Gurus of Growth Blog - “Taking your business to a higher level”

I have had the privilege of traveling extensively and enjoying a variety of climates throughout the world. Without consciously realizing it I think I have always been a sun person and now happily find myself living in the arid heat of Tucson, Arizona where we get to enjoy the sun 350 days a year.
Grey clouds and rain never really appealed to me, but back when I traveled more extensively on business, I had experiences in two rainy climates that helped me to see “rain” a bit differently and taught me a valuable lesson about business.  I worked for 6 months in Amsterdam and then transferred for 3 months to Seattle, Washington where I noticed a distinct difference in the “rain” cultures between the two cities.
In Amsterdam, umbrellas sprout like mushrooms when it rains.  In fact, the higher-end local hotels offer umbrellas for guests to take out as they leave to go on an afternoon walk.  The hotel guests stay dry and the hotel benefits from a low cost advertising and brand awareness campaign as their guests sport the hotel’s prominently logoed umbrellas.  Locals use umbrellas as well.  In fact, it is quite common to see Dutchmen or Dutchwomen expertly riding a bicycle in the rain with one hand perched on the handlebars and the other holding an umbrella.

Read When It Rains, Sell Umbrellas… and Other Winning Business Strategies »

NOW is the perfect time to “introduce something new” to your business. While your competitors are trying to figure out “what happened” with the recession, or while they remain preoccupied with trying to stay in business, your business could be growing through the downturn by innovating.
Most businesses today are overly focused on just trying to keep the doors open.  Very few are (yet) trying to solve the business problems that will help them thrive through this economic downturn. The few business owners that are smart enough to innovate now will lead the way through the recession.  To do this, they will have to learn what the Blue Tit knows.

Read Innovate And Grow Your Business Through The Recession »

Every so often I run into a business that screams “GROWTH POTENTIAL!”, but when the owners reveal that the business has been around for 20 years I find myself asking, “Why aren’t they living the lifestyles of their dreams already?”  Of course, there can be many reasons why a company might not grow to realize its potential, but there are two reasons that stand out in my mind as fixable:
(1) Conflicting priorities and (2) Conflicting metrics.
Simply put, many underachieving businesses suffer from conflicting priorities and conflicting metrics, and those conflicts decrease the performance of the business.  We will examine the “diseases” of the conflicting priorities and conflicting metrics through the life of “John, the business owner.”

Read Resolve Your Hidden Conflicts And Grow Your Business »