What Is Holding Up Your Business Growth?
What is it that is holding you up from becoming as successful as you’d like to be? Even if you’ve achieve some level of success, you probably have your sights set on something more.
I am quite convinced that is what is holding me back from achieving my ideal level of success is the lack of a mentor. Finding one is one of my goals for this year. I was conscious of the fact that a mentor was important, but after talking with Ben Casnocha, I’m convinced that this is a major piece of the puzzle.
What about you? No doubt there are many others out there that are experiencing similar hold ups. Sometimes voicing what exactly is holding you back is the first step toward making a big change. And though it isn’t always easy to share your weaknesses, perhaps together we can all help each other.
That said, what is holding up your business growth?
I definitely feel like I have a bit of a hold up in my current business, however I think I’m a bit impatient. From year to year my business has kept growing, but I want it to grow faster. I’m still not sure of the hold up, but we’re trying new things everyday to reach our goals.
I can think of so many different reasons why a business gets stuck in a hold pattern. To start with, lack of planning. Unless you have a plan for growth, most likely you willl be stuck in the same place. Unfocused marketing effort is another that comes to mind. Either doing too little or too many marketing activities can hinder growth. To be honest, I have not thought about not having a mentor and how that impaats our growth. Now, you got me thinking about it.
Time! I know what I want to do, but there’s just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day (especially as I have a young family).
Also, don’t mean to nitpick, but I think “sites set on something more” should be “sight” instead of “site”.
Erik - I feel the same way you do. I’m making progress, but not at the rate I would like - there are exceptional people doing exceptional things much faster. That’s why I think a mentor could be so helpful as they could probably quickly shed light on some of the holdups that we who are in the picture cannot see. Thanks for sharing!
Khalid, I am so glad that you brought up planning. I worked for a very fast moving internet startup that was relentless about constantly setting measurable goals and building projects around them.
Because of this planning/goal setting and the fact that the people were passionately committed, this company achieved a record amount of growth in a very short period of time. Thanks for the comment!
I hear ya Steven! I want to write more, but ironically I am out of time and have to run to an appointment! I will add more when I return because I think this is a great point and a problem that MANY people share.
Thanks!
I agree with the time issue. Holding a 9-5, being a father, husband, friend, and finishing up and MBA doesn’t leave much time to work the plan.
I have had to tailor down my plan and expectations to meet the amount of time I have. It is frustrating at times to think about how much more I could be doing.
I think what holding alot of business back is exposure! If people don’t know about you how are they going to buy from you!
Hello Happy Rock - wow you do sound very busy! I’ve recently started implementing some sage advice that I read in the book “The Power of Focus” - It’s not new advice at all, but for some reason it really hit home when I read it in this book.
The book said that you should do whatever it takes to spend as much time doing the things you are brilliant at - whether that means hiring someone to mow the lawn, clean the house, handle your administrative tasks, etc. It just makes so much sense - figure out what you are brilliant at, do more of it, and you’ll achieve success faster.
I don’t know why I was so resistant to do this before - but I’m starting and it’s making a difference.
Hi again Steven! I finally had some *time* to finish my reply. See the reply under Happy Rock’s comment who also shares our problem of never seeming to have enough time…
You are so right! The very successful start up company that I mentioned in an earlier comment would have handled this problem like this:
1. Set a stretch goal for a measurable amount of exposure (even if it seemed impossible)
2. Put a team of highly motivated people on the project who didn’t know it was “impossible” to reverse engineer a strategy and accomplish it.
3. Give them an incentive for meeting their goals (usually in the form of public praise and recognition)
This worked incredibly well for achieving all sorts of seemingly impossible things…