Entrepreneur SmartTips Guide Business Growth Rapid Steady Growth

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    TheHow-to

    Handbook

    smartp

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    d e f i n i n g t h e b u s i n e s s m o

    Take your start-up to the next level with thiscollection o business growth articles selected

    rom Entrepreneurmagazine. In this booklet,expert writers will guide you through the disciplinesand principles necessary to build a solid platorm or

    protable and sustainable growth.

    A Platr r Rapid, Steady GrtcoNsIstENt ANd AggrEssIvE growth cAN BE rEAlIsEdthrough thE dEvElopMENt of BusINEss dIscIplINEsANd succEss prINcIplEs.

    Businss Advi Tls:

    1Habits for success & ProsPerity

    World-renowned expert Brian Tracy onwhich habits to develop to take your business

    to the top. Pg 2

    2Define roles & structureBuild your business as i it were a ranchiseand dene roles upront to build a solid

    oundation. Pg 6

    3get your Plan in actionHow to use ROI (return on investment) tond the most avourable strategy to grow your

    business. Pg 8

    4Dominate your marketFind out what it takes to get ahead o the

    competition. Pg 10

    5get more business from

    fewer clientsRather than planting new accounts, cultivatethe relationships with the customers you

    already have. Pg 12

    6avoiD Diseconomies of scaleFor years business owners have been strito grow their businesses bigger and bigger to

    achieve economies o scale. Pg 14

    7aDaPt to surviveWealth expert Robert Kiyosaki on buildingyour company to be tough and tenacious, or

    lithe and limber. Pg 16

    i

    PUBLISHING CREDITS

    plh Andrew Honey maa Nicole Lombard cpy Lesley Lambert a c NikkiEntrepreneur South Africa is published by Smart Business Solutions (Pty) Ltd. A KreditInform Group Company

    beginners guide to

    The How-to Guide

    for Starting & Improving a Business.eneenema..za

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    The absence o any one o thesekey habits can be costly, even

    atal, to your company. Whenyou become competent and capablein each o these areas, you will be

    able to accomplish extraordinaryresults ar aster and ar easier thanyour competitors.

    1Plan thrughly. The rst re-quirement or business successis the habit o planning. The betteryou plan your activities in advance,the aster and easier it will be or

    you to carry out your plans and getthe results you desire once youstart to work.

    There is a Six P acronymthat says, proper prior planningprevents poor perormance. Very

    oten, the rst 20% o the time thatyou spend developing completeplans will save you 80% o the time

    later in achieving the business goals

    you have set.You need to ask yoursel very

    specic questions and be sure tohave crystal-clear answers (seebox, page 5). Once you have asked

    and answered these questions,

    the next stage o planning is toset specic targets or sales and

    protability. You must determine theexact amount o money, adver-tising, marketing, distribution,

    acilities, and administration andservice people you will need in orderto achieve your goals.

    2Get rganised bere yuget started. Once you havedeveloped a complete plan or your

    business, you must then developthe habit o organising the people

    wANt to tAkE your BusINEss to thE top? dEvElop thEsE hABIts ANd ENjoy

    A sMooth jourNEy. By BrIAN trAcy

    Habits r Success & Prsperity01

    smart tips: platform for rapid, steadY growth

    S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S4 S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S www.enTrepreneur mA g.co.zA

    and resources you need beoreyou begin. In organising, you bringtogether all the resources you have

    determined youll need in the plan-ning process. In the military, thereis a saying: Amateurs talk strategy,

    but proessionals talk logistics.Its essential that you determine

    every ingredient youll need beore

    you begin business operations andbring them together so they areready to go when you open your

    doors or begin your project. The ail-ure to provide even one importantingredient in advance can lead to

    the ailure o the entire enterprise.

    3Find the right peple. The thirdhabit you must develop is thehabit o hiring the right people tohelp you achieve your goals. Fully

    95% o your success as an entrepre-neur or executive will be determinedby the quality o the people you

    recruit to work with you or to workon your team. The act is, the best

    companies have the best peop

    The second-best companies hathe second-best people. The th

    best companies have the averaor mediocre people, and they atheir way out o business.

    4Delegate isely. The ourthabit you need to develop obusiness success is proper deletion. You must develop the abilitdelegate the right task to the rig

    person in the right way. The inabto delegate eectively can be thcause o ailure or underperorm

    o the individual and can even babout ailure o the business.

    When people start in busines

    they usually do everything themselves. As they grow and expanjob becomes too large or one p

    so they hire someone to do partHowever, i they are not careul,try to retain control o the task a

    never ully hand over authority responsibility to the other perso

    Whether youre an executive o

    entrepreneur, you need to identi

    two or three things that you do thcontribute the most value to you

    pany and then delegate the rest. to think in terms o getting thingdone through others rather than

    trying to do them yoursel. Its the

    Q tp: Th thuhly yu plan ah

    sta f yu businss ativitis

    bf yu bin, th at th

    pbability that yu ill sud

    hn yu n patins.

    you need

    to identify

    the two

    or three

    things that

    you do that

    contribute

    the most

    value

    to your

    company

    and then

    delegate

    the rest.

    more

    infoi

    tips on business

    innovation

    and growth

    strategies

    Log on to www.entrepreneurmag.

    co.za

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    o selecting and dening specicgoals, measures and activities thatare then used as benchmarks or

    perormance. In his book FromGood to Great, author Jim Collinsreers to the importance o selecting

    the economic denominator or acompany, and or individual goalsand objectives within that company.

    Whichever number you choose, itmust be clear to everyone, and itmust be monitored continually to

    make sure everyone is on track.

    7

    Keep peple inred. The

    seventh habit or businesspeo-

    ple is the habit o reporting resultsregularly and accurately. People

    around you need to know whats go-ing on. Your bankers need to knowyour nancial results. Your sta

    needs to know the status and thesituation o your company. Your keypeople, at all levels, need to know

    what results are being achieved.In a study on workplace motiva-

    tion, several thousand employees

    said the most important actor lead-

    ing to job satisaction was being inthe know. People in an organisa-

    tion have a deep need to know andunderstand what is going on aroundthem in relation to their work.

    The more thoroughly and acc

    rately you report to people the d

    and situation o your business, thappier they will be and the bett

    the results they will get.

    way you can leverage and multiplyyour special skills and abilities.

    5Inspect hat yu expect.The th requirement or busi-

    ness success is or you to develop

    the habit o proper supervision. Youmust set up a system to monitor thetask and make sure its being done

    as agreed upon. The rule is: inspectwhat you expect.

    Once you have delegated a task

    to the right person in the rightway, its essential that you monitorthe perormance o the task and

    make sure its done on schedule

    and to the required level o quality.

    Remember that delegation is not ab-

    dication. You are still responsible orthe ultimate results o the delegated

    tasks. You must stay on top o them.When you have delegated a task,set up a system o reporting so thatyoure always inormed about the

    status o the work. Be sure the otherperson knows what is to be done,and when, and to what standard.

    Your job is then to make sure heor she has the time and resourcesnecessary to get the job done

    satisactorily. The more importantthe job, the more oten you shouldcheck on the progress.

    6measure hat gets dne. Thesixth practice o successulentrepreneurs and executives is thehabit o measuring perormance.

    You must set specic, measurablestandards and scorecards or theresults you require. You have to set

    specic timelines and deadlinesto make sure you make yournumbers on schedule. Everyone

    who is expected to carry out a task

    must know with complete claritythe targets he or she is aiming at,

    how successul perormance will bemeasured, and when the expectedresults are due.

    Dont underestimate the importance

    smart tips: platform for rapid, steadY growth

    S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S6 S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S www.enTrepreneur mA g.co.zA

    This article is excerpted from Mii DHis from Entrepreneur Press EntreprMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

    b b P

    DEvELoP THE HABIT oF

    ASKING AND ANSwERING THEFoLLowING qUESTIoNS:

    what xatly is y pdut

    wh xatly is y ust

    why ds y ust buy

    what ds y ust

    b f valu?

    what is it that aks y p

    svi supi t that

    ptits?

    why is it that y psptiv

    ust ds nt buy?

    why ds y psptiv

    buy f y ptit?

    what valu ds h/sh p

    buyin f y ptit

    H an I ffst that pp

    t y ptits ust

    buy f ?

    what n thin ust y u

    nvind f t buy f

    than f sn ls?

    everyone

    who isexpected to

    carry out

    a task must

    know with

    complete

    clarity the

    targets

    he or she

    is aiming

    at, how

    successfulperfor-

    mance

    will be

    measured,

    and when

    the expected

    results

    are due.

    more

    infoi

    inormation

    on demand

    Over 800 pages

    of practical

    business

    improvement

    tips just a

    click away.

    Log on to www.entrepreneurmag.co.za

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    try keep up with the everydaydemands o the business.

    This is a common situation orbusiness owners. Early in theliecycle o the business entre-

    preneurs land up doing every-thing themselves, rom productdevelopment, marketing, sales

    and accounting, to delivery. As thebusiness grows, so these demandsincrease. With the increasing

    demands, the entrepreneurs do nothave the time to put in processesand systems to deliver on the

    companys oering. They get drawn

    more and more into the detail o ev-ery aspect o the business and the

    business becomes more and moredependent on the owner to keepdelivering. This turns into a vicious

    cycle that restrains the growth othe business and can lead to burn-out on the part o the entrepreneur,

    or to poor quality products andcustomer service.

    what can entrepreneurs do

    to structure their business

    so that it can grow without

    consuming them and becoming

    totally reliant on them?

    One o the answers to this question

    is to approach the building o a new

    business with a ranchise min

    as described by Michael Gerber

    excellent book The E-Myth RevisIn other words, as you build you

    business, set it up as though yogoing to ranchise it. A ranchisa recipe or a business that can

    replicated many times over. Youhave no intention o ever ranchbut i you adopt the ranchise

    mindset you are orced to denvarious roles in the organisationup the systems and processes

    product and service delivery anthe goals and measures in plac

    ensure success. This establishethe oundations or eectivebusiness growth.

    It is not easy to bring this so

    o rigour and discipline to a smgrowing business. It is much mun to just create, sell and deliv

    But i you dont dene who doewhat and how things should bedone you will eventually nd

    yoursel doing absolutelyeverything and orsaking every

    other aspect o your lie to keepthe business growing.

    what canentrepre-

    neurs do to

    structure

    their

    business

    so that it

    can grow

    without

    consuming

    them and

    becoming

    totally

    reliant on

    them?

    Defne Rles & Structures

    Recently I called three o myriends to nd out i theywanted to join me or a Sat-

    urday morning mountain bike rideollowed by a leisurely breakastand catch-up session. All three

    are business owners and all threeturned me down. One had to spend

    time compiling and sending outinvoices that were three monthsoverdue, the other had to work allweekend to push out a tender that

    was due on Monday morning andthe nal person had to visit a client

    who had called in that aternoon

    with a major problem that neededto be sorted out by noon the nextday. As I pondered the situation

    I realised that my riends werereally working hard and becomingoverwhelmed by the challenge o

    managing a small but growing

    business. They were eeling thestrain o being responsible or too

    many acets o the business; theyelt like they were being pulled in20 dierent directions and they

    were working crazy hours just to

    smart tips: platform for rapid, steadY growth

    02

    S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S8 S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S www.enTrepreneur mA g.co.zA

    GREG FISHER CA(SA), MBA, is an associatefaculty member at the Gordon Instituteof Business Science (GIBS) and is currentlyresearching Technology E ntrepreneurshipthe University of Washington

    BuIld your BusINEss As If It wErE A frANchIsE ANd dEfINE rolEs upfroNt

    to BuIld A solId fouNdAtIoN. By grEg fIshEr

    more

    infoi

    guidelines on

    how to create

    budgets &

    fnancial

    orecasts

    Log on to www.

    entrepreneurmag.co.za

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    I the business is currently enjoy-ing an overall 25% ROI, the questionthe owner must answer is, Should

    I invest R300 000 in the addition

    o the new product line to earn anROI that is nearly 9% less than my

    business is currently earning(25% - 16% = 9%)? The correct an-swer appears to be an obvious no,

    but there may be other businessreasons that would cause the ownerto decide to add this product line,

    such as the presence o a strongmarket demand or the new items.

    In any event, once each growth

    strategy is converted into an ROI per-

    centage, you can compare dissimilargrowth options, and ROI can be used

    as a critical nancial componentin any business growth decision.Furthermore, just as ROI analysis can

    be used to evaluate these additional

    growth strategies, it also can be

    to evaluate business ideas, suc

    those o entirely new businesseAnd ortunately, ROI analysis ca

    applied to these new business iwell beore an owner ever decidinvest in that new business.

    d e f i n i n g t h e b u s i n e s s m od e f i n i n g t h e b u s i n e s s m o

    Most entrepreneurs haveavailable to them morethan one way to grow their

    businesses. The process o decidingon a growth strategy is ongoing, andthe decisions that result can be criti-

    cal to uture success.The search or real business

    growth, by creating permanent in-

    creases in prot as a direct result omeasurable and sustained increas-es in sales volume, may not only

    be a reaction to opportunities in the

    marketplace, but also a requirementin order or your business to main-

    tain market share.The right decisions can conceiv-

    ably have a major positive impact on

    your businesss bottom line, therebycreating real growth. However, iyou choose unwisely, or decide

    to do nothing when action isclearly warranted, the resultscan lead to a loss o growth

    potential, or even a period o

    negative growth (decreasedsales and protability).

    As with so many issues inbusiness, growth decisions shouldbe based on objective nancial data,

    consisting o relevant estimates

    and projections. Not every growthstrategy can be expected to impact

    a business in the same manner, andover the same time period.

    Think o your decisions in the

    context o ROI analysis. Eachgrowth opportunity has an invest-ment component, rands you will be

    required to spend as a part o theprocess o implementing a specicgrowth strategy. The corresponding

    return you can expect rom yourinvestment in business growth can

    be represented as the increasedprot your business is projectedto incur, directly as a result o thesales increases created by your

    growth strategy.

    or example: A retail business

    is considering growing by addinga new product line. The requiredinvestment to add the line is

    R300 000. This addition is expectedto add R200 000 in annual sales,

    and as a direct result, a correspond-ing R50 000 increase in annual netprot. Thereore, the anticipated ROIrom this additional (product) line is

    in excess o 16% (R50 000 dividedby R300 000).

    smart tips: platform for rapid, steadY growth

    Get Yur Plan in Actin03

    the process

    of deciding

    on a growth

    strategy is

    ongoing,

    and the

    decisions

    that result

    can becritical

    to future

    success.

    usE roI (rEturN oN INvEstMENt) to fINd thE Most fAvourABlE strAtEgy

    to grow your BusINEss. By dAvId MEIEr

    S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S10 S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S www.enTrepreneur mA g.co.zA

    Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reser

    s rdp:

    1. All quality ti f

    stati thinkin

    2. Kp th plan sipl

    3. mak tuh his

    4. Fus n all phass f th

    pss: assssnt, psit

    plannin, iplntatin

    5. gt yu idas/

    assuptins hallnd

    6. chk th roI

    7. rvi ulaly

    more

    infoi

    tips on business

    innovation

    and growth

    strategies

    Log on to www.

    entrepreneurmag.co.za

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    d e f i n i n g t h e b u s i n e s s m o

    3They generate real slutins.The big word today inbusiness is solutions, Jennings

    says. But most companies arestill just selling stu, slammingboxes. Entrepreneurs who manage

    to stay ahead o the competitioncreate authentic win-win solutionsor their customers. Jennings cites

    the story o one entrepreneur whostarted out by sewing nursesuniorms, then began providing

    all kinds o disposable items orhospitals, and now is taking overthe purchasing unction or entire

    hospitals saving their customers

    millions o rands in the process.Thats a win-win solution,

    arms Jennings.

    4They get eery eplyeet act like an ner.They do so by basing pay and

    bonuses on the value eachperson adds to the business.You cant have everybody think

    and act like an owner until youpay everybody like an owner,

    Jennings stresses. Ownersdont get paid unless they createvalue, but i they create lots ovalue, they get paid a lot. I they

    create tremendous value, they gettremendous pay.

    5They base their businessa set fe r six aluesprinciples. It became very poa ew years ago or companiescome up with a loty set o 15

    20 values, Jennings notes. Thung them on the wall, publish

    them in the annual report andtalked about them once a yeacompany meeting. Then they wback to doing everything the w

    they did it beore.

    when an

    entrepre-neur has a

    manageable

    number of

    key prin-

    ciples more

    people are

    able to make

    decisions.

    smart tips: platform for rapid, steadY growth

    Jason Jennings the author oIts Not the Big That Eat the

    Small... Its the Fast That Eat

    the Slow and Think Big, Act Small

    reveals the ve characteristics ocompanies that stay ahead othe competition:

    1They hae executies h keep

    their hands dirty. That meansentrepreneurs are on the rontlineswith customers at least 50% o thetime. Jennings explains: This helps

    them keep their ngers on the pulsein the market they serve.

    2They are uick t let g yesterdays breadinners.I a product, service or methodworked once but its day has

    passed, they let it go. Theydont cling to the attitude that isomething has always been done

    this way, it must be done this way,says Jennings. And they let go o

    the idea that the CEOs ideas aresacrosanct. Businesses wastetoo much time trying to breathelie into something thats dead or

    trying to make something workbecause its the CEOs idea.

    fINd out whAt It tAkEs to gEt AhEAd of thE coMpEtItIoN. By MArk hENrIcks

    Dinate Yur market04

    more

    infoi

    big marketing

    ideas or small

    budgets

    Log on to www.

    entrepreneurmag.co.za or low

    cost, highimpact ideas

    k Pp

    whn an ntpnu has

    aabl nub f ky pinand vyn in th pa

    kns th, ppl a

    t ak disins. eply

    dnt ait f th hiahy

    disins, hih spds up

    akin indibly.

    Bin fast stayin aha

    ptitin has nthin t

    physial spd, Jnnins s

    has t d ith thinkin fast

    in fast, ttin t akt f

    aintainin ntu. An

    nly ay yu an b fast is

    in su vybdy in th

    kns h disins a

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    d e f i n i n g t h e b u s i n e s s m o

    The next step is to anticipate the

    needs and concerns o each depart-ment through a measurement o the

    pain they are likely to experience.For example, i you are supplyingparts or production, you might

    guess that their pain includes thelost production time rom equip-ment breakage. In response, you

    might oer to warehouse spareparts, so their equipment will nevergo down or long. Make the sugges-

    tion beore it even occurs to them

    to ask. Or, oer to provide them withparts on a consignment basis that

    they can keep on the premises.In other words, the goal is to pro-

    vide meaningul solutions that not

    only generate additional business

    or you, but also create a barrie

    your competition.Once youve dened addition

    products and services your acc

    can use, determine to whom yoshould present your solution. Tstart preparing your presentati

    initiating your marketing plan. ing a concentration o businessa legitimate concern. But by div

    siying your existing account, ycan make your relationship mosubstantial. Is putting all your e

    in one basket really so risky? Nyou hard-boil them rst.

    smart tips: platform for rapid, steadY growth

    05rAthEr thAN plANtINg NEw AccouNts, cultIvAtE thE rElAtIoNshIps wIth thE

    custoMErs you AlrEAdy hAvE. By rAy sIlvErstEIN

    S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S14 S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S www.enTrepreneur mA g.co.zA

    Its both a problem and a blessing:You have one or two very largeaccounts that make up the bulk

    o your business. According to whatyou may have been told, such a con-centration is very risky; you should

    never put all your eggs in one bas-ket. Or should you?

    Most experts would advise you to

    get more accounts, reducing yourconcentration o business. But yourmajor accounts are likely to grow at

    a aster pace than your new ones.

    The concentration will remain andyou will continue to be vulnerable.

    Theres nothing wrong with tryingto grow other business. But Id liketo suggest a dierent approach.

    Instead o reducing your businessconcentration, consider providingservices outside your core business

    or activity. In doing so, youll addvalue to your account.

    With that in mind, ask yoursel:

    Do I know all the key players in-

    volved in my main account? I not,get to know all the departments and

    personnel involved in the account.The more you can learn about

    your account, the more you can help

    it with its endeavours. Knowing a

    companys internal workings allowsyou to move seamlessly within the

    business, solving more problemsand taking on more projects.

    Bankers believe that i they touch

    base with a customer ve or sixtimes, the probability o losing thataccount diminishes substantially. It

    takes a great eort or a customer tomove all his or her business rom asource thats providing multiple ser-

    vices. The same rule applies here.Knowing your customers busi-

    ness gives you the knowledge toprovide extra value. This value maytranslate to oering any number oadditional services, rom packaging

    and markings to engineering andsub-assemblies.

    But dont just fy by the seat o

    your pants. Create a customer mar-keting plan, a special plan just orthat key account. Starting with your

    knowledge o the company, developaction plans or building relation-

    ships in unamiliar departments.To do this, youll want to create

    an organisation chart o your cus-tomers business, including all lines

    o responsibility and authority thatimpact your product or service.

    moreinfoi

    beat the

    competition

    Log on to www.

    entrepreneurmag.co.za andaccess the

    sales archiveor hundredso smart tips

    knowing

    your

    customers

    business

    gives you the

    knowledge

    to provide

    extra value.

    Ray SIlvERStEIn is the president and fouPRO: Presidents Resource Organization, of advisory boards for small business ow Entrepreneur Media Inc. All rights rese

    mre Business r Feer Clients

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    Build in space and tie r

    relaxatin znes. Providing areas,

    such as chat spaces or coeerooms, where employees cangather, relax and interact.

    Identiying and using the natural

    cunicatin echaniss that

    eerge in the rganisatin. For ex-ample, the ounder o Geek Squad,an IT services provider, discovered

    that his employees used onlinecomputer games to interact andcommunicate with one another.

    Duplicatin ert. With growththere is an increased risk that

    two or more people carry out thesame tasks. Aim to create an openworkplace where people share

    what they are doing and can seeand hear other employees. Openworkplaces are enabled with open

    plan oces, shared coee breaks,social interactions at work andheightened communication

    across the board.

    Tp heay cpanies. As thebusiness grows, too many chiescan creep into the system. An

    oversupply o bosses can slowdown decision making and cause

    conusion among employees.Avoid having too many managand be clear on each manager

    accountability. Ensure that emees know which chie does wh

    ofce plitics. Nip it in the buwhenever you see or hear it an

    avoid getting drawn in at all coSet the example.

    Decisin akers islated r

    the results their decisins

    Get decision makers to the ro

    line. In larger companies this o

    requires a deliberate eort, buis critical. Managers must inte

    with customers and ront lineemployees at least weekly.

    Inertia. An unwillingness tochange. Create a burning plat

    when change is required. Makpeople uncomortable with thstatus quo by highlighting the

    rent reality and how that mayto a very bleak uture. Be visu

    well as verbal in drawing peopattention to the need to chang

    make people

    uncomfort-

    able with

    the status

    quo by

    highlighting

    the current

    reality

    and how

    that may

    lead to a

    very bleak

    future.

    GREG FISHER CA(SA), MBA, is an associatefaculty member at the Gordon Instituteof Business Science (GIBS) and is currentlyresearching Technology Entrepreneurshipat the University of Washington

    S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S

    The concept o economieso scale implies that the

    bigger the business gets, thecheaper it becomes to produce ordeliver products or services. This

    happens because the more unitsthe business sells the more unitsthere are to absorb xed costs.However, as an organisation grows,

    certain additional costs creep in.

    These costs are real and in somecases the cost o growing big can

    outweigh the benets.So as your business grows, be-

    ware o the ollowing diseconomies

    o scale:

    the cost o

    communication.

    With organisational growth, it

    becomes more and more dicultor employees to communicateeectively within the organisation.

    To overcome this, business ownersshould consider:

    Size atters. Keep teams and

    business units small.

    Create a irtual eeting space.

    Consider collaborative online work

    spaces such as discussion boardsor wikis

    smart tips: platform for rapid, steadY growth

    16 S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S www.enTrepreneur mA g.co.zA

    more

    infoi

    just one idea

    could be worth

    millions

    Subscribe to

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    for yEArs BusINEss owNErs hAvE BEEN strIvINg to grow thEIr BusINEssEs

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    Aid Disecnies Scale06

  • 7/28/2019 Entrepreneur SmartTips Guide Business Growth Rapid Steady Growth

    10/10

    Adapt t Surie07Is your coMpANy tough ANd tENAcIous, or lIthE ANd lIMBEr? By roBErt kIyosAkI

    18 S m A R T T I P S S E R I E S www.enTrepreneur mA g.co.zA

    T

    here are two interpretations

    o survival o the ttest. Therst and more widely accepted

    is the idea o being competent and

    able as in being physically t.This interpretation ts well with thesaying, Only the strong survive.

    The second and less accepted in-terpretation is survival o the mostadaptive or fexible survival be-

    longs to those who can t in a newenvironment.

    In January this year, General Mo-

    tors Corporation announced it was

    seeking to cut costs by $11 billion(about R80 billion). It planned to

    achieve these cost savings by reduc-ing worker healthcare benets, let-ting go o 30 000 workers and clos-

    ing or consolidating a dozen plants.In that same month, Google

    opened an oce in Phoenix. Sud-

    denly, local companies were losingIT workers to the high pay and ben-ets Google was oering.

    General Motors and Google are

    examples o the two denitions osurvival o the ttest. Suddenly,

    the biggest and strongest automak-er in the world was nding it moredicult to survive, simply because

    it wasnt fexible or able to adapt.

    At the same time, Google, ayoung company, ts into the new

    economic environment and hasbecome the new 800-pound gorillao the business world.

    The comparison o General Motorsand Google holds valuable lessonsor all entrepreneurs. What kind o

    t do you and your company wantto be? Do you want to be t by be-ing the biggest and the strongest, or

    by being adaptive and fexible? Areyou building a company that lookslike a muscle-bound bodybuilder,

    or are you building a company thatlooks like a yoga instructor?

    As an entrepreneur, my companys

    growth and success are dependenton being strong as well as fexible.Adapting means keeping an open

    mind and not becoming too attachedto yesterdays successes. It alsomeans hiring strong and fexible peo-

    ple rather than bodybuilders bulkedup with degrees and corporate titles.

    Though both types are strong, the

    question is: Which body type and,ultimately, which company type, isbest designed or survival?

    RobERt KIyoSaKI is author of the RichDad series of books, as well as an investor,entrepreneur and educator. EntrepreneurMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

    smart tips: platform for rapid, steadY growth

    only the

    strong

    survive

    (is one

    interpreta-

    tion.) the

    second

    and less

    accepted in-

    terpretation

    is survivalof the most

    adaptive

    or flexible

    survival

    belongs to

    those who

    can fit in a

    new envi-

    ronment.

    The How-to Guide

    for Starting & Improving a Busines.eneenema..za