Thirty Years. Thirty Lessons.
Yes – it’s been that long! And over the next few months I’ll be looking back at our three decades-long journey helping business owners, CEOs, and other high-level decision-makers and their teams, scale their businesses, grow profitably, and become the enlightened leaders they want to be.
From Scaling Up strategies to real-world success stories – we are sharing whatās possible with the right mindset, tools, and guidance.
If youāve been wanting to grow your business but don’t know where to start, this is your chance to gain exclusive insights from our CEO Think TankĀ® Playbook. Letās dive in to my first 4 Lessons!
Get the Right Guidance
The best investment you can make as a business owner?Ā Getting the right coaching and guidance.Ā Even early in my journey when I wasnāt making much, when I identified a weakness, I sought out the coaching and assistance to help me fill the gaps.
āļø I hired a sales coach to sharpen my skills.
āļø I joined a roundtable group of peers for insights and strategy.
āļø I became part of an exclusive networking club to build connections.
The result?Ā Slow but steady growthāfor myself as an entrepreneur and the connections and resources to fuel my business’ growth over the next decade. The right guidanceĀ isnāt an expense; itās an investmentĀ that will pay dividends.
Become a Student of Business
As an engineer who started her career working for a Fortune 50 company in manufacturing, I knew nothing about being an entrepreneur OR how to run a small company successfully. And I knew I needed to learn if I was really committed to making a go of it.
Iām a voracious reader, and love a good tool or process to follow so I started diving into books like Good to Great by Jim Collins, The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack, First Break All the Rules by Gallup and eventually āMastering the Rockefeller Habitsā by Verne Harnish. Ā These resources gave me the planning and scaling resources for myself as well as my clients, helping me grow my business and guide my clients without wasting time āreinventing the wheel.ā
Hereās the takeaway: One of the most valuable lessons? Never stop learning. The more you learn, the better equipped you are to tackle challenges and grow your business.
Solve a Problem that your Clients Care About
Youāve got to have a product or service that addresses a real pain pointāone that your clients are willing to pay to solve.
This insight came from my second sales coach as well as my ex-business partner.Ā Seems intuitive but Iām not a natural salesperson like many entrepreneurs.Ā So I changed how I approached sales entirely and became a student of the craft over the next ten years, proactively seeking out best practices and constantly working to up my game.
When you solve real problems, sales stops being about persuasionāit’s about delivering value.
Know Yourself!
All of the above lead to Lesson #4 – Know Yourself! And especially know, acknowledge and address your Achilles’ heel and get the resources, guidance and advice from solid Coaches to fill in the gaps and grow your business acumen.
