Why is my business growth stuck? Natural barriers to growth in the business lifecycle.
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Why is my business growth stuck? Natural barriers to growth in the business lifecycle.

Just like children, businesses grow through predictable phases. We start life as baby startups, then progress to raging growth companies, before settling into a more stable “adult” phase. But as we cross each of those growth stages things change — and if we don’t change with them our growth can get stuck. Here’s my version…

Stages in Business Growth (PART 3)
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Stages in Business Growth (PART 3)

Just like children, businesses grow through predictable phases. We talked about start life as baby startups, that progress to raging growth companies in our first email. Then we talked about the adolescent crisis that leads to specialization. Today, we finally reach a more stable “adult” phase. Here’s my version of this story focused primarily on B2B…

Stages in business growth (Part 2)
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Stages in business growth (Part 2)

Just like children, businesses grow through predictable phases. We talked about start life as baby startups, that progress to raging growth companies in our last email. Today we reach adolescence, before settling into a more stable “adult” phase in our next email. Here’s my version of this story focused primarily on B2B service businesses. See if you…

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Why doing one thing over and over WORKS (Reading Time 2 min 20 sec)

Finding your core service that is valuable to your ideal client and focusing on that means that you are going to do a lot of similar assignments. For creative people, this sounds like a kind of death. “You want me to do this thing over, and over, and over, and…ARUAGHHHH!” Well, yes, and no… First,…

What it means to be the “costs more, but worth it” provider (read time 3.5 min)
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What it means to be the “costs more, but worth it” provider (read time 3.5 min)

To get a premium price for your services it’s important to be positioned as the “costs more, but worth it” provider. Your prospects need to see you as substantially different from your competitors. And not just different like you “dye your hair orange” different, different in a way that makes you uniquely qualified to solve…

The easy way (and the hard way) to get leads and sell your services
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The easy way (and the hard way) to get leads and sell your services

“I’ve tried that, it didn’t work…” I was having a discussion with an owner of a B2B creative services firm about his business development process. He had a strong business that he’d built by leveraging his personal network, but he wanted to see more growth. This is a business owner who’s aggressive and isn’t afraid…