I’m in the very exciting stages of reinventing my business to double my multiple six-digit sales this year. So when I meet business owners who shockingly tell me that they don’t want to grow, I have to take a step back and think.
You’re Either Growing or Dying
I didn’t make this saying up but I certainly use it, teach it and live it. If there’s no expansion, there’s shrinkage (and yes, its as ugly a situation as in that Seinfeld episode!). Shrinkage means that you have no plan to replace your loss of clients, or are ok with smaller contract renewals or have no contingency plans to reverse your sales during a slow down in the economy. Yes, it’s a slow death but it’s a death for sure. If you want to eek your way into forced retirement where nobody is willing to buy your company, to me that’s the real end of the line.
Look At Your Beliefs
When I challenge some business owners about this lack of desire to grow, there is usually something other than truth underlying this thought. It’s a belief and a series of assumptions that: in order to grow, they have to give up something good, or that it’s going to be very uncomfortable to grow or that to want growth when they have so much is just plain greedy and unnecessary. Most people are living the beliefs of their parents or religion or upbringing and they are often echoing other people’s beliefs when they say ‘I don’t want to get any bigger”.
I Don’t Know How
The biggest thing that lies underneath this insidiously limiting thought is real fear about not knowing how to grow a business. If all a business owner has ever done is skated by on referrals and repeat business, they are thrown for a loop when they have to go out and get fresh leads. Most would rather convince themselves that they’re happy as they are. I have trouble believing this because if someone came up to you and said ‘would you like a million dollars?” it would be like you saying “no thanks, I’m good. I couldn’t think of a single thing I’d want to do with the extra money” I don’t buy it. The trouble is that you’re not sure how to grow without working harder. And that’s just a belief and it’s wrong. I should know because I used to have that belief.
I’m Not Like You
Recently a dear friend who also claimed not to want growth for her business said to me “why do I have to be like you Chala, why do I have to want to grow so aggressively and so passionately?” Well, here’s the part where I really don’t believe you: we all want bigger and better for ourselves, our families and our communities. What joy would it bring to us to have a larger platform to help first our families, then our employees, our vendors and ultimately, to help the world? Growing your business simply means serving more people. It has nothing to do with money.
So if you’ve been telling yourself that you don’t want growth and that you’re ok with where you are, I ask you to take a good hard look at what you truly want and ask yourself some tough questions.
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