Growing your small business wasn’t intended to be chaotic, confusing, overwhelming, and stressful. You dreamt that small business ownership would be fun, exciting, thrilling, rewarding, and would grow like a weed. What happened?! It all started when you said, “yes” to conventional wisdom.
Small business owners say “yes” more than is necessary to grow their business. Too often small business entrepreneurs say “yes” because conventional wisdom dictates certain actions to succeed in business.
For instance, conventional wisdom says that you should subscribe to e-newsletters to keep up-to-the-minute with the latest and greatest in your industry. Although it’s exciting and may feel necessary to have this information at your disposal, it actually inundates your inbox, pulls you off course, and distracts you from your primary focus.
Conventional wisdom nudges you to attend networking events or join networking groups. While this may be a successful tactic for some industries, when you know your ideal client won’t be attending, why continue to follow conventional wisdom? The same advice pertains to joining a local Chamber of Commerce. At one time, a chamber membership was invaluable for growing business but they have since lost their relevance for small business.
Equally astonishing is when we continue to execute actions that clearly aren’t generating results – because conventional business wisdom instructs you to do so. “Yes” is uttered much too often to conventional wisdom.
Saying “yes” adds a level of complexity to your business that makes your business harder to manage. Complexity creates unnecessary confusion and chaos. As a result, we’re many times overwhelmed and stressed with all we have to do – little of which will actually help us grow. Most importantly, when focus diffuses, business growth slows.
Are you ready to make “no” your default response to conventional wisdom and its subsequent complexity? Keep your business clean, lean, nimble, and on the grow.
Not sure what actions deserve a “yes” and which ones warrant a “no”? I’m happy to help streamline your business so you can grow more quickly.
