In this fifth and final episode in a series focusing on the different business phases, the attributes, and the focal points of each, today we are focusing on the phase I call evolution. So let’s dive into business phase 4–evolution, shall we?
To get to this phase, you have had to go through the startup, growth, and mature phases. No doubt you have felt like you have personally evolved through each of those, phases and the reality is that you have. Both you and your business have evolved. The key to phase 4 is the fact that you have to continue to evolve in order to survive.
You have created a machine by the time you are in phase 4. It’s a machine that, because of your focus in each phase, will continue to move forward as long as nothing gets in its path. And that is the key.
You see, in this phase, you cannot stay status quo. It may feel like you should just keep doing what you have been doing, but that isn’t the case. Realize that as you run your business you are going to have changes in the industry. That’s not a surprise, but the way you think about those changes may be. You see, just because you are big doesn’t mean the changes in the industry won’t impact you. They absolutely will. And if you don’t keep your eyes open, look for industry changes down the road, turn your machine of a business to the left or the right and change the course in advance of the change, you could have a head-on collision which will result in a business decline.
In essence, phase 4 is a mini business cycle being executed over, and over, and over again.
You see the changes in the industry, you make a change or launch a new product: start-up phase. You validate those ideas and when you find what works, you scale the growth phase. After you scale it, you stabilize it: mature phase. Then you continue to evolve and start over again.
So you see, you take what you know, what you have learned within your business from inception to today, and you do it over, and over, and over again.
OK, so outside of this overall process, what else do you have going on? Your people focus is strong here. You should be expanding your legal and HR teams because the larger you get, the more risk you will have from a legal perspective. It’s just a reality.
Relative to your headcount, you have super-specialized teams at this point. You have multiple layers of leadership and you have a c-suite of leaders at this point as well.
From a revenue perspective, it’s strong, your pay is solid, you are able to recruit top talent because of how stable your company is as well as the ability to pay them competitively. In this phase, you are going to take your profits and you are going to invest it in more passive income pathways so you have passive income assets to generate revenue outside of this business alone.
Internally, you may feel like you want to sit and rest. You feel like you have arrived and there is nothing else to do. The reality is that you have to start over again, on a smaller, cyclical scale as I have already mentioned. While this may seem exhausting for some of you, it should be exciting for most of you.
Now, if you do not evolve, if you do not look ahead and stay innovative in your industry, your business will decline. If you get to a certain point of decline, there is almost no way to pull your business out of that decline, and ultimately, your business will die. So be aware of the risk of not evolving.
Does any of this sound like your business? Go take the quiz at legendleaders.com/quiz to find out!
Be Legendary!