If your business doubled tomorrow, what would break?

If your business doubled tomorrow, what would break?

This is one of THE most fun questions for me to ask my clients.  

Conversely it might be the most nauseating one for them to answer. 

The fact is, over the 12 years I have been doing business consulting, 90% of business owners I have worked with don’t connect the dots between the front end of their business (revenue) and the back end (ops, fulfillment, and profit) very well. 

So while in theory doubling their business sounds like a great goal, if it isn’t done proactively it can spell disaster.

The majority of my clients come to me because:

1. They want to get out from under their business.
2. They can’t seem to master the right team to get them to their goals.
3. They want to get off the growth merry-go-round and actually scale. 
4. They want true entrepreneurial freedom.

And while all of that is possible, it all starts with that very simple question to get to the root of what is standing in the way.

If your business doubled tomorrow, what would break?

If I peel back the curtain to give you a little hint into how my diagnostics with clients go, this question is one of the first I ask.

And if you sit down and ask yourself this question too, it will shed a lot of light on why you have been banging your head against the wall, where you’ve been stuck, or frankly what is the root cause of what is keeping you up at night. 

It is also the question that will bring the most clarity on what it is going to take to get your business where you want it to go and what is standing in the way.

The other reason I love this question is because it tells you a lot about what IS working, which is part 2 of this question.  If your business doubled tomorrow, what would keep the train on the tracks? 

When you can magnify what IS working, and eliminate what is or will break, then that, my friend, is how you create rocket fuel. 

So back to what would break in your business if it doubled tomorrow…

Would fulfillment be a yard sale?

Would you combust?

Would your operations look like a train wreck and a dumpster fire?

Would the bottlenecks you have to day be impassable mountains tomorrow?

Whatever it is you think will break, write it down. 

Next, go through them and categorize them.

I recommend putting them in 4 main groups: ops, fulfillment, team, and leadership.

Operations

For me, anything having to do with what happens behind the scenes between when a client says yes/pays and the day you kick off falls in this category.  Look for things that are manual or repetitive that you can automate or systematize. 

Fulfillment

This is anything having to do with getting the agreed on deliverables to your clients.  Again, look for bottlenecks, manual tasks that are sucking time, etc – essentially anything that is a roadblock to seamless client experience. 

Team, this is a fun one.  

This one looks at two of my favorite C’s (from the 7Cs to a high performing team) – Capacity and Capability.   When that fire hose turns on does your team have the capacity to not drop balls and are they all capable of their roles to get us across the finish line.  This is where a lot of my clients see glaring team gaps in either people, process, or expectations. 

Lastly, leadership.  

Trigger warning.  You aren’t going to like this one.  This is where you get to list all the pies you have your fingers in that can’t get backed without your input.  Essentially I want you to look from start to finish where you are creating stopping points for your team because they need you, your input, or your deliverable to keep moving forward.  Then I want you to think very hard to yourself if you are doing this because it is your zone of genius, because you think you NEED to be doing it or if it is because you are being a CEO (chief everything officer) and haven’t released that white knuckle grip to trust your team to do what you hired them for. 

Once you have the list see what is connected.  

What thread connects to another when you pull on it?  

What is the one thing, the root, that when you solve for it today, it will enable you to grow your business without mayhem ensuing?

Keep pulling, questioning “so what” or “why” until you get to that answer.

When you get this root properly identified, everything else will be easier or unnecessary.

And as for that whole list of things that would break from before? 

My guess is, 60% or more will magically *poof* and be solved because you ripped off the bandaids and went straight for surgery.

Keep revisiting this list as you move through the year, addressing or eliminating a “broken spoke” as you go. 

This is the first step to building a sustainable and scalable business. 

Happy reflecting.

And remember, friends don’t let friends WebMD their business.

Until next time.

Lauren

p.s. If you would like a little help from the Biz Doctor, please feel free to reach out.  Our diagnostics are just the ticket for getting to the root of what might be standing in the way of getting you out from under your business and on to scaling sustainably.