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Bite-Size Chunks of Wisdom

October 2021

Recent Posts

How to Use A Year End Assessment to Grow Your Business

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

Ahhh, yes! It’s the time of the year we gather around the holiday table (aka Zoom) with the significant people in our lives…and plan for the year ahead. (Oh, how I wish that were so.)

Unfortunately, most business owners spend more time planning Thanksgiving dinner than they do planning for business growth. And, when resources are limited, planning is even more critical.

David vs. Goliath Planning

year end assessment There’s more than size that separates small businesses from large. The most noticeable difference is how each responds to pressure, stress, overwhelm, and uncertainty.

While corporations spend more time planning when things go sideways, small business owners spend their time putting out fires and dealing with day-to-day operations.

Granted, you have to weigh the importance of assessing, planning, and setting a direction for business growth versus being on the streets doing your thing. However, the real value of proper planning is the time saved by focused efforts and avoiding costly decisions.

A Year End Assessment is Not Rocket Science

A formalized strategic planning mechanism that is held annually is a nice idea. The truth is most of us small business owners aren’t likely to create — or engage — in such a formalized process. In fact, the failure of most small businesses to engage in any sort of structured planning is noted as one of the primary causes of the high failure rate. That’s just plain ugly — especially when it’s avoidable.

Regardless, we don’t need an MBA or special superpowers to accurately analyze and plan for the year ahead. We just need to schedule some time and take inventory of what’s truly going on in our business.

Planning means preparing for future success.

Business Growth Begins With an  Assessment

One of the most valuable tools to identify growth opportunities is the year-end business assessment. It gives you the critical feedback and insight you need for proper planning.

Objectivity accelerates your odds for a successful year ahead.

Don’t Let Business Consume You

It’s easy to get devoured by the day-to-day hustle of a small business. We become engrossed in catching up and keeping up. Before long, we’ve squandered priceless resources and exhausted opportunities — all because we’re too absorbed in business operations — and drained by it all.

Once you’ve completed your year-end assessment, make plans to…

  1. Run your business profitably by putting a halt to underpricing—and underearning.
  2. Take better care of yourself by locking in boundaries, especially related to time.
  3. Work each day with a clear intention culminating from clearly defined goals.
  4. Make better choices by escaping over-commitment.
  5. Target double-digit business growth by delegating and outsourcing.
  6. Maintain better work-life balance through the use of technology.

The Census Bureau counted 40,000 firms with $1 million in revenue for 2017. Granted, that was 2017. Needless to say, they are a bit sluggish when gathering data. However,  even if $1 million in revenue is not your goal, there’s tremendous benefit in setting a strategic direction for your business.

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Want a year end assessment to spark your motivation? Join our entrepreneurial cohort at Eureka (It’s still free to join.) and download Think Clearly. Act Boldly. Head in the Right Direction. 

5 Myths About Strategic Thinking Slowing Your Business Growth

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia
strategic thinking

Strategic thinking, the thinking process used by the most intentional and successful of Stage II enterprise entrepreneurs is getting a bad rap!  And,  who’s paying the price for it?

You are! The small business owner!

Apparently someone (insert air quotes here) is attempting to sell snake oil on how to think about thinking strategically. After a while, it gums up our business growth. 

 

strategic thinking

 

Myth #1: Strategic Thinking is Only for Big Business

Actually, strategic thinking is for any business looking to take a long-range view of their business and the environment in which it operates. It’s what’s required to make the most of any changes on the horizon.

Applied successfully, strategic thinking helps you better leverage your precious resources of time, talent, and money. With better use of resources comes accelerated forward movement.

Myth #2: Only Certain People are Qualified for Strategic Thinking

The numbers are in — and they aren’t pretty! Chief Executive Magazine reported that only 3 out of every 10 business leaders know how to think strategically.

Don’t let this statistic reinforce the myth. Actually, it points out that few people have been taught this critical business skill. If you’re willing to learn,  you can become a strategic thinker for your business.

Myth #3: I Don’t Have Time to Think Strategically

This is quite prevalent, especially for small businesses. I understand first-hand how difficult it is to pull our heads out of the day-to-day operations, especially once the flurry of our inbox is unleashed.

My dad taught me that if you don’t take the time to do something right the first time, how much time do you have to do it over. That’s a valuable lesson to learn.

High-level thinking encourages the proactive monitoring of your business so you’re not caught off guard by some unnoticed event or trend. Strategic thinking saves you time and money. In the end, it’s what takes the business to the next level. 

Myth #4: Strategic Thinking is a Waste of Time

This myth is particularly poignant for many business owners who escaped the bureaucracy of a corporation in search of their own business.

Having spent hour, upon grueling hour, tied up with multiple people who talked ad infinitum only to use the strategic plan as a doorstop, it’s natural to think it’s a waste of time.

Truthfully, strategic thinking is fast, easy, and very effective when done consistently and correctly. (Be sure to ask us how!)

Myth #5: I Think Strategically All Day

Is it strategic in nature? Does it take your goals into consideration? Is it based on data? Are actionable, corrective actions included in your thinking?

You may be thinking all day but you’re not thinking strategically. In fact, most entrepreneurs spend their day thinking tactically. In reality, you’re thinking about how everything will get done.

Strategic thinking, at the start of your week and/or day, means less thinking (i.e., worrying) about how to get it all done. Strategic thinking clears out the clutter lurking in your mind. It keeps you focused and on track with the activities most meaningful to achieving your dreams.

Do any of these myths sound familiar? If so, rethink your approach to the kind of thinking that ultimately impacts your business.

Strategic thinking is the quickest, most predictable, time-effective skill to achieving business success.

 

Oh No! An Invisible Gorilla is Slowing My Business Growth

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

Wow! I did not see this coming…

business growth invisible

There’s an “invisible gorilla” in my business? (It does, however, explain who’s been raiding the snack drawer late at night.)

And it’s having its way with my business growth!

An an entrepreneur, my business depends on attention. In fact, I pride myself in staying focused on strategies to grow my business. The notion of not being alert to a “stocky animal with broad chest and shoulders, large, human-like hands, and small eyes set into a hairless face” is horrifying.

Admitedly I’m less than perfect in pursuit of the attention objective. Like you, my attention is divided between client requests, meetings on zoom, acquiring talent,  moving projects forward, juggling cash flow…

Growing a business today isn’t easy — despite what we often read online. Moving a business forward strategically and systematically is not for the faint of heart.

The fact that an “invisible gorilla” roams aimlessly around the office is unconscionable!

.   .   .  

TLDR:

  • The business owner’s inability to pull themselves out of day-to-day operations overshadows key elements of business growth.
  • “Inattention blindness” ultimately slows or stalls business growth that prompts owner burnout, overwhelm, and despair.
  • Join an entrepreneur cohort, engage a strategic business coach, or learn to retrain your brain to break out of your concealed silo existence.

.   .   .   

Sight Unseen: It’s Monkey Business

But what about the gorilla? In the book, The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us, professors Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons explore the inner workings of our minds. As a result, they uncover how we miss things right in front of us.

Their groundbreaking experiment, known as “The Monkey Business Illusion,” reveals a great deal about our focus, attention, and perceptions — key elements that elevate a business to the next level or keep it plateaued.

Watch “The Monkey Business Illusion” video.  And, experience for yourself how critical pieces of information can be, shall we say, “invisible”.

The Invisible Impact on Business Growth

As Simons points out in the video, “When you’re looking for a gorilla, you often miss other unexpected events.” So it is with business.

When we are so intensely focused on a particular aspect of the business, such as juggling cash flow or delivering value to clients, we often miss the most impactful aspects of business growth. Yet, they are right in front of us.

This is called “inattentional blindness.” “Inattentional blindness” refers to devoting one’s attention to a particular activity and unintentionally missing other critical information.

When Chabris and Simons speak of “inattentional blindness,” they might as well be speaking about our experience as an entrepreneur.

What does it mean to miss cricital pieces of information to grow your business? Here are a few “inattentional blindness” fallouts:

  • loss of relevance and market competitiveness
  • high client turnover
  • slimming profit margins
  • cash flow on life support
  • talent not growing with the organization
  • sluggish or stagnant growth
  • owner burnout and despair

Retrain Your Brain to See the Invisible

Whether your attention is focused on a single aspect of your business or diverted to a multitude of activities, objectivity allows us to identify the opportunities and obstacles we’re missing. For instance, to avoid missing critical information, here are a few solutions to consider:

  1. Join a Mastermind Group of like-minded business owners. Others often see what we are missing. As a result, the insight is priceless for discovering and implementing the right solution.
  2. Engage a strategic business coach. A trained strategic business coach is well-equipped to see the “invisible gorilla” in your business.
  3. Train your mind to think differently.  See the “gorilla” for yourself to recognize the opportunities and strategies to grow your business. In fact, consider reading Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant. It’s eyeopening! ?

Look around. As a result of this new information, are you seeing any “invisible gorillas” in the midst of your business?

Business Growth Rates to Overcome Your Growing Pains

Posted by
Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia
business growth

When asked about business growth goals, many Stage II entrepreneurs respond in a variety of ways, like “do better than last year” or “double what we did last year”. This seemingly unplanned, off-the-cuff response doesn’t come from a casual attitude about business growth. It originates from a lack of foundation from which to set strategic goals. 

The truth for most small business entrepreneurs is that business growth is somewhat ad hoc. It’s kind of a mystery. It’s what happens to us when we’re frantically working “in” our business rather than “on” our business.

Business Growth: Not As Easy As it Seems

During the economic downturn of 2008, entrepreneurs quickly discovered the challenges of an economic retreat. Revenues dipped. Budgets were cut. Talent was reduced to keep organizations afloat.

My Dad, a product of The Great Depression, would say, “We need to tighten our belts.” And, tighten our belts we did!

Despite that, many of our colleagues were unable to keep their heads above water. The small business failure rate was 4%. An additional 12% of businesses shuttered in 2009. 

Businesses that sustained a growth rate of 20% or more stayed afloat during that stressful time. Despite the challenges, they weathered the storm.

I originally wrote about business growth rates in 2013. At that time, economists were identifying a global economic decline in 2019 (see 2. The economy will slow down…). Economists said it would likely spread to the United States in 2020. Yikes! We did not see COVID, and its accompanying financial upheaval, coming.

By April 2020, 22% of small businesses that existed only three (3) months earlier vanished despite PPP support. That’s 3.3 million businesses!  One year later, in April 2021, 36.8% of small business entrepreneurs anticipated the return to normal operations would take longer than six months. Their primary concern?  Talent acquisition.

Despite the uncertainty, small business entrepreneurs remained optimistic. In fact, 89% of small businesses queried by Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program were confident their business would survive. That’s good news!

Business Growth: How Fast is Too Fast to Grow?

While obtaining my MDE (Management Development of Entrepreneurship) at UCLA Anderson School of Business, I had the good fortune of studying under Professors Yvonne Randle and Eric Flamholtz. They created a framework to prepare entrepreneurs for business growth.

Based on their work with a variety of organizations, Prof. Randle and Flamholtz identified five rates of growth for small business firms. (From Growing Pains…Transitioning from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm by Eric Flamholtz & Yvonne Randle)

1. Less than 15% annually — growth.

Although many consider this rate rather unspectacular, a firm will double its size in five years while growing at a 15% rate. (Raise your hand if doubling the size of your business in five years is acceptable to you. ?)

2. 15 – 25% annually — rapid growth. (Note: My practice with coaching business clients growing at 15- 25% revealed some interesting experiences.

During their time of accelerated growth, they admittedly worked harder. They were exhausted at the end of the week. Resources like time, talent, and money were stretched. The quickened growth — and thinning margins — often required an infusion of capital. This seems to be more common with service-based businesses due to the required talent to deliver on value.

The notion of a capital investment, whether it’s through taking on debt via a credit card, loan, or credit line is a bit unnerving. Yet sometimes that’s the risk of entrepreneurship to provide the resources needed to break through to the next level.

Being strategic can help you leverage the risk to reduce your personal stress and get a good return on the risk.)

3. 25 – 50% annually — very rapid growth.

4. 50 – 100% annually — hypergrowth.

5. Greater than 100% annually — light-speed growth.

Your Goal for Business Growth

Rapid growth is very appealing to the always-optimistic entrepreneur. However, it’s good to note these growth rates can create problems for an entrepreneurial firm. Rapid growth, for instance, can make it difficult to keep up with the needed infrastructure.  A business can actually choke on its own growth.

Isn’t it nice to have some guidelines for intentionality in planning your business growth?

What’s your growth goal? Let us know how we can help you achieve clarity, focus, and strategy to achieve your growth goals.

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Brooke Billingsley

Vice President
Perception Strategies

Synnovatia is a strategic coaching firm that is detailed and knowledgeable about business. i have a small business that grew from $150K to $750K because of the goal setting and resources that Synnovatia provided. It saves me years of learning on my own.

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