Can your business really be a pimply teenager? Unfortunately, yes.  We have even given it a name - business adolescence.  And just like human adolescence, business adolescence can be prolonged and painful if not handled right.   3 Stages of Business Development There are 3 distinct stages of business development, each with their own hurdles to overcome: Start-up Adolescence Maturity Just a baby... Start-up is when you are starting out.  You have a good idea, lots of enthusiasm and you're looking for customers, (and maybe investors).  Growing up... Business adolescence is the stage where your hard work and persistence begin to pay off.   You are no longer in start up phase, but you are also not a manageable, sustainable business - yet.  You have Customers, product and services, some staff, but things may be starting to feel unmanageable, and your business cannot run effectively without you. Business adolescence is the stage where the complexity of business kicks in and you are not sure of your identity or direction.  You feel pulled in many directions and may doubt if you can (or want to) manage it all. This is when you need to refine your strategy, structure and systems to make it to business adulthood. Irrespective of size, age or industry, business adolescence is a stage all businesses have to go through. Made it! Maturity is where you have a manageable, sustainable business.  This is where the business continues to grow and succeed without requiring your day to day input (if you choose), or your sanity.  A large majority of businesses do not make it to independence, either failing earlier in life, or remaining stuck in the adolescent phase. Why is Business Adolescence so hard? Blame it on the start up phase.  The very skills that help you successfully start up your business begin to cause you problems in adolescence. To get your business up and running you needed a 'can do' attitude and a 'just get it done' approach.  You often needed to be everything to anyone just to get the work.  And you had to juggle many different hats to make sure all the necessary things were done. But in adolescence those skills no longer serve you well. In order to deal with the increasing complexity in your business you need clarity and structure. In order to benefit from involving other people in your business you need defined outcomes and ways of doing things (plus learn to delegate). In order to focus on manageably growing your business you need to know what to say yes to and what to turn away. This is why the stage of business adolescence can be so hard, and why so many businesses do not mature.  Business adolescence requires a different focus and skill set to the start up phase. How do you know you've reached Business Adolescence? Here are some of the most common signs a business has reached adolescence: Profitability is stagnant or reducing  Doing the work worries you as much or more, than getting the work You feel unsure about what to focus on You seem to be continually reinventing the wheel, even for simple things You are tired of feeling all over the place You believe the only way to make more profit is to personally work more hours Things are starting to feel unmanageable You seem to be the bottleneck in getting things done. How can you get past it? Business adolescence is a challenging stage of business development.  It requires different skills to business start up, but it can be navigated successfully. You need to clarify your identity by developing a clear business strategy, your management style needs to change from do-er, to coordinator and empowerer and you must make things happen more efficiently and effortlessly by systemising more of your business. Activate have specific services designed to help adolescent businesses develop to maturity -Ignite,  Thrive, & Leverage.   Return to top

Your growing business can be a lot like a pimply teenager - confident and capable one minute, chaotic and out of control the next.