Patrick Frank, Co-Founder patient partner.
getty
Over the years of building and scaling my business, I have firmly believed in one thing – everything is essentially the same and works the same way.
It sounds ridiculous, but I assure you, this comment is not without good reason. I’ve experienced it firsthand, seen it, participated in it, and consulted with businesses from all walks of life. However, the same structure keeps emerging in how these businesses build and scale their products or services, no matter what their niche.
We always hear that too much complexity is a bad thing. This is a basic truth. At the end of the day, building a successful business comes down to the same thing, and of course, that’s the fundamentals.
The thing about these fundamentals is that they don’t care if you’re building a tech company, a healthcare company, a toy company, an MLM team, or a personal brand as an influencer. let me explain.
1. Develop ideas and leaders
Every great business idea begins as an embers in the mind of a visionary. Contrary to popular belief, following this idea requires no experience; I have found it to be passion, dedication and leadership. Every successful endeavor has these people at the helm. Without creativity, there will be no business; without competent leaders, you will have no direction and perseverance to succeed.
Leadership skills are arguably as important as the ideas themselves. When building and nurturing the team that will build the business with you, you must be able to attract others from the outside and the inside.
2. Build the foundation
If your business starts to grow, you have to get other people involved to help grow because there is only so much one person can do. How can I stress how picking the right team can make or break your business. If you’ve done the first step mentioned above, this part is less about finding them and more about selecting them.
However, whether you’re a real estate agent building a team, a tech company CEO or an e-commerce product founder looking for a designer, that hasn’t changed — it stays the same. Early on in your startup, you’re looking for people that you can envision being there throughout the company’s growth, who embrace the process and are passionate about building your idea as close as possible to your vision.
3. Build a reputation
As a smaller business, you quickly learn that positive word of mouth is one of the most valuable things you can have. The cross-industry, multi-level marketing world has established an approach that other businesses have modeled as their own, but instead of using everyday individuals, it’s done through influencers or ambassadors.
This step is about building awareness and reputation. Need others to expand your business in their trusted network. In real estate, you leverage your customers and their neighbors after a successful sale; in technology, you leverage your customers with a referral program after your product works well; in product development, you leverage your customers after influencers like you After utilizing their network for their products.
It’s word of mouth awareness that all businesses must leverage to get as much organic growth as possible without investing money in advertising channels that I’ve found to be rarely successful when scaling their businesses. As Richard Branson said: “Your brand name is only as good as your reputation.”
4. Start scaling
Moore’s Law is a prediction made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that the number of transistors that can be placed on a computer chip doubles roughly every two years. In simple terms, this means computing power will become faster and more efficient over time.
Whether it’s technology or people, you should invest enough in your business to make enough progress, your idea is set, your leadership is built, your team is built and your reputation is ready. These are the components that build the zoom flywheel. When all the pieces are put together, the “nodes” in your machine – or, in this case, clients/customers – start multiplying faster because they are in sync, and your business follows become more efficient over time.
If you’re better at building larger teams, your teams will be better at delivering your product or service. This improves your reputation, which leads to more repeat customer journeys. While this sounds like sunshine and rainbows, be aware that one malfunction of the machine can bring it all down.
5. Start and end with the basics
If you don’t have a firm grasp of the fundamentals, and you don’t look for other examples of other businesses succeeding, then not much money can help you. A great product will only get you so far, and technology, while it can help you, can also work against you. While it enhances what you can build, it also makes it easier for others to realize any mistakes about your product or service.
When looking at other businesses, look not just at what they sell and the industry they are in, but at the basic structure of how their machines and culture work. What do they do so well that is relevant to your business? Then, ask yourself how you fit into it.
Learn from other industries and apply the best parts to keep your business machine running and growing as efficiently as possible.
The key to creating a successful business is to focus on the fundamentals, such as effective leadership, building a strong reputation, and learning from success stories in the industry. This path to success applies to all industries and business types.
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