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The ultimate secret to business growth

Written by: John Jantsch

Article Overview: I talk to business owners every day that want to take their businesses to the next level, but are puzzled as to why it’s so hard. They push and work and expand and contract only to find themselves right back where they found themselves last year.

The ultimate secret to business growth

I talk to business owners every day that want to take their businesses to the next level, but are puzzled as to why it’s so hard. They push and work and expand and contract only to find themselves right back where they found themselves last year.

Have you ever had that feeling? - “I’m doing okay, but I can’t seem to grow past a certain plateau.”

Growth is a tricky thing, business growth is a tricky thing, because growth always involves change. And for most, change seems hard.

But, change is the ultimate secret to business growth

Actually change isn’t that hard, but we seem wired to find ways to make it so. Change involves little more than letting go of past assumptions and trying new things, admitting that you don’t have, and don’t need to have, all of the answers, showing yourself and others different ways to approach the same challenges.

Letting go is particularly hard for small business owners, it’s often a bit like sending your child off to school. The unknown is too scary, so you just clutch to what you know and, well, there you have it.

It’s sort of a paradox in business too. To get to some level of growth, you’ve got to be consistent long enough to develop some positive brand awareness, to move past that level, you’ve got to change what got you there.

The first change that may be necessary for growth is to start looking at change as a positive element of your success. Start seeing change as a good thing, start looking for signs of change, practicing change on purpose, looking for change opportunities that roll right up to your feet in the simplest of things. (Change your coffee drink)

You know, however, I’m not simply talking about making change for change sake here, I’m actually talking about looking at change strategically and then implementing it tactically.

So maybe you need a prescription for change. Below I’ve proposed 5 ways you can intentionally get change in your business life and focus on new and empowering growth behaviors.

Get Uncomfortable on Purpose! - Your wealth, your success, will correspond directly with the size of your mindset. Get in front of an audience and speak, write for an industry publication, start blogging, network with prospects, write personal thank you notes. Let someone else be in charge or take the credit for success. You can’t grow unless you are uncomfortable - embrace it!. Write a book. Start a radio show. Create a podcast. You are so much bigger than you are allowing yourself to be. Reach.

Get and Give New Skills - Read everything you put your hands on. (Perhaps starting with Duct Tape Marketing!) Read your direct mail, watch infomercials, read magazines that cover topics seemingly unrelated to your job and “this is a big one” look for ways to teach others how to grow their businesses. Become known in your industry for some specific expertise and show others how to do it. Teaching something is the fastest way to get better at it yourself.

Get Bigger Ideas - Tear your products and services apart. Look for ways to approach an industry problem like no one else can or will. Your ideas don’t have to really be that big as long as they are world altering. Come up with one idea this year that makes someone say you are nuts - and then go do it.

Get Value - No matter what you offer, it can be better. Heap more and more on your products and services, give stuff that no one expected you to give. Add services over and above what was agreed upon. Force people to talk about how incredible you are.

Get What You’re Worth - If you do any of the steps above, you will be more able to do this. Raise your prices. Choose to work with fewer clients at much higher rates. Sell based on value, not on time. And, refuse to work with clients that don’t fully appreciate the value you have to offer. You can make more space in your head to serve your clients when you don’t have clients that bring you down.

So, how do you systematically embrace change?

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Article Tags: assumptions, brand awareness, business growth, business life, challenges, clutch, coffee drink, different ways, element, next level, paradox, plateau, sake, signs of change, small business owners



Related Forum Posts
Re: How Much Of Ourselves Should We Give Away...? - what a great topic david start here, it reminds me of a movie i watched resently called KUNFU PANDA. The movie is all about keeping secret. there were two secret kept: the secret of dragon scroll and secret of cooking, later the secret was revealed which was no secret kept. the reason am relating this movie with the topic is that, you can give out 90% for free and hold on to 10% secret which will make you have more customer and traffic. I know some marketers both the internet and offline that will give you 100% product for free but whenever they want to sell to you the little one you will be glad to respond because of their gesture. What I would like to say is that giving out most of the product is a great marketing strategy to win more buyers to your future products.
Trade secrets - Hi BizLoanz4u, I think I've only had a non-disclosure agreement with my web designer and I've never even felt the need to have one with my business coach when we were discussing my ideas. In fact, I knew that if he talked about my business with other people, it'd probably be in my best interests. When people talk about your idea, it helps provide free exposure and possibily even attracts others to get involved with your business. I believe that a person could probably have the most original idea, then write up the best business plan and even post it on the web or leave it on a college campus library table and the following would hold true: 1.) The idea or trade secret probably isn't original or a secret. 2.) The majority of people who stumble upon the "confidential" business plan would NOT act on it. 3.) The few who dare to take the risk and implement the idea would fail. 4.) And there's probably a better chance of winning the lottery or getting attacked by a shark or hit by lightning than for a person to find your idea/trade secret and turn it into a successful business.
Growing ... or not - I've seen this done successful and I've seen disastrous results. From the expansions I've seen, a lot depends on the business owner and/or manager. Some people can run a business if it stays on an even keel, but many are simply not qualified to handle a business "explosion". Its wonderful to have the opportunity to grow your business in a hurry, but if the people or person in charge can't handle the growth, it can be really ugly and can cause huge problems within the business. Having the right people in place to deal with the growth is a key to making it work for you and not against you. Shri
Growth? - when we say "Grow" are we talking about growth in scale or growth in their bottom line. I feel when business owners talk about money their main concern is to have their current customer buy in more frequency and thus improving their bottom line i.e through referrals, joint-ventures etc. growth in scale can be scary due to the amount of risk and effort required to undertake it. Not to mention the owners also being concerned about being in more than one place at once as they haven't in most cases systematized their businesses.
What Holds Women Back - November's PROFIT Magazine has a summary of what the top Canadian entrepreneurs feel holds women back: 53% - Are unwilling to take the risks that come with growing a bigger business 45% - Don't want to sacrifice time with their families 44% - Have insufficient access to capital 42% - Don't "Dream big enough" 33% - Can't sacrifice time with their families 32% - Start companies with limited growth potential 29% - Have weaker business networks than men 27% - Lack the management experience / training needed to grow and run a large company 22% - Put lifestyle considerations (excluding family) ahead of business growth What do you guys think?


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