Business Growth vs Personal Growth: Finding a balance

Business Growth vs Personal Growth: Finding a balance

Entrepreneurship in today’s world is nothing as easy as eating a plate of well-spiced rice and grilled turkey, with a glass of chilled wine to go with it. Anyone who has recently been involved in anything like starting, or managing a business will agree that it comes with a lot of stress and pressure.

The entrepreneur has to deal with ever-rising challenges in the business, from dealing with staff, keeping up with the competition, and possibly launching one new product after the other to avoid being run out of the fast-evolving market.

In the midst of this, how many entrepreneurs even still remember that they ought to take personal development courses so that they don’t go outdated while trying to keep the business on its feet?

I recently took a poll on LinkedIn to find out what people thought was the most important factor in the success of a business – an innovative business idea, adequate capital, an efficient team, and the entrepreneur.

It was interesting to see that more than half of the respondents (55%) thought that an efficient team mattered most to the success of a business. Far behind, we see another 26% who think an innovative business idea most determines the success of a business.

Only 11% (being about 126 respondents) thought that the entrepreneur determines the success of a business, and about 8% said adequate capital determines the success of a business.

All four factors are quite important to the success of the business, but I think that the one factor present from the beginning is the Entrepreneur – long before there is any capital, or team, or idea. And even when the other factors are now present, the entrepreneur has to effectively coordinate all of these.

It is tempting to think that everything would be in place for business success once one had the right team, but it is not entirely true. In an interview, Tara Fela-Durotoye had said that “your team will bring into the business the values that they already see you personalize”.

This means that there is no good or bad team, even though there could be effective and less effective teams. It comes down to the quality of the leadership provided. I would like to also point out here that the entrepreneur is a member of the team, albeit the leader.

You ever heard the quote that said “A group of sheep led by a lion would defeat a group of lions led by a sheep anyway?” What this quote underscores is the role of quality leadership in team success.

The entrepreneur must consciously and intentionally take training to become better at his business. It could be reading an article to improve communication skills with employees; it could be listening to a podcast on time/goal management – getting more done in less time; a YouTube video on how to set healthy work and client boundaries; or maybe an online course on how to develop timely products and remain relevant. 

Whatever it is, some form of growth has to be taking place in the entrepreneur’s mind.  This is very difficult as entrepreneurship can be very engaging, with the entrepreneur sometimes having to perform multiple job roles in the early stage, all to see the business grow.

But it will not be justifiable (if at all possible) for you to grow your business revenue say by 150%, and you have not developed the capacity to handle the growth.

This begins to make more sense when you think about some entrepreneurs around you who managed their small business effectively, but lost grip and could no longer handle it when the business outgrew them?

The advice is – find the balance; but if you cannot, focus on self-growth. It will rub off on your business. I would like to know what you think about that.