Do you feel trapped in your own business? People and organizations get caught in
self-reinforcing patterns of behavior and they loose perspective on how to
change their situation. For small
business owners, one of the traps is around their desire to grow, in addition
their belief that the business it too small to utilize the tools and practices
of larger businesses. These patterns of thinking are usually passed down the
generational latter which results in a no growth strategy.I found that one important maxim applies here, "Keep on
doing what you're doing...keep on getting what you are getting." The principle is simple. Unless you change the inputs you will get the
same outputs. The thing that amazes me
the most is that we don't change what we are doing, but we still complain about
what we are getting.
The strategy for changing this behavior is to adopt a vision
that is bigger than you are so that you are forced to invest in making it
happen. However, through discussions I have found that many owners confuse the
vision of wanting "more" with that of wanting growth. In my experience, many owners
think they want "growth" but they really just want "more." Because they are unwilling to adopt the processes
and practices that lead to growth, they live with an inconsistency that fuels
the feelings of being trapped in their current situations.
When you have a vision that you know you can't accomplish on
your own it takes you beyond the business model of "more" and leads you to view
the establishment of professional business practices as an investment in growth. It is this investment mindset that changes
you from thinking like a small business to acting like a big business. It is
important to understand what you want and how you can achieve it. When you have
a vision that you are willing to invest in, you free yourself from the trap of
wishing for growth but now knowing how to find it.
