Business owners don’t always want to make changes to their business. Moreover, some are quite happy maintaining the way things are. And furthermore, may not want to disrupt the status quo they are used to each day. Subsequently, this mindset is not necessarily wrong. However, for business owners that want to experience growth, being reluctant to make changes to your business is not going to drive you forward.
In this post, we explore potential reasons why some business owners aren’t interested in change. Instead, opting to maintain day to day operations as they have always done from the beginning.
Extra risk. Growing a business means that owners need to take on extra responsibility in terms of extra staff, financial help and perhaps even the purchasing of new premises. As such, when business owners are creating a growth plan, they also need to strongly consider the associated risk involved. And ultimately, if they are afraid of doing this, they may decide to avoid growth altogether.
Not worth the time. To achieve growth, a significant amount of time needs to be invested in the business to generate results. And furthermore, for business owners that are in a sound financial situation, they may conclude that this just isn’t worth the hassle. Ultimately, why change things when they are running smoothly?
More stress. Growing a business can be stressful. A business owner may have found the experience of setting up a business stressful in itself. And moreover, may not want to add to this by experiencing even more stress by trying to grow the business. Furthermore, they may feel that maintaining the level of growth envisioned may also be stressful.
Not worth the effort. Business owners may reach a point where they feel content in the way their business is running. And moreover, may also feel that they have put in a considerable amount of effort into getting to this point. Which furthermore, makes it understandable that many business owners just don’t want the extra effort of having to do this all again to achieve growth.
Additional costs. Growing a business comes at an expense. Particularly if you want to maintain the level of growth you are hoping to achieve. Although business owners may realise the potential for better profits through growth, they may be unwilling to commit to the expense of working to achieve this.
There are a number of dangerous consequences to not growing or innovating. Specifically, not being able to:
Earn more than your current salary
Offer your employees a pay rise
Create new and innovative products
Create new employment opportunities
Retain staff because they don’t have opportunities to progress
Keep up with the competition who might outgrow you
By growing your business, a number of positive outcomes can be achieved. e.g.:
A salary increase for yourself and your employees
Innovation and the creation of new products and services for your customers
Creating new job roles for your staff and promoting existing staff
Staying ahead of the competition and always being able to give customers what they want
Feeling continually engaged with your business
Chestnut Meats started back in 2006 by husband and wife team Tim and Marnie Dobson. They have now established themselves as an award-winning business, selling their products through their website, farm shop, markets and food festivals.
Initially, the business supplied goat and kid meat but now supply beef, pork, lamb and venison. Furthermore, they have had the opportunity to grow the business significantly through both expert support and rural grant funding. Ultimately, the money raised allowed refurbishment of an existing building to house a butchery, office, farm shop and cafe. And moreover, they have now been able to build a purpose-built facility at Longlands Farm.
And despite significant expansion, the business still retains a strong sense of loyalty with its extensive network of local suppliers along with the ability to source meat from welfare friendly British farms.
