The Life Cycle of Growth

Thus far we have covered five of the six Life Cycles of Business:
Here is the sixth and final cycle: The Life Cycle of Growth
Occasionally a customer will outgrow what you offer, or you will outgrow the services your customer needs.
A young man I know used to be a one-man show in marketing. As his clientele grew, he began hiring people to help, and eventually had a staff of ten. His overhead costs were exponentially higher than when he was a one-man show. The fees he had to charge to maintain his infrastructure changed, and were no longer workable for some of his clients.
That is the Life Cycle of Growth.
Relationships change when instead of an owner-to-owner relationship, it becomes an owner-to-staff relationship. The same is true on the other side of the equation. When your customer’s business grows, the relationship you have with them may change, and you may be dealing with staff instead of the owner. Their demands might change, you no may longer fit their needs or their profile.
Look at it this way:
If you were a one-man-show providing service to an automotive company and that company grew into something like GM, you couldn’t hope to service them. They need 500 of you, not just you⏤unless you were able to scale up to their needs.
What is your company’s life cycle of growth? At what point will you outgrow your customer base, or watch them outgrow you?
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Faris Alami is Founder and CEO of International Strategic Management, Inc. (ISM). He works internationally, presenting Exploring Entrepreneurship Workshops and other entrepreneurial ecosystem — related ventures.
