Lifestyle and growth companies are completely different animals.
A Lifestyle CEO starts or purchases a business to provide stable income, in an industry they know well. These are the people who put their software coding skills to use by opening a web development business or who go after their dream of opening a family restaurant.
Growth CEO’s or owners have different goals. They exchange consistency for the potential to earn higher levels of revenue. When their businesses hit value plateaus, they don’t want to stabilize – they want to blast on through to the next level.
Slingshot Strategies are reliable methods that help launch businesses on a trajectory to that next level, and get off the Great Small Business Plateau.
INHIBITORS TRAP YOU ON THE GREAT SMALL BUSINESS PLATEAU
It’s not uncommon to see a business grow to between $2 and $10 million in revenue, and then get stuck on The Great Small Business Plateau. It is then incredibly difficult to move, because certain aspects of your operation are actually working against you and keeping you there. As your time on the plateau extends, it becomes harder and harder to even stay at that level of operations and success. You’ve shot past your equilibrium point – the point at which your resources can sustain you – and are fighting to maintain yourself just beyond it.
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Another typical dilemma is that your tried and true methods expire. They got you to that level, but they aren’t working anymore. Think of a weightlifter who has built up muscle with an exercise routine and, suddenly, that routine stops working. He could do ten times the hammer curls and still see no results. All pain, no gain. Similarly, the techniques and strategies you employed successfully are not sufficient to break the plateau, and this is usually because there is some factor or combination of factors inhibiting you.
It could be that you’ve hired a staff full of “jacks-of-all trades,” but now need subject matter expertise. It could be that you’ve fallen into the Founder’s Cap and are unintentionally sabotaging your own growth. Identifying the inhibitors is critical to efficiently, strategically move off the plateau.
WHAT IS A SLINGSHOT STRATEGY?
To operate a slingshot, you pull back on the band and launch an object. In other words, to go forward, you first have to draw back a little bit. To break off the Great Small Business Plateau, you are going to have to dip down into your resources. It takes time and money to overhaul your technology systems, realign your hires, upgrade your infrastructure, or start managing capacity with intention – but one of these steps could give you the energy to bounce back big time, and sail on to the next level.
Slingshot Strategies are not right for everyone. If your goal is to be a Lifestyle CEO, it might make more sense to recalibrate your business and ease down to your sustainable equilibrium point.
“Spending money to make money” can be difficult if you’ve resisted any backwards motion; it can feel risky, counterintuitive, and panic-inducing. But trust me – a sound Slingshot Strategy, even while pulling back initially, creates forward momentum you need.
