Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat

Chapter 19. MAKING THE STAGE THREE TRANSFORMATION

If you are successful in taking your company to or near the $10 million mark, you may one day feel that it has somehow gotten beyond you.

It has been growing by leaps and bounds, but so have the problems. So far, ingenuity and determination have kept things together, but now the entrepreneurial skills that helped you start the business no longer serve you. Despite everything you know and everything you do, problems are mounting. You may sometimes feel that the market itself has changed and you have been left behind.

Your key people, who were so helpful in getting your business started and pushing it through the second stage, are now too busy to handle this proliferation of problems. When you ask them for explanations, they get frustrated. "We are neck deep in marketing challenges," they tell you. "We will get to these problems, but there are things we have to do first."

You may find you have trouble getting the reports you ask for. The routine numbers—the numbers you've been asking for since day one—are still coming to you regularly, but you can't get any new data.

STAGE THREE: ADOLESCENCE—$10 MILLION TO $50 MILLION IN REVENUE

Main Problem: Your systems are strained, and customers are noticing.

Main Challenge: Turning the chaos into order.

Main Opportunity: Learning how to establish useful protocols and manage processes and procedures.

Additional Skill Needed: Running your business with just three or four simple management reports.

And you ...