Small ball your way to big growth
Every once and a while a big idea comes along – a landmark victory, a four-bagger, a game changer. One that propels your business to a new level.
Those sure are fun!
And while many businesses that have seen strong, ongoing growth often have a few of these big ideas along the way, it’s hard to build a long-term business model on just big ideas.
So, while you’re working on the big win, one of the most practical, efficient and successful ways to keep growing fast is to play small ball.
Small Ball – shoot for consecutive and cumulative wins
When it comes to delivering sustained growth, month after month, year after year I have to tell you I am addicted to small ball. Small ball for me is the ability to deliver small but meaningful enhancements to your business in succession and continually.
A 2% improvement here, a 1% improvement there and a 4% pick up in efficiency here – those small bits can really add up. If you stopped to think about how you can deliver a 10% or a 20% improvement in your business it could be a struggle. Or you might have a few good ideas, but the resources to get there may be out of reach.
Instead, if you thought about how you could improve your business by 1% or 2% you’d likely come up with a bunch of practical, implementable ideas. And the good news is if you string those wins together you get your 10-20%! Even better, if you keep doing it you’ll go way beyond.
So I say shoot for consecutive wins. One after another after another. If you are measuring and learning then it’s easy to continue to find new executions to build off of the next. It’s a code I live by and makes me feel like I can impact the business every day. And that’s a good feeling.
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2:45 pm
Great post! This is my strategy for my first web application, an online calculator. I’m constantly on the lookout for those small improvements. My favourites are those that achieve something meaningful in a single sitting. It’s good to hear that the strategy is still being recommended by someone much further down the track. Keep up the good work!
3:57 pm
Mitch,
nice post.
Young companies are constantly under pressure to deliver the next big thing or make a big breakthrough. Looking in from the outside at Freshbooks, Google, Youtube, Mint, etc., its easy for entrepreneurs to think thats the way to success.
Its certainly less sexy, but I think in 99% of cases its methodical, rigorous, perhaps even boring grind that yields the results.
Oh, and a good dose of luck!
Ian
6:03 pm
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8:34 pm
I could not agree more.
As a business person, I could every real relationship that I develop as a small ball success. Be it with a new supplier, a client, or a mentor, having good people on your side adds a little bit to your chances. The trick is to make sure the people you care about know that you do. Spending time treating people well leads to those big successes.
Jackson
10:31 am
Small incremental steps to improved processes and deliverables has sustained our business over the past 10 years. When we quit Quickbooks, and adopted Freshbooks, we managed to improve our productivity and sustain more clients. Great posts. We look forward to improvements over the years!
12:10 pm
Great post. I know this doesn’t directly relate, but there is something to be said for fantastic customer service. I recently signed up for Freshbooks and received a phone call within an hour asking if I needed help! You got me there. A friend of mine signed up too and guess what, she got a call. There is something to be said for Freshbooks making this type of effort, great work. Keep it up
-Happy customer
7:00 pm
Great Advice. More posts like this, please.
11:18 am
This is also a great strategy for personal wealth.
Many tech entrepreneurs swing for the fences instead of looking for slow, solid wins. A successful small business — even a one-person lifestyle business — can generate a million dollars of profits over what you would have made in a “regular job” given 5-10 years.
Also, I know someone who doesn’t start companies but helps run them for stock. Again, each stock win isn’t a grand slam — it’s $250k here, $500k there, and sometimes nothing — but over a 10-20 year career it adds up to as much as an unlikely “home run” event.
The important point here is that it’s much less risky to pursue one of these incremental strategies; you’re more likely to actually succeed.
3:18 am
[...] Mitch suggests that while you are waiting for the “landmark victory … i.e. a four-bagger, a game changer … one that propels your business to a new level” you should play a little ’small-ball’ with your business: Small ball for me is the ability to deliver small but meaningful enhancements to your business in succession and continually. [...]