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Growth isn’t a choice if you’re a good financial planner, it’s inevitable.
Clients who discover your amazing business model fall in love with it and then run around telling their mates.
What happens next?
At some point on your journey, you get busy.
Really busy.
‘At-maximum-capacity’ style busy.
You’re under pressure, your personal life is under pressure and your team is under pressure.
Now you face some difficult strategic choices:
- Say ‘no’ to new business
- Grow your team (thereby increasing capacity)
- Let go of some smaller clients
Saying ‘no’ to new business is a total fantasy. Sure, you can say no to smaller leads and increase your minimums, but when that next perfect, ideal client arrives are you really going to say ‘no’?
Of course not.
You’ve worked for 10, 20 or 30 years in some cases to put yourself in the position to attract those sorts of leads. Saying ‘no’ is not an option.
But when you say ‘yes’ you just put yourself and your team under more pressure.
Growing your team is the next possible choice and if you’re trying that right now, I don’t need to explain that it’s not easy.
Letting go of smaller clients makes logical sense, but it’s fraught with moral and emotional challenges for most of us because we’re nice people.
Let me be clear, there are no easy options here.
I understand why so many business owners proclaim that they don’t want to grow a larger business. However, it’s completely unrealistic.
Try this
Here’s a quick re-frame for you.
Growth might not be a choice, but how you handle it certainly is.
If you can make peace with the fact that good businesses attract more clients and inevitably grow, you can make plans to manage that growth in an orderly fashion. That’s the key to happiness as a business owner.
It’s also vital to get ahead of the growth curve. If you’re constantly waiting until you and your team are at breaking point all the fun leaves the building. Start lifting your gaze and looking 12-18 months ahead and plan for what’s coming at you.
Growth isn’t a choice if you’re good. How you handle it is.
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