Planning to be Lucky: The 7 Stages of Business Success

Why do some companies grow quickly while others take decades to expand? What makes it possible for certain entrepreneurs to hit the ground running while others fumble or fail? We all know of businesses that just seem to grow and grow. Looking from the outside in, it can seem like hard work and effort have nothing to do with success.

While some business owners make it look easy, big profits don’t just happen. Some people may be “lucky” for a few months, or even a year, but not year after year after year. The pandemic taught us that no matter who you are or what you do, “business as usual” can only get you so far.

The fact is that growing a business quickly and profitably doesn’t happen through luck. Successful business owners had to learn?how to run their businesses in ways that allowed them to expand fast while maintaining margins. While some people actually do guess at the best methods correctly, most don’t make intelligent choices.?

Making mistakes is understandable. Even probable. That’s because growing a business requires much more than hard work. In fact, working harder doesn’t usually translate into more success - just more exhaustion. So if you want to grow from a small enterprise into a thriving business, you have to understand the success cycle.

The 7 Stages of Business Success

Once you stop talking about luck and start focusing on the methodology, it’s possible to grow a business very quickly. Using reliable, predictable tools, companies can grow from a small enterprise into a major company with dependable revenue in just a few years.

If a business owner recognizes each stage and understands what’s required to master that developmental period, they can move on to the next challenge to expansion.

If they don’t understand how to scale their business, they’ll get stuck in the early stages, which will prevent them from growing and increasing profits. I teach this methodology in my own consulting business,?7 Stage Advisors , but I’ve also used it to grow three of my own multi-million dollar businesses by age 40.

The 7 Stages approach is an achievement-focused methodology that helps businesses understand what they need to do to grow and prosper reliably and predictably. Business success is not about luck: it’s about strategy and process. I’ve used this approach to help over 7,000 companies in 68 countries, so I know it works.

Each stage has a lot to it, but I can hit some of the highlights now.

Stage 1: Strategic Planning Stage

Henry Kissinger once said, “If you don’t know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.” If you don’t create a roadmap with your company’s goals and strategies, it will be tough to make rapid progress. Whether you started a business this week or ten years ago, it’s never too late to create a strategic plan. Once your plan is in place, you’ll understand what you need to do to succeed, and it will be much easier to get your team focused.

Stage 2: The Specialty Stage

In this stage, you develop expertise. Become an expert. Fortify a point of difference. Get known for your specialty and become the best at whatever you do.

Stage 3: The Synergy Stage

Control is a recurring issue for business owners. However, running a growing business is a team sport. That means you need to build good teams and develop strong leaders to handle different parts of the company. Even though it’s scary for many business owners, in Stage 3, it’s time to stop doing everything and let others do their jobs.

Stage 4: The Systems Stage

Systems help your teams repeat success. In this stage, you create processes and systems for everything that needs to get done – from ordering office supplies to onboarding new employees to converting new clients. Developing repeatable processes, checklists, and evaluations enables everyone to understand what to do and how to succeed.

Stage 5: The Sustainability Stage

With expertise, teams, and processes in place, it’s time to grow fast: more locations, more facilities, more customers, and more profits. You scale your product, operations, markets, and expertise in ways that allow you to increase profits exponentially.

Stage 6: The Salability Stage

Many entrepreneurs love creating successful businesses but don’t want to run them forever. If you want an exit plan, there are ways to adjust your business in ways that make it a profitable commodity that is appealing to buyers, partners, or even your children.?

Stage 7: The Succession Stage

Maybe you want to step aside, step down, or step away from a business.?No matter which option you choose, if you want to ensure that the firm continues to succeed after you’re out of the picture, it’s time to make adjustments to ensure it runs profitably after a handover.

Learn More About the 7 Stages of Business Success

Every business owner is different, and every company is different, so there’s not a one-size-fits-all roadmap for success. But if you internalize the 7 Stages of Business Success, and you follow the system in ways that build on your strengths and eliminate your weaknesses, you might just become one of the thousands of people who own a multi-million dollar business. If you have questions or want to learn more, feel free to email me at [email protected] .