What could possibly go wrong?
Once you’re through the early start-up phase of your business and have achieved a degree of success…
There continue to be challenges and threats – even for more established businesses:
📌 DISRUPTION. We are in the most disruptive period of history. Your business can be disrupted overnight, whether that’s interruptions in the supply chain, cyber-attacks, technology shifts, economic shocks or changes in consumer preferences.
📌 BLOATED OFFERING. Adding more dimensions to your products and services comes with risk. An unclear or complicated marketing message, which directly speaks to no one, will deter potential customers.
📌 NO EXIT STRATEGY. If a business has a clear exit strategy and plans in place, every decision taken (big or small) will support a successful outcome. That includes the growth and scale phases. Many business owners wrongly believe that a winning exit will happen automatically.
📌 RULE CHANGES. New regulations or tax changes can have profound effects on your business. And not just in your home market.
📌 YOUR PEOPLE. Yes, there’s the obvious ‘attracting and retaining talent’ challenge. But when it comes to the next level of growth in your business, are the people who got you there, the right people for the next phase?
📌 FINANCIAL ISSUES. Cash flow, debt and access to credit are common threats. Even successful and well-established businesses hit financial problems and things can escalate quickly.
📌 COMPLACENCY. Success can sometimes breed complacency. Maybe it’s being too dependent on one or two customers. Or not having enough focus on end goals. But there are direct and indirect competitors who want to steal your customers. Ask yourself who’s hungriest?
📌 CONSTRAINTS. The main one I see is where the business owner is a bottleneck and the company cannot run (short-term or long-term) without them. Worse still… many businesses don’t know all of their major constraints.
Taking your business to the next level requires thought, planning and vigilance 🙂