Before we take the plunge, we often run the numbers and do all the research. Before we get our business up and running, we also have jumped through all the bureaucratic hoops. But, regardless of what we do, we find it difficult to get our business to the next level. We have seen many people who run a business and they get to the point where they start to plateau. The business owner could work very hard, but they find it harder to proceed any further. It means, we should find reason why a business stops growing and start to plateau. There are many entrepreneurs who are in such situation and they can’t understand why their business doesn’t proceed to the next step. They often say that they have worked hard enough and many of them are already exhausted and burdened with client demands and orders.
Quite often, the only way to grow is to work twice or thrice harder, which isn’t a good option if we are already overworked. It is quite possible that the reason for the plateau is because we are reluctant to hire more people. We think that hiring more people is equal to extra headache. In this case, we should consider why we don’t hire more people to deal with different tasks. If additional employees can make our company more productive and generate better results, then it is a good business decision. We may be concerned that it is possible for us to unintentionally hire an employee from hell who steals from our business and wreaks havoc only after a few weeks. However, such an occurrence is relatively rare and most of the time, people are just eager to keep their job and improve their career honestly.
In many cases, it comes down only to control problems and people could find it difficult to let go of different aspects of their business. There are some aspects of our business that may not contribute significantly to productivity. We should weigh the pain of running a plateaued business compared to the pain of letting go some aspects of our business. Many entrepreneurs who experience stagnation could need to deal with frustration. Stagnation could also be caused by tedious routines that eliminate innovations. Significant pressure at the work place at an almost daily basis could leave us burnt out and feeling drained. We may start to lack a clear vision for the future and we may not have the time or energy to reflect on our business. There are times when we could think about our business more clearly, like when we are having our morning coffee or when we are driving.
At this moment, we could get a way for a longer weekend for relaxation and brainstorming on how to move our company forward. We could start to have a clear idea on how to forgo some unproductive tasks and squeeze in more productive ones. An unexamined company isn’t worth running.