As a business owner, or an aspiring entrepreneur, do you wish for “hockey stick growth” of your business’ success?
Most business owners do, because who doesn’t want to become successful quickly?
If you are unsure of what “hockey stick growth” is, it’s what happens to those infamous businesses that create a massive growth in a short period of time. These businesses have an initial period of growth but hits an inflection point and revenue shoots up.
As a business owner, you do not want that, according to a Tony Robbins article. The initial period of growth is vital to “establish you core values, you company culture, and your brand identity.” Businesses who scale their businesses mindfully and sustainably, will make your business more resilient in the long run.
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The article provides four places for you to consider to meticulously and mindfully scale your business:
Perfect Your Product of Service
Avoid the “just ship it” approach. The approach that sends a product out into the marketplace without ensuring all the kinks are smoothed out. Without making sure your product is devoid of all problems, the release of this product will only be exacerbated when you begin to scale.
“Founders also become fixated on creating a product or service that is scalable, rather than one that is of excellent quality. But that order should be reversed. It doesn’t matter if it’s scalable if it isn’t a great market fit. In fact, it’s wise to do things that don’t scale early on. That way, you can use the feedback to find the issues, then to go back to the drawing board – following the learning curve to perfecting your product.”
Create Thoughtful Processes and Operations
Your internal processes must function seamlessly. Upon growth, you must be able to adapt and implement systems that will replace the systems and processes in your nascent stages.
“For example, consider the way you take orders. Perhaps in the earliest stages, you are using a simple e-commerce solution. And that may work when you are only receiving 20 or so orders a day. But as you scale, the system may become overwhelmed and many of the orders will get lost in the shuffle – so you will need to recruit new solutions.”
Establish Your Team
“Leadership can make or break your company.” You must be able to build a strong and flexible team that will further the growth of your company. Your team must not only be able to work well together, but also with other companies that you work with. They must be able to build intimate relationships with your customer base. The following are some questions for you to consider:
“But what might not be as apparent is that your team also consists of the external relationships you have built. What suppliers do you use? What about partnerships with other companies? How are your relationships with other entities in your industry? And perhaps most importantly, how are the relationships you have established with your customer base?”
Build Your Brand
During this initial stage, it is critical to spend time building your brand and what you offer to your customer base. But most importantly — BE PATIENT with this stage.
“It could take years to answer these questions. It’s not enough to speculate; you must be able to answer from experience. The beautiful part about this is that it also affords you the opportunity to make changes where necessary. Smaller businesses have the benefit of being able to shift gears more readily than larger corporations. So if your answers signal a need for a new approach, use that as an opportunity to innovate and adapt.”
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Do not feel the need to rush to success, although that would be nice. The important initial growth is vital to the long-run success of your business. If you do not want your business to be a “live fast, die young” type of business, take your time. Make sure your business is the “slow and steady wins the race” type.
