Insights

Insights — 2 Comments
4
Oct 09

“Choosing” as a powerful weapon for growing a small business

One of the most exciting aspects of launching or growing a great small business is the sheer thrill of all the opportunities in front of you.  You’ve got a great business concept, tons of energy and there is nothing but opportunity in front of you.  Whoo hoo!

We often refer to those opportunities at FreshBooks as “Green Fields”.

At the same time, as exciting and appealing as all of that opportunity is, it can also pose an equally powerful threat to your growth.  On more than one occasion I have referred to this threat as being “paralyzed by choice”.

Are you paralyzed by choice?

The reason you are paralyzed is that you are a small business constrained by your own resources.  There is only so much you can actually do.  Trying to deal with all the opportunities at once can become overwhelming.  You start and stop so many things that suddenly you can’t make any of that great potential happen.

That’s where “choosing” becomes the single most powerful enabler of growth.  And its power is not in selecting…it is really in eliminating.   By choosing you are both deciding what to do and what not to do.   That’s powerful.  And once those choices are made, you and the rest of your team can start to really mobilize around those choices.  Every day people can move and make decisions using your choices as the guide – and eliminate all the other opportunities from the decision equation.

And that’s when things really start to happen and you begin to advance your efforts.  All of a sudden you feel like you are moving forward and growing.

Making choices is more important than making the right choices

I’ve often said that the act of making choices is more important than making the right choices.  And I believe that because it drives you into action and results.  And, with so much opportunity in front of you nearly all of your choices are going to be good ones.  So even if you choose your fifth best idea to go forward with instead of what would have been your first that’s great!  At least you move that forward.

And, in the unlucky and unlikely event that you do make a bad decision, at least you will figure out early that it was a bad decision because you moved it forward fast enough.

Finally, the beauty of choosing is that you can keep choosing.  Once you’ve moved one agenda or priority forward sufficiently, be sure to look at your choices again and see which might be best next.

So, if you find yourself facing the “Green Fields” of opportunity in front of you and feeling a bit “paralyzed” then choose your way out.   Make your choices, get in action behind them and start growing!

Insights — No Comments
20
Sep 09

Small ball your way to big growth

Every once and a while a big idea comes along – a landmark victory, a four-bagger, a game changer.  One that propels your business to a new level.

Those sure are fun!

And while many businesses that have seen strong, ongoing growth often have a few of these big ideas along the way, it’s hard to build a long-term business model on just big ideas.

So, while you’re working on the big win, one of the most practical, efficient and successful ways to keep growing fast is to play small ball.

Small Ball – shoot for consecutive and cumulative wins

When it comes to delivering sustained growth, month after month, year after year I have to tell you I  am addicted to small ball.  Small ball for me is the ability to deliver small but meaningful enhancements to your business in succession and continually.

A 2% improvement here, a 1% improvement there and a 4% pick up in efficiency here – those small bits can really add up.  If you stopped to think about how you can deliver a 10% or a 20% improvement in your business it could be a struggle.  Or you might have a few good ideas, but the resources to get there may be out of reach.

Instead, if you thought about how you could improve your business by 1% or 2% you’d likely come up with a bunch of practical, implementable ideas.  And the good news is if you string those wins together you get your 10-20%!  Even better, if you keep doing it you’ll go way beyond.

So I say shoot for consecutive wins.  One after another after another.  If you are measuring and learning then it’s easy to continue to find new executions to build off of the next.  It’s a code I live by and makes me feel like I can impact the business every day.  And that’s a good feeling.