Here we go again. It’s decision time! If you’ve done what was necessary at the existence and survival stages of the growth cycle you should be able to make the necessary decision now.
As you will recall from my previous post Is Indecision Keeping You and Your Business from Success?, the main goal of success stage is making the decision to just step away from your business and let it sustain your current level of lifestyle or enter the rapid growth stage and grow your business. If you cannot do the first, then you’re business is not ready for the second!
Self-Sustaining Cash Flow
If you completed all the existence stage requirements for marketing, sales, and operations then these departments should be creating break-even month after month with no questions asked. If you applied the same principles to the requirements in the survival stage then you should be creating a very nice profit month-to-month as well. If this isn’t the case, then you’re stuck in “no man’s land!”
By creating a systematic method to create break-even every month you graduate from the existence stage. Then expanding the system to generate consistent profitability on top of that, you graduate from the survival stage, which means you’ve achieved the success stage.
So, why do I discuss the existence and survival stages in an article about success stage operations? That’s easy, because the things that I said were critical to operations in the existence stage and the survival stage are what most small business owners will question and avoid!
Many small business owners say, “it’s too early to be thinking about this stuff.” So, when these naysayers get to what they believe to be the success stage they cannot step away from their business because they’re stuck in no man’s land.
If you’re not sure of the operational requirements of the existence and survival stages, I would recommend reading the two articles titled:
- 4 Areas of Operational Focus in the Existence Stage
- How to Profitably Refine Your Operation in the Survival Stage
Business Success = Self-Sustaining Business
Some might argue the point. But, I would argue that a self-sustaining business is what the most admired entrepreneurs of the world, i.e. the Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffets, Richard Branson’s, have in common. They built an asset in their business that has made them financially independent.
That’s the reason most of us started in the first place, wasn’t it? While it may not be the primary reason you started it. Your passion was the primary reason. Building your business still must be a primary objective or your passion cannot be fully realized. If you cannot achieve the success stage, using your business as a method of achieving financial independence is a crap shoot!
If you’re still a little fuzzy on the idea of what you need to do to create a sustainable business download our eBook. This eBook delves deeper into what is required to create a self-sustaining business.
For those of you that have already achieved the success stage, SHARE!!! How did you begin looking at your business differently to help you building it as an asset so that you could become financially independent?
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