What it really takes to experience FAST GROWTH in your business.
Just about every entrepreneur I know wants their business to grow faster.
Entrepreneurs are by nature impatient people.
Tell an entrepreneur there is a way to accelerate their progress and they are all ears.
If you have ever looked at another business owner and felt a sense of envy at the seemingly break neck speed they appear to be growing, then you’re about to learn their secret.
Often when you look on from the sidelines it can be hard to identify EXACTLY what their secret is.
Turns out it’s not a secret at all.
It’s easy and perhaps more comfortable for many entrepreneurs to believe that there is a magic formula behind fast growth, that if they knew what it was, they too could experience the same trajectory.
But after spending the last 15 years working with thousands of entrepreneurs, I’ve discovered it really comes down to one thing…
…Focused Hustle.
Most small business owners would consider themselves hardworking. They are willing (required) to put in the long hours.
But for many, long hours is no guarantee of success, let alone fast growth.
Focused Hustle is more than simply working long and hard. It’s about a strategic approach to business growth and the willingness to do what matters most.
Stephen Covey in his acclaimed book, 7 Habits of Highly Productive People, pointed out that the most productive people focused on what was important rather than simply urgent.
One of the key reasons businesses experience fast growth is because the owner doesn’t get distracted by fire fighting.
Instead, they are lazer focused on doing the most important activities in their business. The fact is that momentum in business comes from pushing consistently in one focused direction.
In contrast, slow growth business owners tend to be splintered in their thinking. A lack of clear purpose and direction leads to a lot of disconnected activity, all with little result.
The other noticeable difference between fast and slow growth business owners is their willingness to really hustle.
When it comes to being willing to hustle, Thomas Edison said, “The successful person makes a habit of doing what the failing person doesn’t like to do.”
The definition of a Focused Hustle is to be willing to prioritise doing the tough stuff first.
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If you want to make the switch from slow burn to fast growth business, here are 5 rules that entrepreneurs applying the Focused Hustle philosophy live by.
- Know your immediate goal. All your activity must be aligned behind a measurable target. I want 100 people in my new program. I want 10 enquiries a week. I want $100,000 in the next 90 days. If you don’t have a target, you will be doing activity without purpose.
- Before you tackle any task, ask yourself – For What Purpose? If that task is not directly aligned with the achievement of your specific objective, ignore it or outsource it to someone else. Avoid burning your time on low value work or shiny objects.
- Money-making activity first. Your priority is to fill and maintain your opportunity pipeline. This means forming the habit of making your 5-7 calls every day. Reaching out to leads, centres of influence, customers, past clients, media outlets and connections.
- Don’t make sales create clients. Fast growth isn’t based in transactional selling; rather it’s built on the quality of the relationship you create. If you think going for the quick buck is the fast path to riches, think again. Building relationships takes longer but ultimately creates maximum velocity in your business.
- Build a movement, not a process. One of the lynchpins of a fast growth business is the ability to rally people around an idea, a cause, or a passion. By building a community of likeminded thinkers, you create an army of advocates who will accelerate the growth of your business much faster than you could ever do alone.
Applying the principle of the Focused Hustle doesn’t mean you will be an overnight success. Business requires work – there is simply no escaping that fact.
The reality is that the difference between a fast and slow growth entrepreneur is really very simple.
One is easily distracted by the allure of silver bullet strategies and magic get rich quick formulas, which in truth, only slows you down.
The other, however, is crystal clear about what they are doing as well as why they are doing it, and attack the most important (and often most challenging) aspects of their business relentlessly every day.
The equation then is simple. If you want faster growth, get ready to do some Focused Hustling.
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Dedicated to your success,
Paul.