The Four Steps To Transform Your Business From Chaos To Clarity

When we feel stuck in our small business, it’s a powerful time to reflect on the journey and where to go next. No owner wants a stalling small business. We want a company that continues to grow and thrive. But when that no longer happens, we wonder what we should do next when everything we try simply perpetuates our wheel spinning.

You’ve got three options for how to move forward from here. You can keep going as-is, hoping things will change on their own (They won't). You can make foundational changes to orient the company how you want, or lastly, you can shut the business down (or sell it) and move on. 

Same. Change. Or New. 

Running the business the same way as you have been, is simply going to bring you back to this point. You’ve been here. You know where this leads. Eventually, you won’t be able to kick the can down the road and you’ll have to make a move. So, unless you suddenly become content with the business you have, the second and third options are the paths to explore.

Do you change the business or bring it to its conclusion (selling or shutting down)?

In my journey, I experienced both. First, I changed the business in answering the question, if I were to create a marketing agency from scratch, what would it look like? And a few years later, I asked what I would do vocationally and if I could choose anything.

Obvious to me now is how the last question should have been the one I answered before ever launching the company. Yep, I had it backward, and so do most young entrepreneurs. 

While navigating this decision, it was helpful for me to understand what was required of me and the change necessary to effectively make the jump. What's next is going to be really hard, so do I want to do it for this business or something else?

As you consider making the leap to a new and better business, here are the four steps you’ll need to take before jumping. We’ll dive deeper in the Jump book, but here’s a quick survey of what’s required to thrive in your small business.

4 Required Steps For  Making The Jump

Making the jump is not easy. It will require your entire focus, and it’s something you must carefully decide on whether to fully commit.

This decision will alter the trajectory of your life and those around you, so before you decide, let's briefly explore the following four steps you’ll need to take before making that jump.

1. Level Up As A Person & Leader

When your small business is stuck, it’s because you are in the way it. Instead of a conduit, you’re a bottleneck. And the only way for your business to become what you want it to be is for you to get out of the way, and become a self-authored and internally driven leader. 

This requires you looking in the mirror, reflecting on the past, and defining the desired future. The good news is, we will lean into adult development theory to provide you a map on how to effectively mature and grow as a person. With the help of scientific discovery, you’ll face your fears, explore your complaints, and dive into what you value most.

When you’re willing to do the hard work of authentically knowing yourself and making the necessary changes to accelerate your growth, you’ll be ready for the jump.

2. Build Strong Business Foundations

Making the jump with a strong foundation means actually defining what it is you’re jumping towards. While your business can be fun, it’s not just about having a good time. It requires a mission, and clarity on where that takes us.

And for you visionaries, it means choosing one path when there are unlimited pathways in front of us. It’s keeping our options open that leads to us quickly tangling ourselves up, preventing us from ever going down one of those paths in a deep and meaningful way.

If you’re ready to articulate your intentions and set a definite destination, you’ll be ready to make that jump.

3. Guide & Filter Your Loyal Team

Internally, we change. From it, we set the stage for the business. But the next big test is engaging our team with this direction. Some will love it, others will actively resist it, and you. You’ll no longer enjoy the comfort of appeasing employees and clients because with a clear vision, some will be excluded, and others will choose to leave.

But, you'll also get further buy-in from the people who are dedicated to the vision and you as the leader to get them there. They'll be the essential core.

When you’re ready to let go of the fear of missing out, and invite only those to join you who are truly committed to the end game, you’ll be ready to take this third step before making the jump.

4. Leverage Sustainable Systems & Modeled Mindsets

With a strong foundation, an effective leader, and a loyal team, now the key is gluing these pieces together with a modeled mindset and sustainable systems.

What’s the culture and processes required to achieve a high level of success? How do we maximize our strengths will effectively managing our weaknesses? How do we build something beyond any one of us, where all of us are simply a small piece of a large and meaningful puzzle?

Are we practiced in living a disciplined life (words aren't enough) that makes it possible for us to actually move the needle, embrace reality, and make the vision real?

For those ready to accept this fourth challenge, they’re ready to take the last step before making the jump.

Wrapping Up

And this is your glimpse, into the reality of what’s required for you to make your business what you always wanted it to be, what you hoped could be the reality.

Are you willing to dive deep in these four areas for your small business? Will it be worth it, in the end. Or, should you end it now and make the jump with something else?

Deciding on whether to end a business venture is no easy task, but if you wanted easy, you wouldn't have chosen entrepreneurship as your path. 

Hero Photo by Nathan McBride on Unsplash