You may have heard the saying “Do what you’ve always done and you will get what you have always had”.
I don’t believe this is true any longer.
With the accelerated change of almost everything we know in our world it is insane to think that we can continue to do the same thing over and over and continue to get the same outcome. Changes in technology, ideology, the economy, sociology, borders, acceptable behavior, knowledge level, climate, global interaction, community, etc. affect your business.
A business that operates like it did 10 years ago is missing some key connections and opportunities which will eventually cause the business to fail.
For example, there is a wonderful Toronto clothing designer that makes incredible women’s professional clothing line. For years they have been able to sell just by inviting people to a home to see the line. I would tell my friend she had a new line and they would book time to come. Now, we cherish our personal time so dearly that we don’t do things without first knowing if it will be worth our while. Because this designer does not have a website, does not post any of their past or current designs, does not have any online presence (at all – they don’t exist online), no one is willing to make time, even those people that have been before and know the quality.
You don’t have to be an expert at social media or online marketing, but you do have to know if your clients are on Twitter or other social networks. It takes an intentional desire to look for opportunities and make changes to your business accordingly. If you are not taking the actions to grow your business, you are in a business decline. In other words, you cannot do what you have always done and expect the same level of success.
I challenge you to think bigger. In fact, think really BIG. If that scares you, you’re on the right path. Knowing what it takes to go BIG does not mean you have to build it. However, that thinking will serve you. Understanding what it takes to get to one level above your ultimate business size will allow you to grow to that size without fear of loosing a client.
If you have ever heard someone say, “I can’t take any more clients, I’m so busy” that means they are now at capacity and they have no systems in place to handle any more clients. If you want to stay at a certain size, you cannot get to the closest level and stop taking clients for fear of going past the limit. Instead, you must know what it takes to grow beyond it and simply manage the fluctuation of intake at that level.
Plan a business about 5 to 10 times bigger than you expect to grow and know what it takes to run that larger business. How many people will you need, how many clients can you handle, what kind of costs will be involved, what resources and investment will be required, what infrastructure will be needed, etc. If you can answer this for the bigger business, you can easily do it for your ultimate business level.
Be brave, think BIG and grow.
