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Business Puberty and The 5 Hormones to Watch Out For |
Growing up is hard to do. I have 2 prepubescent boys right now in my house (3 more kids to go). Wow! How things change. The increase of testosterone, the discovery of girls. Yes...this is a big problem! Girls no longer have cooties...they are instead, cuties ...no, no... they're "hotties". All of the sudden my boys have to look good, smell good and be able to dance...In seventh grade! I'm buying new shoes, pants and shirts every 4 months, and we go through 1-1.5 gallons of milk each day! That's twice as expensive as gallon of gas right now. I get sad and a little overwhelmed when I think of all of this...but at the same time, I am excited to see them grow and I have a fabulous sense of pride regarding the whole thing. It's very rewarding.
Its funny how similar a business can be when poised for growth. Its
like going through Business Puberty. It has some of the same types of
struggles. The growing pains, the awkwardness, the constant hunger.
These are symptoms of business puberty. Its when the endocrine system
of your business starts telling you its time to regulate your business
hormones and get ready for growth. While there are many facets of
business growth...here are 5 hormones to watch out for.
1) Biztosterone - Time to grow up. Time to lead and not manage...time to get out of the way and focus on what you do best. Get out of overwhelm and outsource
. If you are involved in every aspect of your business, how do you
ever expect it to grow? Don't think for a minute that you are the only
one that can run your business or that you are so important that you
are the only one that has a real handle on how things should be run.
Time to grow up. Start trusting professionals to help you in the areas
of bookkeeping, attorneys, tax and accounting, etc. Outsource your
marketing, and web site updates. Start to be a leader and not a doer.
2) Business pheromone - Attract more customers - Its time to survey, test and re-evaluate your core offers and value propositions
. Maybe your customers want something different now and you've been
too busy "in" the business to work "on" the business. Stop and take
some time to see what smells good to your customers...ask them!
3) Employeestrogen - Time to invest in competent staff.
As an entrepreneur I was always afraid of hiring people smarter and
more experienced than me. It was pure pride and stupidity. I soon
learned that these people actually educated me, made me better,
smarter, and made me look good. My advice is to hire slightly ahead
of the curve. Meaning...don't wait till you have such a huge need for
a staffer that you throw a new employee into a firestorm. Hire a few
months before you "feel" good about it. This will help you and the
employee become more focused on the role and prepared for the growth.
Your customers will thank you as well. Last thought on hiring
employees. I always look for 3 things when hiring. 1) Character -
they may have the book smarts and degrees out the wazoo, but are they
people of good character? That's the type of person you want
representing you. 2) Competence - do they have the ability and
experience to handle the job? Or are they cutting their teeth on your
business...only to leave soon after you educate them? 3) Do you like them?
I've seem many entrepreneurs hire good people, but they didn't really
hit it off personally. I think this is a big mistake. Make sure you
can feel comfortable with having a drink with your employee and not
talking about business. Trust me, this is critical!
4) Systimitizerone - Be systems centric and not people centric -
Become an EMyth master
. When your business is growing you will have employee turn over and
people moving into new positions within your business. If you are not
building systems in your business, you will always be at the mercy of
the person in charge of that particular piece of your business. Put in
place Standard Operating Procedures and empower your employees to write
the book on how their role is accomplished.
5) Cash-Insulin - Expansion money to grow - Yes
this is painful, but you will need to develop a plan for growth
capital. Not many small businesses have the cash reserves to infuse
into their business, so you must figure out how to support the increase
in employees, technology and new marketing. Consider hiring your CPA
to help you project your 1-2 year cash needs and how quickly you can
pay these back. There are lots of ways to finance growth...traditional
bank loans, lines of credit, factoring or selling some of your
receivables, equity investment from family, friends, angel investors or venture capitalists . The point is, don't take this lightly and do your due diligence into the best way to finance your growth.
We as humans all get through puberty eventually...it may be clumsy,
painful, and awkward, but we all had to endure it. And so it is with
your business. Listen to what your business endocrine system is saying
and be prepared to move your business through puberty into a fully mature and voluptuous business.
Oops, did my voice just crack?
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enjoy the new site and this is a interesting and great way to look at your business. so true, and many good points.
I think I'm still in diaper phase! ;)