Growing Your Business: The Four Stages
Most business owners begin a journey with extremely high expectations of the future outcomes of his or her company. Of course, no new business owner or entrepreneur expects for their business to fail, yet often times they do simply by becoming overwhelmed by the changes in the growth of their business. One does not have to completely recognize these changes to be successful, however, it will greatly improve awareness and adaptability as you prepare for the four stages of growth rather than reacting to them (Otto, 2013). According to Mark Otto, a business consultant and author of “Built to Grow: A survival manual to growing companies”, these four stages are created by the changing framework of the company …show more content…
During this stage the company payroll increases and although the business owner still conducts daily tasks, a team is hired to conduct the main effort of the company (McCubbrey, 2009). Some of the characteristics associated with this stage are a more broad market, creating a basic infrastructure for the business and hierarchy, and building partnerships with other companies (Otto, 2013). Using the example during the first stage, the individual would now be managing a few workers mowing even more lawns and possibly reaching out to other vendors to increase his work …show more content…
In order for companies to continue to grow and be successful they must scale back on certain areas to ensure the multi-layered management systems do not clash. These characteristics would include adding policies, organizational charts, budgets, protocols, and job descriptions to ensure the framework is complete and able to sustain without these clashes (McCubbrey, 2009). This stage is the optimal stage to be in because the machine is well oiled and broken in by this point. As in our example, the business has now grown into a Lawn Care Company that cares for the lawns of major businesses as well as homes, which could include restructuring lawns, mowing, maintaining lawns, providing estimates,
Most business owners begin a journey with extremely high expectations of the future outcomes of his or her company. Of course, no new business owner or entrepreneur expects for their business to fail, yet often times they do simply by becoming overwhelmed by the changes in the growth of their business. One does not have to completely recognize these changes to be successful, however, it will greatly improve awareness and adaptability as you prepare for the four stages of growth rather than reacting to them (Otto, 2013). According to Mark Otto, a business consultant and author of “Built to Grow: A survival manual to growing companies”, these four stages are created by the changing framework of the company …show more content…
During this stage the company payroll increases and although the business owner still conducts daily tasks, a team is hired to conduct the main effort of the company (McCubbrey, 2009). Some of the characteristics associated with this stage are a more broad market, creating a basic infrastructure for the business and hierarchy, and building partnerships with other companies (Otto, 2013). Using the example during the first stage, the individual would now be managing a few workers mowing even more lawns and possibly reaching out to other vendors to increase his work …show more content…
In order for companies to continue to grow and be successful they must scale back on certain areas to ensure the multi-layered management systems do not clash. These characteristics would include adding policies, organizational charts, budgets, protocols, and job descriptions to ensure the framework is complete and able to sustain without these clashes (McCubbrey, 2009). This stage is the optimal stage to be in because the machine is well oiled and broken in by this point. As in our example, the business has now grown into a Lawn Care Company that cares for the lawns of major businesses as well as homes, which could include restructuring lawns, mowing, maintaining lawns, providing estimates,