How big should your business be?
How big should your business be?
You can~{!/~}t make a plant grow by pulling on it. So says an ancient Chinese proverb, one that I think applies to us spare room tycoons. In most cases, our businesses need to be well-rooted~{!*~}with steady customers, a track record, expanding prospects and sufficient capital reserves~{!*~}before we should even think about growing.
There are obviously some exceptions. In internet businesses during the last few years, the basic idea seems to have been the most valuable, and vulnerable, part of a business. People with good ideas need to rush to make their businesses attractive enough to support an initial public offering, or to be sold to a larger company.
But most spare room tycoons aren~{!/~}t involved in this sort of mania. We need to be assured that our businesses have sustainable natural growth before we take on the additional overhead and labor costs that come with expansion. We have seen in earlier chapters how rapid expansion can add to the stress you feel, and how the normal ups and downs of business can make an overextended business fail.
It is important, too, for you to consider whether you are expanding because your business justifies it and you find it fulfilling, or whether by becoming bigger you are merely trying to prove that you are successful. Think twice before you buy into the clich~{(&~} that bigger is better. Creating a larger firm will most likely require you to spend more of your time managing others than doing what you set out to do.
Moreover, you might find yourself growing into a company that is large enough to be slow and bureaucratic, but not large enough to be a strong player. There is much to be said for being small and agile, and for sticking to the area where your talents lie. If your core talent and passion is managing, your goal should be to expand. All the rest of us should think twice.
Obviously, this book has a bias toward those who have decided to stay small, because if they have grown larger they are no longer spare room tycoons. We like the flexibility of being able to create and recreate our own businesses. Many of us have employees and many more take on staff and independent contractors to help us deal with particular projects. This has become known as the ~{!0~}virtual~{!1~} company, though I think its great virtue is that it is a versatile company, one poised to take advantage of a wide range of opportunities.
We spare room tycoons are at the cutting edge. Our small size gives us the freedom to be creative and experimental. Perhaps the Intels, Daimler-Chryslers and Time-Warners of the world have a similar freedom, but not the smallish and middle-sized firms we would likely become if we were to expand.
While I was researching the book, I met a young woman whom I sought to interview. She works in a creative support capacity in the film, television and advertising industries. She has some important ongoing clients, including a long-running television program. She is the only full-time member of her company, but she employs a stable of more than a dozen people on a project basis. But she didn~{!/~}t want to be in the book because she doesn~{!/~}t consider that she has a business. She just believes that she is working as an individual, trying to get by. If she had a business, she told me, then she could sell it and make some money from it. She would like to have a business some day, she said, but couldn~{!/~}t claim to have one now.
I don~{!/~}t know what her plans might be, but I think an attitude like hers can be dangerous. She is apparently prosperous, she does extremely interesting things, she appears overall to be happy, but she seems somehow convinced that what she is doing isn~{!/~}t a real business. If you feel that way, you might easily be tempted to expand the business in conventional and counterproductive directions. The business might appear more corporate and ~{!0~}serious,~{!1~} but the expansion could divert your energies from the things you do well toward other chores at which you are, at best, mediocre.
Not everything that grows on the earth is destined to be an oak tree. Besides, most plants would be grotesque if they could grow as large. And they can~{!/~}t because they don~{!/~}t have the proper structure; gravity would bring them down.
What~{!/~}s important isn~{!/~}t simply to grow but to flourish. And many of us~{!*~}more all the time~{!*~}have learned to flourish while staying small.
How big should your business be - To learn more about this author, visit James Chan's Website.
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Should you remain a one-person business? Could you offer better services more profitably if you were larger? These are issues that just about everyone who starts a business faces, and because business conditions change over time, they never really go away.
You can~{!/~}t make a plant grow by pulling on it. So says an ancient Chinese proverb, one that I think applies to us spare room tycoons. In most cases, our businesses need to be well-rooted~{!*~}with steady customers, a track record, expanding prospects and sufficient capital reserves~{!*~}before we should even think about growing.
There are obviously some exceptions. In internet businesses during the last few years, the basic idea seems to have been the most valuable, and vulnerable, part of a business. People with good ideas need to rush to make their businesses attractive enough to support an initial public offering, or to be sold to a larger company.
But most spare room tycoons aren~{!/~}t involved in this sort of mania. We need to be assured that our businesses have sustainable natural growth before we take on the additional overhead and labor costs that come with expansion. We have seen in earlier chapters how rapid expansion can add to the stress you feel, and how the normal ups and downs of business can make an overextended business fail.
It is important, too, for you to consider whether you are expanding because your business justifies it and you find it fulfilling, or whether by becoming bigger you are merely trying to prove that you are successful. Think twice before you buy into the clich~{(&~} that bigger is better. Creating a larger firm will most likely require you to spend more of your time managing others than doing what you set out to do.
Moreover, you might find yourself growing into a company that is large enough to be slow and bureaucratic, but not large enough to be a strong player. There is much to be said for being small and agile, and for sticking to the area where your talents lie. If your core talent and passion is managing, your goal should be to expand. All the rest of us should think twice.
Obviously, this book has a bias toward those who have decided to stay small, because if they have grown larger they are no longer spare room tycoons. We like the flexibility of being able to create and recreate our own businesses. Many of us have employees and many more take on staff and independent contractors to help us deal with particular projects. This has become known as the ~{!0~}virtual~{!1~} company, though I think its great virtue is that it is a versatile company, one poised to take advantage of a wide range of opportunities.
We spare room tycoons are at the cutting edge. Our small size gives us the freedom to be creative and experimental. Perhaps the Intels, Daimler-Chryslers and Time-Warners of the world have a similar freedom, but not the smallish and middle-sized firms we would likely become if we were to expand.
While I was researching the book, I met a young woman whom I sought to interview. She works in a creative support capacity in the film, television and advertising industries. She has some important ongoing clients, including a long-running television program. She is the only full-time member of her company, but she employs a stable of more than a dozen people on a project basis. But she didn~{!/~}t want to be in the book because she doesn~{!/~}t consider that she has a business. She just believes that she is working as an individual, trying to get by. If she had a business, she told me, then she could sell it and make some money from it. She would like to have a business some day, she said, but couldn~{!/~}t claim to have one now.
I don~{!/~}t know what her plans might be, but I think an attitude like hers can be dangerous. She is apparently prosperous, she does extremely interesting things, she appears overall to be happy, but she seems somehow convinced that what she is doing isn~{!/~}t a real business. If you feel that way, you might easily be tempted to expand the business in conventional and counterproductive directions. The business might appear more corporate and ~{!0~}serious,~{!1~} but the expansion could divert your energies from the things you do well toward other chores at which you are, at best, mediocre.
Not everything that grows on the earth is destined to be an oak tree. Besides, most plants would be grotesque if they could grow as large. And they can~{!/~}t because they don~{!/~}t have the proper structure; gravity would bring them down.
What~{!/~}s important isn~{!/~}t simply to grow but to flourish. And many of us~{!*~}more all the time~{!*~}have learned to flourish while staying small.
How big should your business be - To learn more about this author, visit James Chan's Website.
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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