The Small Business Life Cycle: The No-Fluff Guide to Navigating the Five Stages of Small Business Growth

Start noticing what things make you come alive.

A fundamental but often unspoken truth about starting your own business is that there are often long grind periods, sometimes without producing any of the results you want. You’ll need something to drive you through the uncertainty of making your new business happen. If you focus on those things that make you come alive, it makes the entire process

What small things could you bring to people’s worlds that would solve their pervasive frustration in small ways?

What we often forget is that even though the grass may be greener on the other side, it still needs mowing.

we entrepreneurs are capable of solving all sorts of problems. Yet many of the problems aren’t real problems - they're things we made up. As Thomas Jefferson said, "How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened."

The Paradox of Choice, that shows that having more choices often leads to less choosing. Having so many possibilities around what business you could start can make it harder for you to choose which business to start.

The first thing to do to make it through Stage 1 is to focus on what I call your “beachhead” offer.

Summary: Stage 2

“Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” —Peter Drucker

What small things could you bring to people’s worlds that would solve their pervasive frustration in small ways?