Starting and growing a business is a lot like growing crops on a farm.  You will get what you plant, assuming you take care of it and have the resources in place for when it is “harvest time,” or when the fruits of your labor present themselves.

The challenge that many business owners have is going through the process.  Impatience and lack of focus has caused many a business whither and die.

Here are a few thoughts:

1. Examine, understand and prepare your field.  Your field represents the environment – your industry and your marketplace.  Having a good understanding of where and how you need to start your business is key to growth.  While there are opportunities in every field, every market will not be fertile for your particular opportunity.
2. When starting your business, keep in mind that it is like planting a garden.  While you can just “scatter seeds,” having a plan for starting your business will ensure that your resources (seeds) are most effectively “planted.”  Seeds represent your products and services.
3. If you plant more than one type of seed or offer more than one type of service, make sure that you have the ability to nurture the seed while it grows.  Every product or service you offer requires some type of investment, be it time or money.  Value each one.  Otherwise, you could end up loosing more than you have invest.
4. Be patient.  Nurture and grow your seeds.  Have an understanding of how long it will take to grow any segment of your business.  If your business cannot sustain you from the onset, which is normally the case, ensure that you have enough resources to sustain yourself in the mean time.  That might mean working for or with someone else (not the main thing) so that you have reliable income from the main thing.
5. Don’t mix seeds.  If your nine-to-five is to sell widgets, sell widgets during that time.  If your night job is to make zups, make zups.  If you make zups while selling widgets, then sell widgets while make zups, you’ll probably end up doing both jobs poorly and making a big mess of things.  Keep your seeds pure.

Keeping these steps in mind should get you off to a good start.  Areas where I see business owners missing the most is in keeping the main thing the main thing, and patiently nurturing it until it is ready to harvest.  This has resulted, more often than not, in lackluster businesses, burnt out business owners and more saturation of sub-par product in the marketplace.

Be extraordinary.  Mind your seeds.

Aepiphanni Business Consulting: The Business Strategy People is a Strategy Consulting Firm dedicated to serving the needs of small to medium sized business leaders and executives. We specialize in helping leaders create extraordinary businesses.  We welcome clients in the personal and professional services industries, including Creative and Design Services, Software & IT Services, Professional Services and Healthcare Services.  As always, we welcome your comments, thoughts, questions and suggestions.  If you are seeking a business assessment, or have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.