The Only Analogy You’ll Ever Need to Understand Business Growth Stages
This is a parenting analogy, but you don’t have to be a parent or even want to be one to understand it.
It goes like this.
There’s an unspoken force that pushes passionate business owners, hungry to climb higher and move faster, into trying to rush beyond the point their business is actually at while pretending to own a level of credibility not yet earned. The Internet is unfortunately filled with people feeling that pressure who follow formats and templates with a desperate level of “doing the right thing”, regurgitating others’ thoughts while grasping toward growing their business bigger and better.
Surely you’ve never felt this pressure I speak of, right? Grow bigger! Launch a course! Now, now, now!
The Analogy
Imagine a brand-new mom, holding her newborn baby in her arms. She’s beaming, isn’t she! Cooing at her bundle of love & beauty.
Now watch as someone walks up to her and says, “What you really need to do is skip over this whole baby stage and get that kid into the teen years.”
??
It wouldn’t make any sense right? Not only would anyone with a heart and brain simply not advise a new parent to miss out on the joys of the beginning of parenthood, but no one could magically transform a baby into a teenager, either. The journey takes time.
The want to be farther along in the journey of entrepreneurship is warranted—who doesn’t want to have all of the experience, all of the know-how, all of the earned elements aligned and in place, all of the cash stacked? But it’s as unrealistic at the onset as magically transforming a baby into a teenager. And trying to force your business into being something it isn’t (or, worse, pretending that it is) will only ensure that you miss out on owning and putting to work your actual strengths from where you’re actually standing.
It can also greatly influence you misinterpreting your best next growth moves.
Think, for example, of the entrepreneur chasing down passive income, ready to invest large amounts of time and money into building a high-level, premium-priced training course … six months into business ownership … and with a mailing list of 50. ROI and booming passive income just aren’t likely, not yet. And working to create an expensive course probably isn’t the best next move at this time, even though the Internet is filled with masterclasses on how to launch profitable courses.
This entrepreneur could save serious money (and avert a crisis feeling of failure) by:
Taking this analogy to heart and making an honest assessment of where his/her business currently, actually stands (and what goals are the best use of his/her time at this time)
Working to build that email list (in preparation for the course)
Improve opt-in offerings to boost sign-ups
Implement larger and more strategic social media efforts
Create effective content to welcome people to the opt-in/list/eventual course
The Truth
At what stage and phase is your business at right now?
Are you holding a newborn bundle, managing the changing needs of a growing teenager, or even further along the journey?
What is your idea for your best next move toward business growth, and does your current positioning warrant making this move?
Do you have a clear idea of the goals you’d like to achieve within this next business growth stage you seek? Do you have a plan in place?
And, finally, have you talked with a professional you trust for savvy advice on your next strategic business growth options?