Knowing what stage of the business you’re in allows you to plan strategically smart moves that will allow you to grow faster.
The stages are:
- Direct Sell or Start Up
- Growth phase or Stabilisation and Systemisation
- Online Course Launching or 1 to many
- Scaling
Some people believe you should scale your business as soon as you have finished the start-up phase or what some know as, the direct sell stage. This is the stage where you are working 121 and really honing your craft and getting clear on your ideal client.
The problem with scaling too quickly is that many people don’t have the systems set up to support fast growth, or the budget to market for fast growth, or the email list that will support large online launches.
But many coaches even suggest to go from start up to online launching.
Makes me feel a little ill.
Before you start scaling and launching there is the stabilising, systemising and automating phase which sets you up for long-term growth.
It’s not a "sexy" stage so many people, both coaches and business owners, tend to gloss over it or skip it altogether. It's the settle in for awhile and do the detailed, "behind the scenes work" on your business.
Heck, I missed it the first time and boy did I suffer.
I mean who wants to focus on system and automation and techie stuff?
Or building a list, especially when you get clients from groups or referrals?
And this is why many businesses’ fail in the first 12 months and the first 3 years. It seems prudent to not skip stage two.
So why would people want you to miss stage two?
“They want your cash for the sexy training they run.” (said with a cynics voice)
“They don’t understand the importance of it and managed to scrape by without it.”
Or “They implemented it slowly to get to where they are so have no understanding of the outcomes when implemented fast and efficiently.”
My suggestion is this.
If you feel you're out of start-up and you’re not sure while where you are at, and maybe you’ve already attempted to launch courses, check in as a client.
Put yourself through your ideal clients experience with your business.
- Can they book calls with you easily?
- Can they find you easily?
- Do you communicate with them regularly?
- Do you have to do a load of manual connection/booking work?
Are you still working 12 hours a day?
If:
- people can’t book in with you easily
- they can’t find you online
- you don’t know what to say to them to communicate regularly
- you’re still doing a lot of manual work like booking in calls manually transacting money manually
- and you're doing 12 hours a day because of that?
You are not ready to launch and you are not ready to scale.
You’re not stable.
Give yourself every opportunity and get set up for growth.
- Learn how to manage your money effectively.
- Learn how to setup booking systems.
- Get your head around marketing.
- Ditch the fears about the X from high school or your mom seeing you post something about your business on Facebook.
- Get a plan in place to grow your email list.
Then we can talk about the online launch phase.
If you need help identifying where you are at or want support to move forward, book a free business review call here: http://bit.ly/LetsTalkBizGoals
In this audit at we will review your business, identify the gaps and a create plan to move forward, potentially working with us.
Failing to plan is planning to fail and if you’re struggling to implement, we can help. The team is ready to support you to grow your business for long term success.