18 The Three Natural Phases of Successful Small Business Growth
I’ve owned a small business for many years and have worked with thousands of small business along the way and I’ve come to sense what feel like natural states of successful small business growth.
A common small business plight is the frustrating cycle of expansion and contraction. I believe this not simply due to the cycle of markets, but more often due to the lack of strategy and proper expectation around planned growth.
I think business owners need to think about growth a lot like a parent thinks about the growth and maturation of a child. But, many simply dive in and try to do things they are not ready to do, lacking the proper foundation of an ideal market, core message and systems and processes necessary to deliver a thrilling customer experience. Now, depending upon a series of what I like to call “success factors,” things such as experience, resources, and networks, some business owners are able to move through these phases much more rapidly, but successful, long-term growth comes from moving in this same fashion no matter what.
Every business should look at progressing through as least three phases (although it’s never quite this linear)