- May 23, 2018 -
It appears yesterday's email on the upcoming GDPR hit a few nerves.
Being someone who makes it a practice of asking "Why" (comes with being a Libran) before blindly jumping on the bandwagon currently rolling through town...
...stepping on a few toes seems to come as a result.
No apologies.
So while not discounting the importance of GDPR, I'm certainly not going to throw up my hands in a panic and cry, "The sky is falling!" if what's working doesn't need fixing.
(If you haven't read that email, go back to your inbox and do that.)
Which brings me to a common misconception that I hear over and over when talking with other business owners.
Or that I see in headlines...one of which I came across online today and cringed when I saw that it came from a well-known marketer.
First, as you know...there is no way in God's green earth to grow any business for "free."
As someone who has built four businesses in the last thirty years, I can unequivocally say that is a fallacy.
It take blood, sweat, tears and capital...a lot of capital. Not just to get through the start-up phase -- but to grow through every stage all the way to acquisition if that's your goal.
And what about the holy grail of growing a business fast?
Sure, companies do that all the time.
In fact, The Kauffman Foundation and Inc. Magazine conducted a follow-up study of companies five to eight years after they had appeared on the magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing companies.
What they found was startling...two-thirds of those companies had failed!
Two-thirds!!
You know why? They weren't able to scale without imploding on themselves.
When Howard Schultz bought what was then a small coffeehouse chain, most people said he was crazy to think that customers would pay $4 for a cup of coffee.
But Schultz built Seattle-based Starbucks into an international brand on the strength of the idea that people craved more than just the joe.
He knew they wanted a place between home and work where they could settle in with a newspaper, catch up with a friend or meet a new client.
Starbucks is now the world’s largest coffeehouse chain with more than 20,000 stores in 62 countries...all while focusing solely on selling specialty coffee drinks.
But after Schultz stepped aside as the CEO, new leadership made new choices.
Instead of sticking to their proven blueprint of sustainable growth, they branched out into other product lines...CDs, breakfast sandwiches and fancier drinks.
And that's where things started to fall apart...
In 2008, Schultz returned as CEO and made some difficult decisions. (Making the tough calls is what good leaders do.)
+ He closed 900 unprofitable stores.
+ He upgraded machinery.
+ He retrained baristas on the art of espresso shots.
+ He restored the smell in the stores to one simple product: coffee.
His goal was to recapture the boutique environment and experience that had made Starbucks so successful.
Dwell on that. He went back to the core.
Without a plan for handling massive growth (operations, production, cash flow) the effects can be crippling.
+ You'll lose customers.
+ You'l lose your reputation.
Because rapid growth comes at a cost. Deals with the devil always do.
I'm as impatient as they come, but what you want to ensure sustainable growth is slow, consistent growth.
If you grow too fast, you'll go to hell in a hand basket.
Throw a piece of bread into the water to see what come up before throwing the whole loaf into the pond.
Need help in planning for growth that is sustainable AND profitable? Schedule a free consult with us.
Talk soon,
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