I love reading fantasy books. Especially Business, Marketing & Management reference books.<\/p>\n
Everything is so cut and dried. There is so much clarity. It is all Black and White.<\/p>\n
Reality however, is radically different.<\/p>\n
Learning No 19:<\/strong> <\/b>Every reference book you read, will show you the theory and practice of growing an organization as a gentle curve, a graph that starts low and ends high. The path it follows is smooth. And even.<\/p>\n When you’re learning, what you concentrate on is theory. However, in real life, it is rare to see an organization grow like this.<\/p>\n It is a utopian dream for most businesses to have an unending and steady sales funnel, and a rock steady plan to be able to deal with the growth it brings.<\/p>\n Most successful startup organizations follow the \u2018grow-plateau-consolidate-grow\u2019 <\/i>pattern in expanding.\u00a0It is probably the only way an organization can reflect growth that is solid and long term.<\/p>\n What you need to realize that every time your organization grows, it changes the equation in your setup.<\/p>\n It makes people take on additional responsibilities. People who may, or may not be ready for it.<\/p>\n It increases the pressure on your finances.<\/p>\n It stresses the systems you have developed for your company.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It requires you to rethink on manpower allocation.<\/p>\n It makes you modify processes and SOPs.<\/p>\n All of this can easily derail all the good work you’ve done, where you end up losing control of the situation, and as a result the quality you offer, the timely delivery you guarantee, and customer satisfaction you provide for what you do.<\/p>\n It is more sensible, therefore, to grow a bit, plateau, consolidate the business – so you are confident that the team you have on board can handle the additional work – and then expand some more.<\/p>\n The question you need to ask is not \u201cWill my organization grow?\u201d The question you need to ask is this\u2026 \u201cIs my organization ready for this growth?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n TO BE CONTINUED\u2026 photo credit: tokyoform<\/a> via photopin<\/a> cc<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nYou will grow, like Mumbai traffic moves\u2026 in bits and spurts.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n
\nIn a world full of mediocrity (and trust me it is!), if your offering is good, the product or service you provide is above average, and you are willing to work hard at making it successful, growth is a natural by-product.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n(This is part 17 of a series of blogs on my learnings as an entrepreneur )<\/p>\nRead\u00a0Part 18 here<\/a><\/h5>\n
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