I have not been blessed with green thumbs. But I know a good gardener when I see one. They are tireless in managing their finite time, space, fertiliser, water and sun in producing the best possible plants they can. They also work with the grain of the seasons. And they are clear on what success looks like.
Planning your garden
Have you SEEN the work that goes into planning a garden?! It is unbelievable. There are trips to the nursery, chats to other gardeners, lots of cups of tea as they tut-tut their way around the plot. Gardening books pile high while they consider the pros and cons of plant species, varietals, pests, latitude preferences, slope, sun and season. All this for a few plants – yet only 30% of businesses have a business plan!
Why so much planning?
Because the fear of failure is very real. Can you imagine the heart ache of tilling the soil, breaking your back pulling out weeds, fighting off pests and pouring nutrients into fledgling plants in the hope of a meagre return. You may wait for months to find out too much water, too little water, soil was too sweet or sour (what is that?!) or the rains didn’t come. It takes months to recover, if you can, and all that wasted money on fertilisers, pesticides, the plants themselves and not to mention your TIME.
Your business is your garden
Like the gardener you have finite resources. They can change over time but you must plan your business to thrive on what you have.
- Your Plot: your catchment area is typically set. Ensure you focus your operations.
- Your Seeds: whatever products and services you offer today will grow. If they grow in a healthy way they will give rise to more variety and uniqueness to your offering.
- Your Fertiliser: your marketing is your enrichment to the services and products you offer.
- Your Tools: are your team. Most of us don’t have nearly enough time in a day. Your team give you time.
- Your Sun and Rain: are your customers. When they are both falling you have the inputs to grow faster and stronger.
But don’t forget to weed
Jack Welch in his business tome “Winning” espouses ‘sacking’ your lowest performing customers, products and staff to allow the strong to thrive and the whole garden to get grow taller.
Happy gardening and see our other informative articles about digital marketing below…
Is Your Business Suffering Growing Pains?
Help Your Small Business Grow!
Staying On Top Of Your Digital Marketing Workload
Build Health Client Relationships
