A founder had strong first-year results but hit a wall in year two. The speaker breaks down where businesses typically stall: lead generation, sales, or service delivery. Fix the diagnosis first, then spend time working on the business, not just in it.
I make it a habit to go to networking events locally here at the Chamber of Commerce and a local conference and meet entrepreneurs. This last Tuesday, I met someone who started a business a year ago. In their first year, they did amazingly well. They leveraged their network, got 2 sizable contracts, and did really well that first year. Then it was a dry season for the second year, so they're really struggling. So if you started And you're struggling, whether in month 1 or month 6 or in your second year, it really doesn't matter. You have to assess why is it that you're struggling. Are you struggling in getting leads? You gotta focus on marketing. Are you getting leads but you're not selling? Then focus on your sales process. Are you getting leads, closing deals, and then the clients are not happy? So you have to assess your delivery cycle and see how you can improve. On a monthly basis, on a quarterly basis, you wanna spend some time on the business, not in the business.
