There are five main areas of focus for an entrepreneur to think through, articulate and act on to make the leap from one stage to the next and keep growing in a sustainable way.
I call these areas springboards because, with them in place, it becomes possible to make these leaps a little easier and with less stress. And while you will revisit and adjust these elements as you bust through your stage gates onto the next stage, it’s surprising how much remains the same once you have them right.
1. Proposition
Every company that’s growing strongly has a compelling value proposition, meaning what it is your customers value so highly they’re eager to buy it. Every company that isn’t growing hasn’t nailed this yet. If demand isn’t exceeding your capacity to supply, you need to do more work on the product, service and value proposition.
Most of this challenge is understanding what your customers really need and want, and providing it with your existing or, if necessary, new products and services.
If you have a great proposition that your customers value highly and a halfway reasonable method of promoting your products or services, then you’re ready to bust through your growth ceilings and scale. You have the sales and potential to take on more staff and put in the systems to continue the growth of your business.
2. Plan
Every business needs a game plan – one based on their purpose – and the strategy to fulfil it. The first steps are creative and exploratory. Once they’re in place, the focus shifts to excellence in execution.
A good plan sets your direction and foundations for the long term and makes it easy to decide what to do in the short term. While some aspects change and adapt, the core will remain your guiding star.
3. People
When you have the right people in the right roles on your team and they are actually playing like a team, business becomes a lot easier and more enjoyable. When you don’t, it can be hell.
Understanding your natural talents and how you can become the leader you need to be will help you make the shift from expert to entrepreneur, from operator to leader. As your business grows, developing the culture within your organisation becomes more important for both performance and satisfaction at work.
4. Process
Developing systems in the key areas of your business is necessary for sustainable, scalable growth.
Once you have a process down in a form that’s understood by all and can be taught to new employees, the reliability of delivering good outcomes increases and life at work becomes less stressful.
5. Promotion
If you don’t have a repeatable and reliable way of getting new customers, you don’t really have a business that can be scaled.
How you make people aware of what you offer and take them on a journey to becoming customers is changing with new technology and social media. The core principles of developing a brand for a tribe of eager customers remain the same.
