I spoke at the Centonomy Entrepreneur chats earlier this month on Disruption. When you have been in business for too long, you tend to get comfortable. It’s important to shake things up in your own business. Here are ten things to consider;
- Disrupt thinking just because you started it you must finish it.
Don’t hang on to the things that are not working. This could be the business you run or the way you do certain things in the business. Sometimes you do not want to admit that you might have made a mistake. You hang on and hope that things will turn around. You attempt to protect yourself and the expectations you have built around you. You hang on to an employee who is not working out, a product, service or a partnership.
2. Disrupt thinking you don’t have options.
Don’t sell your dream for short term money. Over the years I have had to say NO to some work because it was not aligned to the vision and would have distracted me. Become clear on what you are just not going to do. When I did succumb especially due to financial pressure, I walked away feeling I had I cheated myself and shortchanged my vision. It was really painful saying no to work but it had to be done. Whatever you do has a price tag. When you are saying Yes to something you are saying No to something else. Be clear what the cost is and if you are willing to pay it.
3. Disrupt thinking what you have is your limit.
Current resources are the floor not the limit. Raise your frequency, and understand that it is not what you have but what you can do. Learn to develop an ecosystem of support to give you what you don’t have. This could be guidance, networks, technical advice or capital. Prepare in advance for what you want. For example if you want to raise money run your business in a way that is attractive to investors.
4. Disrupt your thinking on time:
Return on time is just as important as the return on investment. If you currently spend one hour with one customer, scale for you may be considering how to spend that same hour with ten customers. If it takes you three days to get through a proposal, start figuring out what you need to do to get it done in three hours. If you have to make ten phone calls to get one sale, spend time figuring out how to make phone calls to the right customers so that your success rate return on time is higher. Time available per day will remain the same so productivity is something that has to be looked into just as much. Once you understand this you also stop being scared of hiring people or putting the required technology.
5. Disrupt believing bigger revenues make a better company.
Be customer focused not just revenue focused. What your customer says, thinks, wants is very important. You get disrupted by not understanding who this customer is, their problems and changing preferences. Disrupt thinking that your customer makes decisions on pure logic. A business owner in our entrepreneurship program realized that customers came to her because she made them feel good. Feeling good had to become a process in her business. Dig deeper and get actual insights from your customers.
6. Disrupt your Fear.
Disrupt thinking you can get away without experimentation and failure. Failure is part of the game. It is the school fees that has to be paid. Failure has to be allowed to happen because innovation only happens where experimentation is embraced. Not all experiments will work out but you have to keep doing them.
7. Disrupt thinking that running a business is just about getting as many clients as possible.
Understand that the design of your business is more important than the idea. By design, I mean establishing the structures, culture, networks, delivery behind your business. This is often very hard to replicate. Someone can attempt to make the same product as you but they cannot easily replicate the system that delivers those products.
8. Disrupt thinking that the assumptions that worked for your business yesterday will work today. The assumptions that what worked in Nairobi will work in Nakuru. The ones that work in the US work in Kenya. The ones that worked for the person who started ten years ago will work for you. They may have an advantage you don’t and vice versa. You have to be constantly aware of and testing your assumptions. Track if those assumptions need to change.
9. Disrupt thinking you can’t afford to pay yourself.
Paying yourself is a good thing. You can’t grow a business without paying yourself. When you don’t find a way to pay yourself you undersell yourself and underestimate what it costs to run your business. Apart from that, you become financially indisciplined because you resort to drawing on business funds for personal use.
10. Disrupt thinking you will be there forever
Set up a business that can outlast you. Outlast your energy, time and even your life.
Registration for the Centonomy Entrepreneur Program is ongoing. Classes begin on 19th February. To register kindly email ruby@centonomy.com or call 0700801112.
Waceke is the founder of Centonomy and coaches businesses through the Entrepreneurship Program. Get in touch on waceken@centonomy.com Twitter@cekenduati