The 7 Deadly Sins of a Mature Business

Yes, you’ve worked very hard to get your business to where it is today. You are less concerned about making the next sale or getting the product or service out the door. What is the reason for that?

You are a mature business and you’ve got money in the bank; you’ve provided for yourself and your staff and things are running along smoothly.

You are probably saying to yourself, what can be wrong about this?

I heard a saying many years ago that fits well with your question. It is; ‘You can only coast downhill.’ Yes, if you want to truly be an innovative and growing organization you can’t sit back on past successes. You can’t walk around thinking that you have it made.

It reminds me of the millionaire’s son or daughter that think they’ve hit a home-run, sure they got to home-base, but they’ve only hit a single because they started on 3^rd base. Sorry for the baseball analogy, but Spring is almost here.

The truth is that business has cycles and we experience economic downturns; but they aren’t the reasons your organization will fail. They’re just an excuse, an excuse that fits in with all the negative talk. You learn how to avoid the common business errors in judgement and stay responsive and ground-breaking no matter what is happening to the economy. You can do this by starting to overcome these seven deadly sins of business. To give you more insight I’ve added a quotation to help you understand the Deadly business sin.

Deadly sin #1: Waiting to begin the innovation to stay ahead of any competition

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs

Deadly sin #2: Reducing your marketing

“Never forget that you only have one opportunity to make a first impression – with investors, with customers, with PR, and with marketing.” – Natalie Massenet

Deadly sin #3: Playing it safe instead of taking more action

“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” – Nelson Mandela

Deadly sin #4: Not investing in your growth and development as an entrepreneur

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin

Deadly sin #5: Allowing uncertainty to create fear that impedes your decisions

“Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism. It is the belief that problems can be solved; differences resolved. It is a type of confidence. And it is fragile. It can be blackened by fear and superstition.” – Bernard Beckett

Deadly sin #6: Focusing on business as usual instead of growth and creating your exit strategy

“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” – Sam Walton

Deadly sin #7: Not being forward thinking in understanding your clients’ future needs

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

After reading these deadly business sins, what is one thing that you can do to avoid just one of them?

Will you take action on this today?

If not you, who will?