Tweet

Massive Growth: How Will You Handle It? Part 1

Guest post by: Michele DeKinder-Smith

Article Overview: For the owner of a small business, experiencing explosive growth can be exciting. It can be the beginning of a new era for the business, and it can solidify the company’s existence in the sometimes brutal world of commerce. In the same breath of excitement, though, massive growth can provide new challenges as entrepreneurs strive to keep up with it. This article details how three very different types of women entrepreneurs may respond to massive growth – and how their reactions may affect their businesses.

Massive Growth: How Will You Handle It? Part 1

Are you prepared for explosive growth? What will you do when it happens?

Does every entrepreneur seek growth opportunities? Growth can mean more customers, more income, or more opportunities to explore new ideas. Although exciting, growth also brings its challenges, and can spiral out of control if it's not handled properly, causing a setback as big as the potential expansion. Our research shows that the five types of female entrepreneurs have very different attitudes toward business growth (some want it, some don't!) and each will respond to growth opportunities differently. This article will examine the attitudes and reactions of Jane Dough, Merry Jane, and Go Jane Go.

Jane Dough is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and makes good money. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she's five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women fall in the category of Jane Dough.

Because Jane Dough is business-minded and pragmatic, she probably has a plan in place for handling growth. In fact, business growth is something she's striving for, with most Jane Doughs saying they want to grow significantly within the next couple of years. As a result, she has no doubt delegated individual tasks to specific team members, putting her team and her business in an ideal position to take advantage of the appropriate opportunities that come her way. She has a system - and it's in place and ready to roll.

Although Jane Dough's systematic approach is one of her many strengths, there is a flip side to high levels of delegation. Sometimes Jane Dough relies too much on the system. She moves quickly to fuel her business growth, so she may not always be in touch with what's happening within every functional area. When large opportunities come knocking while Jane Dough is distracted, weaker parts of the system can break down.

The solution: When massive growth arrives - and it will - a Jane Dough entrepreneur should gather her team for a quick check-in, making sure everyone and every system is aligned and ready to do its part in creating success. In doing so, she'll make sure resources are allocated appropriately and can create plans to strengthen any weak spots.

A Merry Jane tends to be "building a business on the side"-in addition to a day-job, or a focus on family or other pursuits. She doesn't have a high personal income from her business, but she also tends to be working less than 40 hours a week, and she loves the freedom her business affords her.

Because Merry Jane's focus is more on time freedom than on "big money," major growth opportunities can be a daunting proposition. While many women in this group dream of a day when they land the mega-customer, Merry Jane does not. Although many know they are capable of building a much larger business, now is not the time. During interviews, when asked what they would do if faced with the chance to take on a big new account, most quickly came to the conclusion that unless they could manage the account in their own way and time, they would let the opportunity pass them buy rather than disrupt their lives.

However, many Merry Janes admit they would like their business to be more profitable, wanting more money without much additional work. Therefore, when faced with a growth opportunity, Merry Jane can consider several options:

* She can hire someone to take over some of the more mundane, day-to-day business chores, like bookkeeping and responding to customer e-mails, freeing more of her time to pursue the new business without taking up more time?

* She can pursue the new opportunity at higher rates, therefore increasing her profit. This may mean letting go of less profitable customers or delegating their care to someone else.

* Or, she can stand firm, turning the immediate opportunity down, knowing that at some point in the future, she may have more time available for new customers.

Whatever she decides, Merry Jane should stay true to the reasons she loves her business now so that she doesn't add undue stress and time-pressure to her already busy life.

Go Jane Go is passionate about her work, and has no problem marketing and selling herself, so she has plenty of clients-but she's struggling to keep up with demand. She may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she's eager to make an impact on the world and may really struggle saying "no". Because she wants to "say yes" to so many people, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. As a result, she may be running herself ragged and feeling guilty about neglecting herself and possibly others who are important to her.

Overall, most Go Jane Go women don't seek out growth opportunities because they are already fairly busy. However, when an opportunity crosses their path, they will feel compelled to "make it work somehow." Go Jane Go truly wants to help those who need her products or services, so it is difficult for her to turn them away. And because she's excellent at multi-tasking, this Jane may underestimate the time that will be required or may justify sacrificing personal time in order to help someone else.

This is why Go Jane Go must be careful not to overwork herself. When faced with a growth opportunity, Go Jane Go will want to think critically about the amount of work she already has scheduled and either "say no," attempt to postpone the project, or delegate some or all of the work. If she is not willing to do so, she will eventually face serious burn out - so it's very important that this Jane be realistic about her available time and energy for new opportunities.

While every female entrepreneur dreams of growth, when it really comes, it can seem like a huge challenge - and though it may be, handling it the right way can create a huge payoff.

Related Articles
  Profit Crisis Exposed Report Released...Can it Help You?
  Qualities of Excellent Leaders: Leading an Organization to Triple Digit Growth
  Keys To Wealth And Success (part 2)
  Huge Growth: Two Women Entrepreneurs, Two Ways To Deal
  The Power of Numbers

Article Tags: attitudes, business growth, challenges, delegation, dollar mark, entrepreneur, explosive growth, female business owner, female entrepreneurs, flip side, growth opportunities, legacy business, money, nbsp, no doubt, priorities, setback, systematic approach, team members
Referred by: http://www.MichelePW.com



Related Forum Posts
Patent information - I'm also interested in Part 2. Thanks.
Walmart - Hi there, It is amazing to hear that news. I am in the UK. Some five years ago Walmart bought ASDA Superstores. We do most of our shopping there. So I have a little interest in Walmart. Eearlier this year I spend a few weeks in the US. I visited Walmart on several occasions. I was impressed, as they have one section for Massive Bulk Purchases. One needs a registration for that priviledge. Are other Markets doing the same? Is that a growing section? It is quite natural that there are competitors. Kindest Regards Beat "Unlock People's Potentials!"
Patent Process - Interesting to hear your experiences with the patent process - what's Part 2?
Re: What to do at the first roadblock? - Do you want the real number or what I tell my wife??? Presently one business that has three distinct product lines that cater to the transportation industry. I find myself looking at other markets that are much larger than what we service... Entrepreneurs for example... how many are there out there compared to transportation companies? Massive market that's tough to overlook... Ask Evan! There are many markets like this and if one is constantly thinking about it, eventually a business idea comes up that requires some additional thought. But... as per the theme of this thread, roadblocks happen for a reason and you either choose to find a way around it or turn around and look for another route as the road after the roadblock might be a little rough!!!
Re: Attention Age Doctrine - Hi Andy, So how did you find of "The Attention Age Doctrine" Part 1? And has following its guidelines yielded any positive results yet?


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

4 Steps To Hypnotize Your Business Prospects

BUILDING A HIGH PERFORMING TEAM

How To Be Happy at Work? Acknowledge Yourself

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.