Stuck on the hamster wheel?
It’s time to break that glass ceiling.
You started or attained a business and in the early years you had amazing growth. You had success, grew your revenues, your headcount, expanded into bigger premises, maybe even geographic expansions, but at some point your revenues plateaued and now you are stuck at a ceiling you just can’t seem to break through. Your margins aren’t what they used to be, so you go into a cost cutting mode and perhaps your revenues decline even more. Now you seem to be up one year and down another and it’s seemingly impossible to enjoy the kind of growth and success you once had. You chalk it up to the market, or more competition, or the effects of online shopping, or the economy, or market sophistication, whatever. You start to feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, where every day is like the last. No matter what you do, you just can’t break the monotony and grow.
If you can relate to that situation, then read on. This post is for you.
This is a pattern I have seen in almost every small to medium sized enterprise (SME), so if you relate, I promise you, you are not alone. Why then is this issue so prevalent? I can tell you that in most cases it’s not for the reasons you tell yourself above. The truth is this situation won’t change by itself and it will continue to rob you of the fullness of growth and the prosperity that comes with it. There are a number of factors contributing to your company’s inability to break through this glass ceiling.
Ever since I was a young entrepreneur in my early twenties I had a super weird image of a business. I always envisioned a business as a dragon: a big powerful beast, that if trained and fed correctly, could do my bidding and serve and protect my family’s interests. I am not the dragon. I’m the custodian of it. It’s my job to understand what this beast needs from me at every critical stage of its development. Let’s talk about why your dragon can’t hunt to the fullness of its abilities:
“It’s my job to understand what this beast needs from me at every critical stage of its development.”
What you fed your dragon back then isn’t what it needs to thrive now - In the early days of business, you knew exactly what you needed to do to grow your business. It was likely a big dose of brute force with you driving new business development, setting up best practices and surrounding yourself with people that shared your values and making sure your coveted customer was well taken care of. But as the business grew and you added more customers and staff, your attention turned inwards and you no longer provided the business what it needed to grow, you spent all your time putting out fires. Now, your stagnant business is in control of you and not the opposite. I hear this far too much from entrepreneurs when getting advice internally or externally, “That isn’t how I grew it in the past and that’s not how we’re going to grow it in the future”. Fill in the blank from this famous quote from Einstein: “ ______ is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” See? You all know it but fail to truly change and give the business what it needs from you to serve you better. A great entrepreneur understands that throughout the life of a business it needs different inputs for different outputs. Your job as it’s custodian is to truly understand what the business needs from you now and elevate your role to deliver it.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” ~ Albert Einstein
“In” versus “on” time - First, let me articulate what “on” versus “in” time means. “In” time is the day-to-day immediate needs of the business like: RFP’s, contract issues, emails, customer issues, delivery issues, collecting receivables, HR issues, meetings, sales, etc. You know what I’m talking about if you are this far into the post. These actions are likely a reflection of your time allocation every workday, week, month, year. “On” time, is the time you spend thinking about your business at 50,000 feet. The time you defend vigorously to contemplate what your business needs to grow in its next chapter. “On” time is also the time you spend not just thinking but implementing those things for next level growth in the business. In the early days of business, your “in” time paid off big. You were the best at creating sales by telling your story. You were great at hiring like-minded people. You were great at product delivery. But as a business grows, it needs you to act very differently for it to respond. You need to change with the needs of the business and spend most of your time “on” the business, not “in” the business. Others can assume the “in”. That’s their jobs anyway to perfectly acquire and maintain your customers, processes, finances, etc. But you (and management perhaps) need to operate out of the weeds. Yes, you’ll inevitably be drug in from time to time, but if you allow yourself to spend all your time “in” the business, don’t expect the business to act differently. For those that understand this but say, “I can’t work on the business every single day,” either due to your size, budget or current structure, then take a day a week and get out of the office. Turn your phone and email off and THINK about your business at 50,000 feet. Resist the urge to fight fires and answer to the day to day calling. Call another trusted and respected entrepreneur or accountant and brainstorm with them. Think about what your business really needs for its next stage of growth. Then once you are happy with your plans and ideas then spend one day a week implementing them. Once you see powerful results (which I promise, you will), you’ll take two days a week, then three, four and five. This is how organizations become exponential, by leadership that defends their time and empowers their people to solve the day-to-day problems of the business. One of the best methods of finding out how you’ve spent your time is to look at your business calendar over the past year. Put all your time into buckets and see where you spent your time versus what the business needs for its growth - and then compare. This is a very powerful and insightful exercise. I would ask your management team to do the same.
“Put all your time into buckets and see where you spent your time versus what the business needs for its growth and compare”
Don’t do it alone - Being a business owner is the loneliest job on the planet. It’s thankless, stressful and unpredictable. Recently, I met with a struggling 60-year-old owner of a 35 year business who shared with me their significant business challenges. The business was in trouble with low sales volumes and an acquisition gone bad and he was paralyzed (figuratively). He expected me to drill in to operational questions to find the issues because this is where he spent all his time. After discussing his situation I said to him, “Based on all you have said, I have a few predictions.” I guessed the following: He doesn’t have a management team. He owned 100% of the shares. He works 80 hours a week. He spends all his time putting out fires. The only thing he challenged me back on was his management team. He said he DID have one and I asked him if the following:
Do they get your full financials? “No”.
How often do you meet with them? “We meet every single week.”
What is the agenda for these meetings? “We talk about our customer deliveries, timing, issues, etc”
Are any of them being primed to truly lead this business? “No”
What happens if you get hit by a bus? “The business would suffer greatly”
These questions led me to conclude that he’s got an “operations team”, not a management team. I’m not suggesting this group isn’t management material but how he uses them is operational, in large part, because so was he. I recall him asking to me while we were parting ways in his parking lot on a sunny summer day, “Man, how do you do it? You’re only 47! How are you involved in multiple businesses have such balance in your life?” My answer to him is to share the opportunities and stresses with a team (or person) you think can carry the load and succeed you. Even if you don’t want to give equity to them (which I recommend you consider) then treat the “management” as owners and share your information with them. You aren’t the smartest person in the room (and if you are, you have the wrong people), so use the collective brain power, be vulnerable and solve problems together. Then it’s not just you taking problems home with you.
“Businesses need three important things to grow: Counsel, Contacts and Capital.”
Get a board of advisors - If I could go back and give my 25-year-old self some advice it would be to get a solid board of advisors around me. Why do it the hard way and scale to my own limitations? You as a business owner (regardless of your age or business maturity) need three important things to grow: Counsel, Contacts and Capital. A strong board of advisors will help you with all three of these at critical points throughout your business career.
Counsel - As I said earlier, being an entrepreneur can be the loneliest job in the world. Having a strong, experienced and trusted advisory team will help you avoid pitfalls, navigate downturns, capitalize on opportunities, give you accountability and become a catalyst for your growth. I have had the GREAT fortune of being in YPO (Young President’s Organization) since 2003. In that organization I have been blessed to find myself in a forum of some of the most extraordinary business people and humans I have ever known including: John Roy, Scott McCrea, Rob Normandeau, Donnie Clow, Gary Gaudry, Wayne Crawley, Jamie Welsh and Norm Mansour. These people comprise my personal Board of Advisors and have watched over me and counselled me throughout my career. We meet often (every month) and have many conversations throughout each week. I don’t make any big strategic decisions without involving them. They care about me and my family and truly want the best for me (and I them). This priceless group has made an indelible mark on my business life, has shown me opportunities I didn’t know existed and have helped shape me into the businessperson I am today. You don’t need to join an organization like YPO to get what I have (though, it’s a really great idea if you have access to such a network). But you should go out and find amazing people who have great experiences (even if it’s not within your industry) and build a team of advisors you can learn from and lean on to help you shape your business, deal with challenges and capitalize on opportunities.
Contacts - The people in my advisory group are some of the top business people in Atlantic Canada and with their sterling reputations comes a massive contact base at their disposal. Being connecting or not, I would argue, can make or break your business. I have countless examples of someone calling on me to help build a bridge to a certain person for financing, business development, saving a contract, recruiting someone specific, buying a competitor, etc. Leveraging the contacts of your advisory board can make your growth strategies infinity less challenging.
Capital - Though the individuals on your advisory board are likely to have more disposable capital than the average person, I’m not just talking about going to them for investment. I’m talking about using their knowledge and contacts to build a debt structure that is strategic and then connect you to the right people or institutions to create them. How you access capital and structure your debt can have a profound effect on your future years in business. I have seen many businesses do suboptimal deals and debt structures that have plagued or even tanked them. Experienced advisory boards have done and seen it all and can help guide you to the structure that is best for you and your company both now and in the future.
In the end, the companies that are built for scale:
Have a person at the helm who continuously thinks and operates one step ahead of the business’ current life stage
Surround themselves with an invested management team who works in lockstep
Have access to a solid advisory board to help with counsel, contacts and capital