Which Way Is Your Growth Arrow Pointing?

Business Growth Creates A Wind Of Direction Your Arrow Points

Weather vanes on top of rural barns are a collectors item.  Some of the old weather vanes have become sought after ornaments.  Those weather vanes were designed to 'mark' someones ownership, the speed of the wind as well as the direction the wind was blowing.  A lot of those old weather vanes had an arrow designed in the subject, which could also include a chicken or a cow.  The arrow was designed to point out which direction the wind was blowing.

Your business model has numbers it produces.  Those numbers are considered your wind.  As your numbers move, so does your business move.  The charts you make that reflect your business numbers become the arrow of your business weather vane.  You have an arrow that is pointing out the direction your business is traveling.  I look at my business arrow way too much.  I am addicted to seeing it move upwards.  I am a business arrow junkie.

I like numbers.  I like growing numbers more.  I like comparatives.  I like record breaking comparatives.  I am a junkie for numbers.  I was asked how one of my business models was doing and before I could answer that question, I could envision the direction of the growth arrow in my mind.  It was the first image I thought of when the question was asked.  I could see the image of the arrow in my mind.  My answer was, "It's doing O.K."  The image of the arrow was pointed upward.

Can you see your direction arrow?  Which way is it pointing?  Is your business vane arrow traveling in the direction it needs to be traveling?  Is the business wind blowing your charts upward?

These indicators are vital tools that will help you to decide what you should be doing.  You already have a full schedule of daily activities you are locked into if you own a small business.  However, always set some time aside to review progress and determine if you should wait patiently for better results or move quickly to make some changes.  You should develop the habit of keeping your arrow moving upwards on the business wind of your growth charts.  If you notice some things that disturb the arrow enough to turn it downward, quit doing those things.  If you notice some things that help the arrow move upward, learn how to do more of those things.  It is not rocket science.

Sometimes we get way to smart for our own britches.  We try to 'out-wit' our knowledge, our associates, our admirers, our family, our friends, our customers and our business duties.  We want to make sure everyone thinks of us and admires how smart we are.  I couldn't give a rip.  I just want my arrows going upward.  I give a rip about which direction my business models are headed.

Sometimes I will notice something that will help them grow.  Sometimes that thing is something I do not particularly want to do.  Yet if it helps my arrow point in the direction I want the arrow to point, I will do more of it...even if I do not want to.  I just want the arrow to point upwards.  That is it.

I spend most of my time looking for additions I can include in my business efforts that will help my arrows continue to travel uphill.  I see other techniques in use that capture my attention and I wonder if they could be modified to become part of what I am doing in my business models.  I roll those discoveries around in my head and try to visualize what they would look like in my models.  I try to 'see' what it would take to make them happen.  I include trying to anticipate how they will interfere with other parts of my models that are doing well.  I do not necessarily want to change what is working well by adding some new technique in an effort to get more.  I have made that mistake more than I care to admit.

When I finish my thinking about adding a new technique to my business model, I make sure I have a clear and current view of the direction my business growth arrows are pointed.  This way when I introduce the new technique, I have an immediate reading that will reflect how the results respond.  If the results are not well, I do not panic.  I watch for awhile to see if the negative blip on the arrow is real or just a 'newness' reaction.  Give your new ideas a chance to mature.  All new ideas are met with resistance.  It is a rule you cannot violate.  Accept it and move on.

Time will eventually reveal how well your new technique is working.  If you know your arrows as well as you should know them, you will also know when to pull out of a negative spin.  All of this work you are doing to measure how well your business model is flowing has nothing to do with how you feel.  Numbers are the only gauge you will be using, at this point, to do what you are doing.  Your feelings are not part of the equation of evaluations.  You may actually like the new technique very much.  You may have strong feelings about including it into your business model.  However, if the numbers do not support it, get rid of it.  The direction of your arrow is more important to your business success than how you feel about killing something you prefer to include.  Get over it.  This emotional war should be won by your business model, not your personal desires.  Your personal desires do not have a large enough checkbook to pay your business way to success.  In many cases, this is exactly where many small business models go haywire.  The protection of 'personal likes' supersedes the 'need to eliminate' what is not working.  It is a common leadership error.

If I was to write an essay about all of the reasons why I have noticed people failing in their business efforts, it would more than likely include 'personal likes' dominating the scenery of how a business functions in what it, in the end, does or does not do.  In the end, we seem to do what we want to do bad enough.  Our 'personal likes' find their way to the headlines and dominate the pages and performances.  These types of business policies will wreck the direction of the arrow.  We hang on to them with all of our might.  Learn how to use the arrow as a gauge for determining what to hang onto or to let go.  Place your 'personal likes' backstage, behind the business stage curtain.  Move the direction arrow to the front of the stage.  Watch those direction arrows more closely.

Some business owners will get more stubborn about this subject when they are given the suggestion to refrain from using 'personal likes' as a gauge for building their business success.  We do want to do what we want to do.  It is natural.  A great business owner will learn how to do what they do not want to do, as long as the direction of the arrows is going upward.  Doing the right things to your business is far more difficult than doing the things you want to do.  My experience has revealed that much of the right things I need to do in my business models to create success are many times the kinds of things I do not like to do.  As a defense to help me do those unwanted things, I use my direction arrows as the gauge to decide what needs to be done.  My models usually win.  My 'personal likes' usually lose.

I have discovered I am not alone on this matter.  Which way is your growth arrow pointing?  That is what we call a clue.  It may be time to eliminate a 'personal like' and begin doing what you do not want to do.

Until next time...