I was speaking with a few high-level people a while back, who all felt that they were constantly putting out fires in their business.
They felt like once they tackled one issue, that a new one would pop up.
If you feel the same, pay close attention.
This is a result of playing the "short game."
Which is the game you play in an attempt to reach a short term goal, without factoring in where you want to be 1,3, and 5 years from now...
Here's an example of a company that faced constant "problems" in their business, and could never really get ahead.
A couple of weeks ago I met with a company in France making $12M a year.
The CEO told me he wanted to get to $20M a year as fast as possible, but couldn't seem to get there fast enough.
Now, MOST consultants would look at that and say, "Cool, I can help you get there with XYZ system."
Sold them, and started executing a plan based on a short term goal of getting to $20M.
I asked...
"WHY do you want to get there?"
I found out he wanted to SELL his business for $70M-$100M within 5-10 years.
And he thinks that getting $20M in revenue will make that happen.
Which completely changed the game.
The original plan was to fix up some of his systems and launch a better marketing strategy...
And he probably would have grown.
But we also would have hired more employees and increased ad spend-- cutting into his profits more, thus making the end goal take longer.
But, when I realized he wanted to SELL his business for $100M I knew the #1 thing a buyer would look at.
Which is cashflow and profit.
So our original plan, though it would have gotten him to where he wanted to be with revenue, WASN'T A GOOD STRATEGY FOR HIS LONG TERM GOAL.
Instead, we agreed to optimize his current team, and potentially even cut it down so his profits were better.
We wanted to increase sales AND profits.
This way he'd be able to sell the business.
In 12 months, we exceeded our goal by increasing profits and the conversion rate.
If we would have gone with plan a, based on the goal of just getting to $20M, we would've run into profit issues.
Then have another "fire" to put out, which would delay his goal of selling.
See how the short game leads to big problems?
After working in dozens of 7+ figure companies (and hundreds of 6 figure and startup companies), I can definitively tell you why this happens.
Basically, anything you do out of FEAR is playing the short game.
"I'm afraid I can't pay my bills so I need to do X to generate cash."
"I'm afraid I'll be too busy so I need to hire an employee."
'I'm afraid that my current strategies will crash, so I'm going to launch a brand new marketing system."
That type of thinking may provide temporary relief but always leads to a path where you're constantly dealing with one problem after another.
When you should be planning and getting ahead!
And you can't get ahead when you're always putting out fires and launching things off the fly.
Like I did with the company above, you need to sit down and figure out where you're trying to go.
Not just with your revenue, but what do you want your LIFE to look like.
Do you want to hire a CEO and just be on the board?
Do you want to retire?
Do you want to sell your business?
Do you want to franchise? Open multiple offices?
Do you want to be doing calls all day like you are now?
You can ONLY create a long term plan when you factor in what you want your life to look like.
Then, before you take any action, you can ask yourself, "Does this step lead me closer to my long term goal, or just solve an immediate problem?"
Because, as I've demonstrated, solving immediate problems only alleviates pain temporarily, and ALWAYS leads to BIGGER problems.
Usually within a couple of weeks.
Figure out what you want.
Create a long term strategy to getting there... Or invest into getting someone help you create a proper plan.
You probably don't know the best way to get there. If you did, you'd already BE there. Be willing to invest... Because after all, this your dream, right?
Budget for unexpected problems.
And STOP before taking any action that's not outlined in your plan, and ask if it's getting you closer to where you want to be.
That's the ONLY way to get ahead.
Happy scaling! - Andrea
Andrea Collier - CEO, Octavian Investments
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