The Five Seasons of your Product Business

Growing a business often feels like working a puzzle with the pieces upside down, right? Like, okay, we can piece together the edges and the corners but putting the guts together can feel like a shot in the dark. “Will this work?” Nope. “Will this work?” Nope. “Will this work?” Yeah! 

In today’s episode of the Product Powerhouse Podcast I’m hoping we can shed some light on where you are in your business growth journey so you can piece a few puzzle pieces together and gain some clarity around how you can move forward. 

Seasons of Your Product-Based Business

Let’s break them down, the seasons of growing your product based business. They are - establishing, growing, full-steam ahead, max capacity, and expansion.

Establishing 

In this season you’re going from zero to one. You’re building from resources you have or are purchasing - it’s costly in time, energy and often money, but it’s worth it because the vision outweighs the difficulty. In this season it’s important to:

• Create a Vision Statement: A vision statement is a short phrase that describes exactly what you hope to accomplish with your business. It's also an effective way to communicate your goals to others.
• Set the right goals and measure them: You should set goals for your business. These goals will help you measure how well you're doing. They will also give you something to work towards.

Build relationships (they’re free and can pay off big time!): You should build relationships with your peers, community, customers and potential customers. These relationships will help you understand what others want and how you can provide them with solutions. You can also build collaborative relationships!

Growing 

In this season you’re putting down roots. Your initial investment period is tapering off and you’ve successfully built something that needs tending to so it can grow to sustainability. In this season you should focus on:

• Building the right systems and process
• Documenting those processes 
• Automating everything you can in business
• Lean on support in your business and life 

Full-Steam Ahead

The next season is full-steam ahead! In this season you’re focusing on running on all cylinders because your processes are tuned and your product suite refined. Now it’s time to:

• Prepare for hiring: Look at how you’re going to expand your team to create the best ROI for your business. 
• Get the word out: Network with others and put out the word that you’ll be hiring soon
• Be on the lookout: Look for up-and-comers in your industry to network with and support. Become the mentor you always wanted!

At-Capacity

The next season is max capacity, aka coasting. This season is steady, and honestly some business owners prefer to stay here a while. You can stay here as long as you need! 

At this stage everything is automated, your team is being built and are settling into their roles, and your profit margins are staying healthy and consistent. In this season you should:

• Start the hiring process and begin building your team to help handle the load of orders and customers
• Look to your next move as a business owner. You’re building a team, you have steady and sustainable income, what is your next investment for your precious time?

Expansion

The final season is expansion. In this season you’re preparing for what’s next for your business and company. This is the perfect time to focus on learning as much as you can so you can search for new opportunities forward:

• Market research
• Focus groups
• Customer interviews
• Customer surveys
• Join a high-level mastermind to learn from other seasoned business owners
• Cast vision alongside your team and receive their input and feedback

From here, the name of the game is repetition! While things may change contextually, you’ll naturally ebb and flow back through these seasons like a cycle as you grow, adapt, master, and keep growing!