How often have you changed your mind about a belief you’ve held? Sometimes, an outlook that may have gotten you to where you are today no longer serves you or could even be holding you back.
Below are some of the thought processes that industry leaders admit they’ve had to outgrow as they’ve scaled their business.
‘I can do it all by myself.’
When you start your business, obviously, you have to do pretty much everything yourself as you’re typically a team of one, but as you grow, holding onto this mindset can become a hindrance.
Chris Senske, acquisition ambassador for the Senske Family of Companies, based in Kennewick, Washington, says that he used to believe he could do it all by himself. Now, he understands he needs great people around him who are experts at different aspects of the business.
He has found that coming up with the outline of a plan then passing it off to an expert who could execute it to a successful conclusion has worked well for him.
“I would not say I was a good strategic planner, but allowing others to take the reins and execute allowed me to have strategic ideas to make the business grow,” he says. “If you are going to have a multi-branch operation, you have to be able to delegate with confidence that your team will execute.”
‘New team members must earn my trust.’
It’s easy to be wary of new hires and not fully trust them, yet Carmine Schiavone, CEO of SavATree, based in Bedford Hills, New York, says businesses move at the speed of trust and the more trust that exists between team members, the healthier and more successful the environment will be.
“I used to believe that new team members needed to earn trust before they would measure up, and I have changed my approach to giving away trust fully – which allows for faster relationship building and teamwork and ultimately business success,” Schiavone says.
‘People are an expense on the P&L.’
While labor is part of your overhead, it’s important to not see your people as just an expense.
“I realized you cannot overpay for the right talent in your organization,” says Jerry Schill, president and CEO of Schill Grounds Management, based in Westlake, Ohio. “When you find talented people, it is an investment in the organization, because those talented individuals, those investments are what are really going to allow you to propel the business forward.”
Schill says that when you are surrounded by top talent and invest in these individuals, they allow you to focus on the things you do best.
He adds that growth-minded business owners understand that the business will take care of itself when they choose to invest in their people.
‘A great company is defined by money.’
Larry Ryan, founder and executive chairman of Ryan Lawn & Tree, based in Merriam, Kansas, admits in the early years, he thought a great company was a profitable one.
“A great company can be in any industry,” Ryan says. “It’s not the people who are cheapest at what they do, like a Walmart or the most expensive of what they do. I think it’s a company that, more than anything else, really cares about the customer, the product they deliver to the customer, and the people who deliver it.”
He adds that while he started his company, it is his people who built it through their hard work and ideas.
‘Driving sales is all that matters.’
Kurt Kane, president and CEO of TruGreen, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, says he used to believe driving sales was the most important lifeblood for a company that wants to grow.
“I now believe that this is only part of the bigger picture,” Kane says. “The reality is that driving customer retention at a very high level, coupled with a powerful sales engine, is really where the magic for our business is at.”
Kane says as they’ve focused on increasing their customer retention, they’ve been able to heighten their personal connections and customer service. This has helped their organic growth when paired with their sales efforts.
