your vision to others so that they can make their best contribution? What could you do better?

What are your leadership strengths? Weaknesses?

How could your leadership skills improve?

What leadership roles should others take on for you?

7. The more you insist on top performance . . . the faster you can grow.

Do not let mediocre performers dictate your rate of growth, whether they are employees, contractors, vendors, outside professionals, or even customers.

How can you get the most from your people?

How do you currently hold them back from putting out their best performance?

What could you do to make them better performers?

How could you help your people improve their performance? E.g., equipment, better working environment, improved systems, training and grooming, boosting teamwork.

Who has reached their ceiling? What can you do with them?

Assess your customers, vendors, professionals., to make sure they are right for you as you grow.

See Finding & Keeping Good People for these issues. [To be published soon]

Okay, that’s it for now. Review your notes. Think how you want to apply them to your growing business. And watch for my next post for the remaining rules and exercises.

Have a question about any of these? Put it in the comments, and I’ll answer it if I can.

Follow me for more ways to grow your business without driving yourself crazy. Check out all the workbooks here.

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