A Fundamental Fact of Entrepreneurial Growth

Getting your business started is a matter of breaking into an existing market by selling some new product effectively. Once you have figured out how to do that, what you do is keep on keeping on, making adjustments as you go, until the market gets tired of your product.

At this point, sales are slowing and you know that you must do something different. But what could that something be?

Can you stimulate further growth by changing your accounting? Or your database management? Or your customer service or other aspects of your operation?

Maybe a tiny bit, but not significantly.

Can you create sales by finding a new market for your product? In theory, yes. But in practice, probably not. You have gotten your business to this point by selling your product very hard, using every marketing trick in the book and buying market entry wherever you could find it.

There’s only one big opportunity for growth at this stage of business development: Start selling more new products.

[Ed. Note: The above was adapted from Michael Masterson’s latest book, Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat, published with permission of John Wiley & Sons. In the book – which has hit The New York Times business best-seller list – Michael shows how veteran and rookie entrepreneurs alike can take their businesses to the next level. You’ll learn how to identify and solve the problems that crop up during each stage of a company’s growth… and how to take advantage of profit opportunities along the way. Order your copy of Ready, Fire, Aim now.] [Ed. Note: Mark Morgan Ford was the creator of Early To Rise. In 2011, Mark retired from ETR and now writes the Palm Beach Letter. His advice, in our opinion, continues to get better and better with every essay, particularly in the controversial ones we have shared today. We encourage you to read everything you can that has been written by Mark.]