Have you ever felt your Business is like a child, forever passing through different phases? As soon as you think you've got it sorted, the next phase emerges with a different set of problems. The reprieve from dirty nappies can quickly give way to sibling rivalry, peer pressure challenges, career choices, relationship issues etc

Like a child, a business is never immune from challenges and the type of challenges depends on the phase. A growing pain for a start-up is more likely to be around developing a market position and driving referrals, whilst a more seasoned business will typically have more pain in areas around culture and inefficiencies.

It pays to be very clear on where your Business is at on the lifecycle. That way you know which growing pains are the priority right now and which ones are likely to follow. Introducing the ‘naughty corner’ to a teenager may not be the best approach!

So what is a Business lifecycle?

Below is one we prepared earlier, it is a model we use extensively with our clients and it’s all yours - a gift for stopping by!

Continuing the analogy of a child growing up, here is how we categorise the different stages:

Where are you?

The trick is to start with the 'feelings'.  Feelings don't lie and are an uncanny predictor for where a Business really is.  The reason feelings are important is because they drive energy (or lack of) and are the basis for most decisions, whether we realise it or not.  So where do you feel you are?