Top 5 Tips to Growing a Successful Business

I have started a few businesses in my lifetime, two care management practices including life care planning, a software business and an education business. I have learned some things along the way that will hopefully help inspire you as you start and grow your own business(es).

1. Find a great mentor.

With each of my businesses, I started with a great mentor. This is someone who has been where you want to go. They do not necessarily have to be in the same business field as you are either. I did not originally seek out someone with an awkward “will you be my mentor” question. My mentors grew organically and through the grace and kindness of people willing to extend a helping hand. This is just my personal experience of how I found mentors.

My first mentor’s name was Matt. I met Matt through networking at my first office space which was a shared space with multiple entreprenuests/business owners. Matt, like most business owners, loved helping others and giving business advice. I would pick Matt’s brain for feedback and recommendations on my ideas. In return, I would take him to lunch or happy hour.

I had another mentor in another state who I was introduced to through mutual connections. This person was helping me at no cost which perplexed me. I am a skeptical person at times, so I was trying to figure out his “angle” but turned out was just a really nice person. When asked what he wanted he just said, “I like good scotch”.  I sent him great scotch when he would help me in a jam and provide valuable insights and feedback.

Recommendations when you find your mentor:

Be respectful of their time. Your mentor is also growing their business, so gauge the time you are taking from them and give a gift in exchange. I often bought dinner, made appropriate connections to others, and tried to give back.

When you become a big success don’t forget what your mentors did for you and always extend a hand to others when needed!

2. Know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.

As you grow your business you may be thinking how to diversify your business, you may play around with pricing structures or new markets to expand. It is hard at times to discern what to pour money into to grow your business, what items to drop, and what you should just work harder on. If you are working your hardest and you keep hitting a dead end it may be time to change course.

On the other hand, for my care management and life care planning business it took some time to get clients and gain trust from my referral sources, but there was still interest there, so I stayed the course and worked super hard and diligently in creating raving fans from my first few cases that grew into more referrals and recommendations to their peers. The book Raving Fans is a great book on how to provide excellent customer service and go above and beyond which is lost oftentimes in our very business world with mega business. Set yourself apart.

If you are adding services or pricing structures that are confusing, frustrating, or difficult to understand. Or if you are promoting something and get the side eye, you may be the only one excited about this new feature, pricing, or service. It may be time to re-evaluate and move on before you sink your own ship. My motto is always “make a fast decision and if you discover it is the wrong decision quickly make a new decision”!

3. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.

I wholeheartedly believe in the quote “If you are comfortable, you are now growing”. Push yourself and make yourself do things that are not in your comfort zone. This may include speaking in front of an audience to share your expertise. It may include the dreaded cold calling. It may include asking tough questions which may put others in an uncomfortable spot and that is okay. You will discover uncomfortable experiences don’t last forever, and you will grow or learn from the experience. I have been on calls/zoom before where I ask difficult questions knowingly making the other person uncomfortable, and upon getting off the zoom my staff have said “that was a super awkward call”. But that is okay, I knew going into it that it was not going to be a comfortable call and we all survived. We laugh about those calls now.

4. The risk is not over once you start your business.

One of my favorite quotes, which is on My LinkedIn is “You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first”. Entrepreneurship is all about risk. You are taking a leap of faith in starting your business. You must believe in yourself and what you are doing. I believed long ago that the risk was quitting my 9-5 job to work for myself. There was actually much more risk yet to come.

The funny thing all entrepreneurs learn is, once you start the business, the risk is not over. To grow you have to take the next leap of faith and maybe hire an employee or subcontractor which comes with risk. You can only make it so far before you must hire, scale, add services, spend money on an office, marketing, or conferences to get to the next level. Sometimes spending the time and money works and sometimes it doesn’t. See #2 and make your decisions quick or change course.

5. It won’t always be this hard!

I love entrepreneurs because we all started at the same place, ground zero. It takes grit, constant work, persistence, stamina, and in my case tears and constantly getting humbled. When you fall, keep getting up! Anyone starting a business knows this too well. But it won’t always be this hard! I describe starting a business like going up hill. It is hard climbing at first when there is so much to know, and you are trying to get your first few clients to prove yourself. Each new customer/client is gained through hard work and your own efforts.

Once you become established and people are talking and referring consistently your business will grow exponentially. Not only do you get clients from your own efforts, but they come from past meetings, past presentations, being referred by current customers, being referred by organizations that have heard of you and so forth. Keep at it, it gets easier and at some point you will reach your peak and be able to run downhill or at least on steady ground!

I would love for you to share your recommendations and wealth of knowledge for me and others reading this!

We all learn from each other after all! I am still learning and growing. It never stops, which is the fun part of entrepreneurship!!

Shanna Huber, Founder My Junna, Founder Ripple Life Care Planning, Co-founder The Life Care Management Institute