Nobody wants to be another statistic of a small business that failed. And people have this notion that you have to scale quickly if you don’t want to fail.
But what you really need to scale your business is not speed, but momentum.
Here are three problems associated with speed:
- Speed does not equal success.
People think scaling quickly will prove to others that you’re doing the right thing and you’re building the right company. But it doesn’t equate to success if you focus too much on the numbers rather than serving your customers.
- Speed does not equal direction.
When you’re starting out, you may not always know what you really want. And if you’re going too fast, you might later realize you’ve gone the wrong direction. You’re climbing so fast to reach the top of the mountain when you’re actually climbing the wrong mountain. The problem is that as your company gets bigger, the harder it is to keep in check.
- Speed quickly leads to burnout.
We can all glean a huge lesson from the fable of the tortoise and the hare. The hare starts off the race really fast to prove his speed, but then he immediately gets winded. Seeing that the tortoise is way behind him, he decides to take a nap. But he overslept and the moment he woke up, the tortoise is now long gone crossing the finish line. In business, this rocket ship approach could sure be exciting, but it definitely isn’t healthy.
Don’t confuse momentum with speed.
Instead of focusing on speed, think of momentum. Focus on the right growth. Slow down. Look at where you’ve been, where you are right now, how far you’ve come, and then look ahead. Is that the direction that you really want to go to? Are these the goals that you truly want to be pursuing?
If you want to learn more about creating momentum in your business, check out the Diary of a Doer Podcast.
