10 Perfectly Good Reasons to NOT Grow Your Business (Part 2)

Continuing on with part two of reasons not to grow your business; reasons 6-10:

6. You don't want to risk going through the growth stage again - Once upon a time, when you were a younger person, you had time to make and lose a fortune. However, if you now find yourself approaching retirement or making plans that require financial security, growing your business may not be such a great idea. Though the risk is less than when you started your business, there is still a risk that you may fail, and thereby lose everything you've worked to obtain so far. Just like your investment strategy with stocks and bonds, if you don't need the money for years, then you put your money in high-growth, high-risk investments. But if you need the money sooner than later, you begin to invest in bonds, T-Bills and other less risky ventures so you can be sure your money is still there when you need it. Your business is your investment, don't get risky with it if you need your money soon.


7. You have personal health issues (you're not as young as you once were) - Added stress impairs the body's immune system. So, it makes perfect sense that if you are having personal health issues such as high blood pressure, cholesterol, ulcers, depression or one of hundreds of other issues, adding additional stress to your life is going to limit your body's ability to fend off additional problems. Use some common sense before adding what might be unnecessary stress to your life. Having a heart attack, sitting behind your desk while facing the pressures of growth is no way to die.


8. Your family needs you more - Allow me to climb on my soapbox... America today is more concerned with the balance of their bank account than they are with the balance in their life. Workaholics, in part, work so much because they feel that if they provide financially for their family, they will be viewed as a better spouse, father or mother. In reality, your kids and your spouse aren't going to stand by your hospital bed while you breathe your last few breaths and say, "Gee I'm so glad you put in all those 80 hour weeks while you were growing your business because I really value the brand name clothes you bought me more than I would have ever valued spending time with you. Look, I brought those really cool shoes you got me when you were feeling guilty about missing my third grade school play to show you I still have them." - Okay enough said.


9. You like status quo - If you're happy with how things are going, why mess up what's not broke? Some half-cocked business consultant may try telling you that "water that isn't flowing is stagnant and stagnant water stinks" To that I say, "Whatever!" Our culture is against status quo, and screams that there must always be a better way, a more efficient way, a bigger way of doing things. Sometimes the answer is simply, "I just like it the way it is." and that's okay.


10. You haven't reached optimal efficiency with your current size - If you're set and determined to grow your business and the previous nine reasons didn't fit you, then please make sure you are currently running your business at its optimal efficiency. As your business begins to grow, you will be forced to let go of the little details and delegate to someone else those responsibilities. However, if there is waste, mistakes and bumps in the road that are causing even the smallest level of problems in your business now, growth isn't going to fix this. It's going to magnify it. Your 4% inaccuracy problem now is going to grow to 6% or 8% while you grow because you are no longer there to monitor everything that happens. Before you start the growth, prepare for it and tighten things up.

Understand a few things here, I am not saying you should never try to grow your business, nor am I saying you will fail if you try. I am giving strong caution to someone who feels the need to grow your business despite qualifying for one of these reasons.

Perhaps Alice Walker sums up my final thoughts best when she said, "No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow."

10 Perfectly Good Reasons to NOT Grow Your Business (Part 1)

I continually hear people talk about how to grow your business. 7 steps to successful growth or 15 reasons why your business isn't growing. I have nothing wrong with most of what these people say, accept the assumption behind what they are saying is that everyone should want to grow their business.

The mentality behind the notion that growing your business is the only acceptable way of life is very American. We super size everything, we grow bigger cattle and corn with more ears on the stalk, and we push ourselves to do everything we do in some kind of bigger than life Americanized way. It is assumed that it is our patriotic duty to make everything bigger.

I've had several conversations with everyone from business owners to pastors of churches about growth. While I might get run out of town by my business coaching friends, I'm serious when I say "Not everyone should grow their business".

So, here is my rebuttal to those other lists. My 10 Perfectly Good Reasons to NOT Grow Your Business

1. You don't want to spend the time required - 12 years ago last month I ran the Omaha marathon. I trained 6 months solid for it and ran countless miles to prepare. Am I glad I did it? Absolutely! Do I ever want to do it again? Absolutely not! I don't have the time, nor am I willing to make the time to train for another one. Similarly, it took a lot of blood sweat and tears to get your business going. There's nothing wrong with saying I'd rather not go through that again. If you have priorities that are more important than growing your business, then you are wrong to neglect them and grow your business anyway. There are only so many hours in a day. Spending them foolishly, out of priority, is not the way to live.



2. You don't have the resources available to grow - Yes, we're the richest nation in the world and yes, our government still helps small business owners get started with some wonderful loan programs, but money really doesn't grow on trees... I just checked. If you don't have the money, people, space, etc to effectively grow your business, don't start the growth with some half hearted and half funded attempt. Underfunding is one of the main reasons that start up businesses fail. The same is true for business growth failures. Growing your business without the resources needed will guarantee your failure.



3. You like the size of your small staff - How many times have you heard the phrase "The next Bill Gates"? It's what every American dreams of isn't it? We are all supposed to want to be Billionaire Bill. But there is nothing wrong with admitting that you like to drive into your office and seeing the same 5 to 10 employees that you know well. You even attend their kid's soccer games on the weekends and vacation together in the summer. Maybe in the beginning, Bill Gates went to a few soccer games, but at this point I doubt he knows more than 10% of his employees by name, much less knows their kid's name. If you like your small staff, you don't have to give it up. Just don't grow your business.



4. You're happy with your current financial situation - I know it's hard to believe, but there might actually be someone out there that can honestly say, "I really don't need to make any more money. Actually, I'm quite happy with my current income and have the things I want." It doesn't make exciting news, so we hear more about the athlete renegotiating their contract or the CEO's massive pay raise, than we do the ones saying I don't need more money, let the rookie have it. But, somewhere out there I believe it exists.



5. You don't have an ego - This is what most people fall under. They want to grow their business because they have some kind of self worth wrapped up in the size of their business. "Well Johnathon at the country club has 40 employees... I want 40 employees". Unfortunately, this is by far the worst reason to grow your business, but perhaps the most common reason. If you are able to get over yourself you may find the desire to grow your business goes away. If not, they now make a little blue pill that may help with your self esteem issues.

Part 2 (reasons 6-10) will be tomorrow.

The Step Dynamic

I recently had the opportunity to sit down and share lunch with Laddie Blaskowski, a local business consultant who co-authored his first book with his wife Judy titled, The Step Dynamic: A powerful strategy for successfully growing your business.

"I think you'll enjoy the book" and "It's a quick read" were all I needed to hear from Laddie to know I had to read the copy he'd just handed me.

As I've been involved with various businesses and organizations they all want to grow, but few of them could make it work well. There were many bumps and bruises from previous attempts at growth. In my mind, I've always had the concept of how to successfully grow a business, but could never put it into words to explain to someone else.

"Growth does not occur on a straight line", Laddie explained to me. "Instead it occurs as a staircase. You move forward on the stair until it becomes necessary to step up to the next level. At this point, you have to increase your capacity in one big step."

"A big and scary step" I thought to myself, having been at that place before.

Being the visual learner that I am, I instantly related to the graphs he used to illustrate in his book so simply what I have struggled to put into words. The concept makes complete sense and the principle, once understood, can easliy be implemented immediately into any organization, regardless of size, function or position.

As this graph shows, as your revenues increase you will reach a point to step up to the next level. To get to the next level, you have to increase your capacity to produce, sell, manufacture, evangelize or whatever your organization does.

The difficulty with "stepping up" is that it has to be done in one step. You can't add half of a computer, or two-thirds of a software package to increase capacity. Therefore it takes some discipline, patience and risk to make the step.

This graph shows the stages of the step and illustrates the mistakes that often haunt the entrepreneur as growth is attempted.

According to the book, A and B represent the normal stages in business. The Y and Z represent problematic situations.

Y - Shooting past the step - extending your sales beyond your capability
Z - Stepping up too early - making the step before sales can support the growth
A - Phase 1 (Sales focus) - increase sales to pay for new capabilities
B - Phase 2 (Profit focus) - increase efficiency, improve technology and improve the workflow process.

So, if you want to grow your organization to the next step, this book is a must read. I've already used it several times as I've talked to clients about growing their business and they seem to get it right away. A kind of "Ah-ha" moment for them occurs. I keep using the word "organization" instead of business because the principle will work for any organization considdering growth. I'm on my to another lunch right now where I'm going to give the book to my pastor and tell him he needs to read it.

You can buy the book here.