Jeb Blount describes the feast-or-famine cycle that traps independent business owners: when the pipeline dries up, they panic and prospect frantically, but once work returns, they stop prospecting entirely. The cycle repeats, creating constant stress and instability. The fix is consistent, disciplined lead generation instead of boom-and-bust scrambling.
And one of the problems with independent owners is that you get into this problem where you're hanging out at the Feast or Famine amusement park riding on the Desperation roller coaster, right? So, so you, your pipeline gets empty, you need some clients, right? So what do you do? You start banging the phones, you go out and knock on the streets, you go to Chamber of Commerce, you're hanging out at, you know, at the local lodge, you know, what do you call them? The, the, the, what's that club? Rotary Club. You're like, you're like, you're knocking on business doors, you're doing everything.. And so suddenly, poof, you got all of this work and then you quit prospecting. And so you start working, working, working, working, working on these things. And some of them close, some of them don't close. You put a few in, you feel pretty good, you cash a few checks, you go home, you feel like a hero. And then suddenly, poof, you're at the bottom of the roller coaster again, feeling like a total loser and you're having to build it all back up again. That sucks. Like that is the worst place to be as a business owner. And that is the, that is what the, like this, the life of so many independent business owners.
