You’re likely experiencing a Transition Period
Every business has transition periods. Whether you’re a brick and mortar business or an e-commerce business, there are transition periods you will experience on your journey. They bring along their own set of growing pains and plausible solutions – but they will generally feel like extreme periods of chaos and could leave you feeling overwhelmed.
To help define these chaotic periods, we reference the Business Growth Curve methodology based upon James Fischer’s work, where he identifies two distinct transition periods.
The First Transition Period Type
- The Wind Tunnel. This transition period is one where “old practices” must be examined and you determine, “is what got us here, going to get us there”? To successfully transition during this period, you must be willing to ask yourself as the owner, is this process still relevant, and if not, how will we replace it?
The pace of change in the world of e-commerce is rapid, and the need to review processes will come at a higher pace than that of a traditional brick and mortar business.
The Second Transition Period Type
- The Flood Zone. During this transition period, the work load has become excessive. The common answer is to throw more people at the issue, but sometimes it’s an organizational issue that needs to first be addressed. Ask yourself, do we have the correct organizational structure (or do we have any organizational structure)? And, what are the strengths of the people in their current roles. If you’re a solo-prenuer, you should then be asking, what am I best at – or where are my talents best utilized?
Before you even begin to think about roles and responsibilities, first consider, what does the business require right now? What added resource would alleviate some of the chaos the business is experiencing that would result in improved or different outcomes? Secondly consider, now what do I need? Your burnout won’t serve the business well, and you’ll find that the business will thrive and achieve better results when you’re capitalizing on your strengths.
Once you’ve gone through these exercises, you’re ready to identify appropriate solutions.
If you’re a solo-prenuer, we find it’s the following roles that are most commonly outsourced (or are hired for).
- Customer Service
- Platform Management (systems used to run your business)
- Finance
- Project Management – Campaigns, launches, etc.
You, as the business creator and visionary, will likely always be the driver of “ideas”; creating and generating the expansion of your current product line, or a completely new endeavor.
A great metaphor for this journey is that of the butterfly. It starts in the larva stage, experiencing tremendous struggle and expending enormous effort for the butterfly to develop and build its wings, while trying to break through the cocoon. It’s this struggle that creates something beautiful and strong enough to survive, and making possible the ability to take flight.
If you’ve decided that you’re in a place on your journey where you need financial support and strategy, contact us. You sell stuff online – we help you account for it and keep more of what you make. As importantly, we’ll help you feel less overwhelmed.
Build Your Wings
