Growing a Business By Burning It Down

Happy 2018!  In this season of new beginnings and resolutions, the key to progress, achieving goals, and success is not doing MORE, but CHANGING what you are doing.

Many clients come to A Better Place Consulting because they want different results from their business (and lives).  Yet many are a little resistant to the change required to obtain those results.

To really make a change in your business you have to commit to not just making changes in your business but in your personal life as well.

After all, your business success is directly related to the solid foundation of the individual that you are. The good news is that this does not always mean working harder, longer hours, or putting more things on your to do list.

Rather, it means looking at the things you're currently doing.  Obviously you should keep doing the things that are working for you.  As for those things that are not working for you, you must begin letting go and implementing change.  Professionally and personally.  You may find it difficult to change patterns, habits, routines, processes and goals, especially if you've been doing these things for years.  Avoid resisting change.  Remember, the only constant in life is change. Your business must change, grow, adapt and meet the needs of the community - as well as your life -  to address different desires for not only your clients, staff, and the industry but also for your family.  Your business should work for you, not the other way around.

Think about Kodak. This is a business that focused primarily on delivery of the most exceptional quality film for photography in the industry. Unfortunately they were blind to the fact that the industry was changing substantially. We were moving to the digital era. Kodak decided to stick with what they knew they did best which was producing film and did not invest effort into researching or adopting as the industry and needs of the clients were changed. If Kodak's mission was to truly to have a business that grew with the needs of customers and those working in the business, they might have considered the bigger picture. Then they would have built a business that was relevant in 5 to 10 years as the industry shifted, changed, and grew. Their failure to do so left Kodak well behind its competitors and eventually extinguishing what used to be a 'Kodak moment'.

What if you discover multiple issues or items that need to be changed? Let's think of your business as a garden.  If you did not tend to it well or at all for months or even years, you may not be able to identity the problem or find a solution to achieve growth again.  You might have to destroy what is there in order to move on, including recreating a solid foundation with the bare dirt, maybe even getting new dirt.

This is not to say that every business has a problem that is soiled or dirt deep. Many of my clients and businesses that we work with through A Better Place Consulting have fantastic soil and fantastic roots in their community and the businesses just find that they're getting fewer sprouts.  In that case we look for adequate sunlight and nutrition in order to not only grow their business but also so they can enjoy the fruits of their labor. Some of them just need to reconnect with their quality soil and exceptional roots in order to see the growth that they want.

Now results will not happen overnight. Even if you are the best gardener and have any experience growing  you know that you do not just sprinkle miracle grow and within 24 hours have the best plants in the whole county. It takes time, cultivation, energy, investment, and a lot of hard work as well as consistency and dedication and order to achieve the results that you want.

So discover what it is that you want to grow in your business and your life.  Then think about what is stopping you, whether it is soil, lack of sunlight, lack of nutrition, inadequate gardeners, and any other obstacles that are within your business (or yourself) that are preventing growth. Sometimes this may mean that you realize you have to burn down your garden and start from the ground up in order to have the success and growth that you would like within your business. But even ashes can be very beneficial for the soil.

Happy New Year and Happy Growing!