How to Build a Business Others Want to Buy

Chapter 18The immature entrepreneur

Well done! You've hired one, two or maybe more new staff members. You've built a system, the leads are flowing, the clients are happy and you're feeling good. You're thinking less like a technician and more like an owner.

But there's a little voice in the back of your head whispering, ‘Hang on. This doesn't feel right. This is too serene; too peaceful. You're not used to this. You need to throw a few curveballs into the mix to generate that adrenaline that you've come to know and love. You need to shake things up a bit!’

So, you attend a few networking events, read some inspiring business books or watch a couple of TED Talks and come up with some interesting and enterprising ideas you'd like to implement. You waltz into the office, all energised and invigorated and announce, ‘Hey team! Listen up. We're doing really well right now, but from now on we're going to do even better! We're going to introduce this new product and change things up a bit so we can flex, scale and grow to the next level. From now on, Sarina, you're going to do this. Nick, you're going to do that. Rita, you're going to do this and that. And we're all going to start on this new thing right now! This is so exciting!’

It may be exciting for you, but I can say with certainty it is not exciting for your team. They find this change of direction very unsettling, mostly unnecessary and utterly annoying. If you're this sort of entrepreneur who sets the team in motion and then ...