Business growth is often varied and rarely the same for every enterprise. However, there are some common cycles that most organisations go through that are the result of reaching certain stages of business development and expansion. Understanding the cycle of business is crucial to avoiding the pitfalls that have dragged other companies under – and ensuring that you’re taking advantage of all the available opportunities that exist.

Entrepreneurs – the initial cycle

For any business owner there are a number of key stages that tend to take place so that the average entrepreneur’s time is divided up as follows:

  • Dedicating large chunks of time to attracting new clients to the business to help establish it in the market and to grow an audience.
  • Time spent focusing on delivering the products or services that the business offers to the new clients who have been attracted into the business.
  • Returning to the task of trying to attract new clients so as to ensure that the growth already achieved continues.

This is a cycle that it’s very easy for an entrepreneur to get stuck in. Everything here falls on the shoulders of the business owner and there isn’t that much room for anything other than these two tasks. Although both are essential to the business they are limiting and this cycle can make it difficult to focus on other essential elements, such as long-term strategy. So, when does this style start to change?

Employer – the secondary cycle

Everything starts to shift for business owners when staff are involved. This marks the beginning of a new cycle in which not every task or responsibility falls on the shoulders of an individual entrepreneur. However, many business owners struggle to make the necessary adjustment to becoming an employer. This requires a complete attitude shift away from the day-to-day of clients and products and service and towards focusing on team building. If you don’t adjust your mindset when you start taking people on then you could be wasting resources and providing a very frustrating environment for your employees to work within.

The importance of the team

There is just one stage in the secondary cycle of business and that is: look after your team. Business owners who focus on their team understand how crucial that team is to everything else that the enterprise is trying to achieve. Although it may not seem logical to make the team the main focus at first it’s exactly the right way to work towards business objectives – here’s why:

  • A good business owner looks after their team
  • A well looked after team will take care of the business’ customers and clients
  • Happy customers and clients will look after the business by staying loyal and becoming advocates for the brand
  • When the business is thriving it essentially looks after you, the business owner, through profit and growth

Business is something that is constantly changing and it’s essential to be able to adjust to the different cycles and horizons as your enterprise expands. Moving from the entrepreneur cycle into the employer cycle is an adjustment that can be transformative.

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