Here’s how to make your business grow

The planet we live on is not stationary.

It’s in our nature to shift, so growing a business will take a series of shifts. As I talk to other entrepreneurs, I realise there are moments that turned every business.

People usually talk about growth in relation to how much money you have made or your perceived success.

While these might be indicators, there are those rarely captured moments behind the scenes on the shifts people make. Let me share my experience.

Follow the call

Many of us feel a pull or call in a certain direction. However, when we follow it and find challenges, we get discouraged and sometimes give up.

I have learnt that the call is not tidy, nor the blessings comfortable. I shut down my first business but in that is where I learnt a lot about running a business, including what not to do, and met people I now consider mentors.

Many entrepreneurs have told me that it is by not having money that they learnt to stop defining themselves by money.

Blessings are found in trials and failures. The call is messy. But ultimately, it will lead to your getting convicted about something, and it is very hard for somebody who has a conviction to give up.

Take a new direction not limited by your skills or resources. Running a business is not about what you can do, but what can or needs to be done. What you can do is very limited.

For starters, look at what your customer actually needs. Once I realised an actual programme in Centonomy would have more impact, it forced me to bring in other experts.

What was required was beyond me. What does your business actually need? This might make you change direction and bring in other people.

Start paying yourself

Business people struggle with this. We are not profitable in our businesses because we do not think profitably.

Paying yourself will force you to think profitably because you can’t pay yourself if you don’t have the money. In addition, it will give you personal financial motivation.

You will stop underestimating expenses once you include yourself (since you create value for the business) and it will create a healthy separation from the business.

Further, it will prevent you from randomly dipping into business funds for personal use, which affects the business.

Confront your fear

Purposefully do what contradicts that fear. You get bolder doing this as you go along. Remember, it is like a muscle that needs to be built.

The voice in your head often lies. Sometimes it takes practice. I had never done public speaking until I started my business, and I recall waking up in the middle of the night to practice.

I also did this to mute the voices of self-doubt in my head. Name and shame your fear, then do the exact opposite of what it is telling you. I have learnt that God meets you in the bus, not at the bus stop. Act!

Enter with a bang

Do something out of your comfort zone to become visible to your customers. Don’t just sit back hoping customers will come to you.

You have to get their attention in a way that stands out, even if it means facing rejection.

Product innovation

This is a buzzword often thrown around, but let us simplify it. Think about this as a tree with branches.

Just like a tree has the same root and trunk, you can innovate from where you are and with the infrastructure you already have.

It does not necessarily mean a whole new investment, at least not immediately. Sometimes when chasing the “big” thing, we miss what is right in front of us.

There are many ideas that can come out of your existing product, or by simply listening to your customers. Allow for experimentation as cheaply and efficiently as possible.

Take some time off

This could be half a day, a day, a week. Wouldn’t you like to go on holiday and still have your business running?

Taking time off will show you where the business is overly dependent on you, and the opportunities to empower others.

It will show you what you can delegate or what structures to put up. Taking time off will make you will realise you are not the only one who can do things.

Also, you can do more than what you are doing. You also shift and evolve with time. If you insist on doing what you are doing today, tomorrow you will stagnate.

You have more than one skill and it is important you keep exploring them and growing. It’s good for you and for your business. Don’t sit on your talents.