Questions I get asked
During recent drop-in mini coaching sessions in Level Up with .team sessions I’ve been asked my advice on target and goal setting. This has led us to talk about revenue targets and whether there is benefit for a business covering its costs in going through the painful process of setting higher future targets.
A fair question, as we are all motivated by different things…..
What is growth?
Life is growth. Growth is life. Businesses that aren’t growing are shrinking. Businesses that start shrinking tend to keep shrinking, and it becomes much more difficult to reverse that trend. The momentum is either going up or down.
Why grow?
So why grow? New clients add new energy, optimism and opportunities to learn from their experience, creating a richer learning environment for all. Quality growth builds your overall community, boosts the budget and if you’re a purpose driven company gives you even more opportunities to give back and make a positive impact.
When we talk about growth, we’re also talking about clients increasing their value for themselves and making greater ripples in their own market.
Systemize it, make it fun – even gamify growth. Not only your future clients, but employees might join this year thanks to your growth efforts.
Your company’s momentum is either going up or down, so keep it heading up. Continually enhancing or replenishing your pool of talent of future leaders is a win-win for you and clients.
Epiphany and experience shares
“If you don’t grow, you might get stuck doing this job forever. So if you don’t want to be voluntold for the rest of your life, find someone to take your job” Elliot Jacobs – NED, Postmaster, Entrepreneur & Facilitator.
Before I was comfortable with letting go of my ‘T-shaped, well rounded researcher and company leader persona’, I’d toss and turn at night worrying about that pesky 1% of the business I couldn’t share with my husband, business partners or anyone else. It gnawed at me. I lost sleep worrying. The next night a new concern crashed the party – and then I got even LESS sleep. Regularly, my brain was a swirling rollercoaster of problems. I wasn’t sure where to turn.
Then I found EO. It was there I was able to tap into 17,000+ entrepreneurs who have been there and solved that and willingly shared their experiences. What a tremendous relief!
It was there I was introduced to business operating systems such as EOS, Scaling Up, The Strategic Coach etc.. Through those individuals I learned the importance of dreaming big, and having a plan. I learnt the importance of, and how to ‘let go of the vine’. As a result my agency grew quickly.
I found that I enjoyed growing.
But it’s a dirty word
A business that is financially growing offers more opportunities for personal growth for everyone. Such a business has senior leadership that are comfortable with letting go of their initial super hero skills and clearly delegating to others. This opportunity to learn quickly is particularly important for market researchers with their analytical mindset and thirst for understanding.
Growth can be confused with the role of sales, and activities often considered better suited to extroverts and not for those who enjoy getting lost in the analysis tasks. – we’ll tackle that fallacy in another post!
But growth is also a way of thinking, or doing things differently. The industry is having a pretty good go at embracing new technology, but how is it doing in other areas of thinking?
How do you enable your growth?
How you enhance or replenish your pool of talent is in your hands. Conventional, full time employees are always a good banker to ensure community and enable off the cuff training and communications. But finding experienced, talented individuals is increasingly difficult.
So, you need to look after those you have and give them the space to delegate, learn and grow, even if only a few years into their career. Tech won’t get rid of all the repetitive, mundane tasks that get in the way of self study, CPD, or upskilling time, but of course, it will help it.
Augmenting your team with overseas human support in a more cost-effective way than using freelancers. It’s also extremely cost-effective.
So, even if your motivation for growth is increased learning opportunities, you can grow your profitability with overseas VA support. A win-win for revenue and education chasers.
