Stages of Entrepreneurship
Over the years, I’ve realized that there are several stages of Entrepreneurship. I believe that within them there are several distinct characteristics that can be used to identify what stage of growth you are in. The reason why that is important, is there are, (in my opinion) several benchmarks and steps that need to be taken in order to get to the next level.
There certainly is some overlap with some of the stages as with most things related to growth; however, in understanding truly where you are in your entrepreneurial journey can help in being able to identify what you need to focus on and what kinds of engagements you need to avoid.
In Part 2, we described the Manager and how important it is to begin finding ways to offload responsibilities and focus on what you need to do to continue scaling.
Let’s move on to Stage 3
Stage 3 – The Executive
So by now, you should appreciate the value of saying, “Yes.” You should also have figured out how to acquire help and, keep them. Lastly, you should see the immense value in learning to stay away from items that are outside of your wheelhouse or at least figured out how to mitigate them.
The next stage, The Executive, is where many believe they are, and that’s great! To have that kind of mindset when in business is something that can truly help any entrepreneur. The Executive, unlike the previous Stages can now employ a new word – No.
It is important during Stage 3 of the Entrepreneurial journey that you become comfortable with saying, “No”
The Executive, should be focused on expanding and increasing efficiencies.
Because you are able to begin focusing and offloading responsibilities, it allows you the ability to effectively say, “No.” The beauty of the word is that in itself, it is a complete sentence. Do not forget that simple fact. You are saying, “No.” not because you do not wish to assist or because you have acquired an air of regalia. In fact, it is quite the opposite.
As the Executive, your job has shifted from being an employee of the company to becoming an employee of your employees.
Go ahead and let that concept simmer for a minute. The reason you are looking for efficiency and ways to scale is to allow your organization to grow, increase profitability and enable your employees to do great things! In order to do that; it unfortunately, requires you to start saying, “No.”. By now, your time has now become exponentially more valuable and as such, you should ration it.
Additionally, another added benefit of learning to say, “No”, is that it allows you to truly stay out of your own way. Many organizations tend to stall out because the leader, you, has unintentionally become a visionary that seems compelled to be involved with EVERYTHING. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but without truly enabling your team to do what they were hired to do, and allow them to make decisions, you become your organization’s own worst enemy. Learn to avoid the shiny new objects and focus on what needs to be done.
There are a few other benefits related to why you need to stop saying yes to everything. that I would encourage you to review even if only at a high level.
For those entrepreneurs and businesses that feel as if they are in this particular phase and are actively looking for a way to get to the next level, feel free to contact Neon Blue; for 60 minutes, we do not mind having conversations about where you are, where you want to be and what you can do to get there. Scaling without the risk has never been so easy.
