You can rush to failure or you can do these things to make your company a success
One of my “pet peeves” (is that even an expression anymore?) is when I’m in a hurry on any roadway and someone is in the “fast lane” just poking along. C’mon! There’s a SLOW LANE available on your right. Get over there!
(Come to think of it, nearly all my pet peeves occur while driving. Maybe it’s me? No, couldn’t be…)
It drives me crazy that people don’t understand that I’m in a HURRY! I like to go fast! (No, not over the speed limit – well – not much over.) I like to “get where I’m going” (which is why I bought the best radar detector money could buy!). To me, it’s about the destination and getting there fast. It’s not about the journey.
But lately, I’ve re-assessed that attitude. Is it necessary to be in that much of a rush? Is it truly a “problem” for me that some people don’t share my need for speed? Is it truly about just “getting there,” or could it be better to enjoy the trip, take in the scenery, drink in the moments?
A simple re-evaluation definitely gave me a different perspective, and I share that with you now.
Pick your destination
Definitely, I need a destination – a final goal, an end game for the entire effort. I’ve known many entrepreneurs who decline to write business plans and who don’t believe they need actual goals. In fact, some of them have told me, “As long as I make money in the end, I don’t really care what happens to the business.”
They feel their ventures can just speed along (or, in some cases, limp along) as long as they make forward progress. However, that’s a dangerous tactic. For instance, I often recall what happened to the person who decided to buy out the Segway business from the original inventory. On his first trip on one of the two-wheeled transportation marvels, he drove it right off a cliff (and, unfortunately, he was still on the Segway). Not a good way to “get somewhere”!
Having a designated direction, a road map with a clear endpoint is a better way to go. Sure, you can have different destinations. For instance, a business may decide to sell to someone; they may determine an initial public offering is necessary to grow; or they may remain as a private entity, driven to increase sales and capture markets for their growth efforts.
All are potentially “good” destinations. Typically, eventually one of them will present itself as a preferred option. But still, all need the business to take off from a starting point and progress toward one of the conclusions.
Determine how to get there from here
And getting to “there from here” is the trick. Sure, growing fast is desirable, but so is growing steadily, regularly and in a consistent fashion. This typically requires a GPS to develop an understanding of the simplest, most direct and/or fastest route to success. (I’d use the term “road map” again, but most of you won’t understand that, so let’s stick with GPS.)
Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing bad about getting to the best possible conclusion in the swiftest possible manner. But without the plan of the GPS, you can end up taking a lot of incorrect turns; turning down some dead ends, and, possibly, even getting lost. Any of those alternatives can not only slow you down, but they can also lead to potentially canceling the trip (your business closing).
Avoiding such obstacles takes PLANNING – forethought – and early decision-making to at least get an idea of the initial route to take. A solid plan can also lead to an obvious destination (an IPO/sale/growth plan), which can also save time and money (and headaches!). Plus, there is such a thing as growing too fast, too soon.
Purpose to enjoy the journey
A good friend of mine who teaches entrepreneurship told me that rapid growth was very often a cause of business failures. Going into backorder for a product, overcommitting to a vendor/customer without being able to back it up, getting orders more rapidly than you can fill them — all of these make customers bail out, and send businesses down the road to failure.
So, sure, get moving. But don’t just step on the gas and go! In the early stages, get into the slow lane, observe, get advisement, talk to others/network, and plan, plan, plan. Make sure you have goals and you set out for a destination (hopefully, success).
Certainly, you can pick up speed, and, eventually, you’ll have to get moving fast to pass the competition and to avoid being passed up yourself. (Technology moves pretty fast these days!) And once you determine the best road and destination, it’s full speed ahead toward success.
But still, enjoy the journey. Learn from it. You don’t have to “stop and smell the roses,” but don’t fly by all the significant opportunities to learn. Slow down, and understand your surroundings, comprehend your path, and get to know your companions along the way.
Take appropriate breaks and stops (vacations, time off). You’ll be smarter – better – and more likely to succeed from it all. Plus, you won’t get ticketed (and that’s a BIG – and expensive – deal) or have to worry about crashing as much.
So SLOW DOWN. After all, as the Eagles once sang – “Life in the fast line – surely make you lose your mind.” They weren’t kidding!
incubatorblogger 