The Disappearing Boss - Issue 30

This time, some thoughts on 3 stages of business:

Stage 1? - Start up.

At the beginning, being in business is all about answering one simple question:

What will it do?

When we start our businesses, we don't really know.

We know what we want to do.??

More of the things we enjoy, less of the things we don't, with no interference from the boss.

We have an inkling that left to ourselves, we can probably produce something much more in line with what the customer wants than we were able to as a small cog in a big machine.

Or we hope that having experienced a problem and found a new solution, there might be others who will welcome what we've discovered.

In truth, we don't really know who they are, what they want, or how they want it.

That's absolutely fine.

The job of a startup is to find all this out.?

We need to be observant, flexible, opportunistic, open to a different who, a different what.

A certain amount of thrashing is inevitable.

But once we do know who and what, thrashing no longer serves.? Now we need to concentrate on how.? Hand-crafting a consistent customer experience, 'doing things that don't scale' until we've really hit the mark.

Until finally, we've answered the question "What will it do?"

We're no longer a startup.

And the next stage begins.

Stage 2 - Consolidate

If you really have hit the mark for a significant number of people, the next question is usually "How can I do it like this for more people?".

Of course scale isn't always what you want.? Or not what you want immediately.??

It's perfectly fine to stick with a handcrafted service and a select clientele.? Just make sure they are paying you full value for that.?

Then the question that comes up is not about doing more, it's about consolidating what you have, to create reliability and balance "How can I still serve my customers when I'm ill?" or "How do I get to keep my life and my business?"

The answer to any of these questions involves working through other people.

So the key question becomes:

"How do I replicate my actions through other people and/or through software so that I can consistently serve all the people who want what I can offer, in the way that I offer it?"?

Answering this question means taking the system you've inadvertently designed as a start up, and treating it as a design, rather than a happy accident- soon to be overtaken by the next.

It means writing that design down.? So there's a reference point, a specification, an intention.?

Outside of your head.?

Outside of anyone's head.?

Accessible to anyone who needs it.

So that from now on, everyone can see what it has to do.

With your design written down you can work out how best to share the work. How best to automate it.? Which bits to automate and which to do in-person.?

You'll be able to properly evaluate whether someone else's software will properly support your way of doing, before you buy.??

You'll be able to see where solutions you've already bought might need customising.?? ?

You'll see exactly where implementation needs to be flexible and where it should stay firm.? And where you can leave it to the people on the ground to decide.

This doesn't mean your design can't change, it just means that every change is in service to what everyone knows it has to do.

And once you've got your design, and your first implementation of it, you can stay here, doing a brilliant job for a small community of clients, or move on to the next stage.

Stage 3 - Scale.

The point of investing in Stage 2, is that it makes Stage 3 much easier.

Having a design to work to means the question isn't so much "Will expansion work"' as "What's the best way to do it?". ?

It means you can test different approaches and measure how well they work, instead of just guessing.?

Because you already know exactly what you're trying to do and how.

What looks like a detour is really a short cut.

Sadly, it seems that too many amazing businesses miss out Stage 2, jumping (or drifting) right into Stage 3.? Some even blur the transition, thrashing and trying to expand at the same time.

No wonder it ends up being such hard work.

I know.? I do it too.? I've just done it with The Disappearing Bosses Club.??

Ironic, given that Stage 2 is what The Disappearing Boss is all about.?

When you're impatient to reach more people, spending time in Stage 2 feels like a detour, but in reality it's a short cut.

Luckily, it's never too late to fix.?

Wherever you are, you can always go back to the end of Stage 1 and progress from there.?

Because early Discipline really does make more Daring possible later.

Thanks for reading,

Are you struggling to expand because your brilliant design is stuck inside your head?? Are you still thrashing when you should be consolidating??? Are you looking for a way to grow that doesn't kill you or what's special about your business?

The Disappearing Boss can help with that.

Let's talk.