Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Larry Linne, entrepreneur, advisor, and author. We hope you enjoy Larry's wisdom and perspective.
Some business owners look at the future and want more. They see the roadblocks, the challenges, the opportunities, and put plans in place to do their best. The desire is to get better and move the company forward. They are fully aware of how difficult it will be. The SWOT analysis has captured all of the information needed to understand the path they must take and what could derail them. They move forward - calculated, purposeful, and safe.
Other business owners, in the same industry, blow right past the first group’s results, accomplishing things others don’t even know are possible. They really aren’t taking any additional risks. They are fully aware of all the risks and have very clear contingency plans and predictive models to manage them. They are growing at an unprecedented pace, thrilled their competitors don’t understand why they are so successful.
The first group makes excuses for the second group’s success. They say, “My market is different. He is taking too many risks. She is lucky! I would rather do things my way than do what they are doing to grow!”
Are they right?
Eleven years ago, I worked as the Sales Manager in a company in New Mexico. I was in an industry networking group with an owner from another business in the Northwest. We shared a lot of best practices and learned from each other. I eventually left the business and lost touch with my friend. After many years apart, I had the chance to catch up with my old friend and see how he was doing. I was surprised to hear his firm grew four hundred percent in 10 years. In an industry that averages less than 3% growth per year, that was an amazing accomplishment.
I remember the days of sharing best practices with him. We had the same thoughts about the industry and how to attack the monster of growth. We were doing a lot of the same things and were both actually industry-leading firms.
My life changed with a big opportunity to move to Florida and become a partner in a consulting firm. I lost touch with my friend and didn’t track how he was doing.
When I spoke with him a few months ago and learned his firm had quadrupled, I was blown away. I asked him a ton of questions to understand what caused this growth. They hadn’t done any acquisitions, though they were getting ready to do one at the time. They had accomplished all of the growth organically. They had sold their way into this incredible success. But, nothing they did was really resonating with me as a true differentiation, until…
My friend unleashed the power of growth in his next comment and explanation. He said, “We decided to get an advisory board. We decided to challenge ourselves and get people that would push us. So, we brought on a ‘billionaire’ to be on our board.”
He went on to explain how the billionaire was self-made and grew his business and sold it. He said, “This guy made us think differently. We used to look at roadblocks as real roadblocks. We saw our future the way we had always looked at our future. We were safe. We were living in our constrained world and thinking the way we were comfortable thinking. This board member pushed us to think like a bigger firm. He would ask us, ’why not?’ on every aspect of where we thought we were not capable of going.”
How often do we restrict our personal lives and our businesses because we can only think of what we know? We don’t really get in shape because we don’t know what is possible. We don’t sell to a larger client because we know all the reasons we will fail. We want to differentiate, but we are afraid of being different. We go to training and events and find where we can support that we are on the right track versus challenging our current beliefs and behaviors.
The ONLY difference between these two companies was how they think!
What’s The Risk?
Too often, people are restricted - not by reality, but by their history and…how they think. As a business consultant I can give people a lot of tools to become successful and do great things. It is clear to me today, the greatest thing I can give to someone is to help them change the way they think!
Looking at our personal lives and our business lives, we draw from all of our history, experience, and education in daily decisions. We can live a safe life and let what we know guide us. It’s safe! It’s comfortable! It will work.
Or, we can change the way we think. What if we pushed past what was normal? What if we stretched ourselves to do something that hasn’t been done before? How would we do it?
Since hearing of my friend’s success, I have started pushing the boundaries. I am not being stupid and risky. I have found that thinking bigger and different causes me to do more research and learn new things. This stretching causes me to look at new contingencies and find new strategies to protect and be calculated on my journey. Fear keeps us from pushing outside. Knowledge will overcome fear!
However, the risks are not any more risky. They are bigger. But, the rewards are greater. I feel just as safe in this world with all of the items of clarity around my path as I did in the smaller world that was protected by knowing my environment.
This content was written and shared by guest blogger Larry Linne.
Larry Linne is one of the most innovative and inspirational business leaders in North America. He is an entrepreneur and owns numerous companies in consulting, insurance, and executive management. Larry is the author of Make the Noise Go Away and Brand Aid.
Connect with Larry on LinkedIn and Twitter.
