Small Business Growth

Very Small Business

By August 24, 2008December 29th, 2015No Comments

Another question that people ask me–“I am a very small business.  I don’t have a big staff to assign as members of the boat.  How can I hunt whales without a boat?”

The answer is–you shouldn’t.  Business growth by doing bigger deals with bigger customers is a team strategy, so maybe you are just not ready.  But many entrepreneurs start their business by leaving a whale company and providing their service back into that company as an independent contractor–so if your first client is a whale, you need a team to serve that whale, and you can probably serve another one.

Who might be on your boat?

  • Your banker, who can attest to your line of credit and access to capital as the account grows.
  • Your accountant, who can reassure the whale that you have the capacity to meet its requirements for invoicing and payment
  • Your strategic allies or subcontractors, who can define the terms under which they deliver services for you.
  • Other partners in your endeavor–MarCom team, landlord, executive coaching group, professional association leaders

Bottom line, you can “launch a boat” with external allies but you don’t want to launch a boat alone.

Let us know your experiences–when have you felt most alone in going after a big deal?  How did you handle it?

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