The leaders are actively growing businesses to share their experiences

Self-assured businessman boasts that he was able to realize a unique project , the income from which will be $ 100 million in five years . Such phrases are generally preceded by attempts to rapidly expand their business.

Have come down to earth in a few years or even months , and then comes to the aid of experience : the ability to use the knowledge learned from their own failures . When Samuel Smiles , a famous Scottish writer , said: ” ” He who never made ​​a mistake, and did not make discoveries .

“We asked the managers and founders , who ran small companies , but then they decided to dramatically expand . Their experience is peculiar to many . What were the major flaws and their mistakes?

Alexander Mayzler all done on their own, but did not have time to

Foundress of Thinking Caps Tutoring Alexander Mayzler

Error – wanted to do everything for you . I opened my business in 2004 and did everything themselves : in the teaching and administration at the same time . Then I thought that hiring an assistant does not follow, as well as to allow this, we could not afford , and thought that the work of another person will not meet the standards we have adopted . The problems started because I just do not have time to deal with all and was very tired.

Conclusion: what can you best do it yourself , the rest is assigned to another . Then I highlighted in a separate list of what I’m good at and loved to do, and that could be carried out by someone else. On the basis of this list, I started hiring other workers.

Bob Fisch, 46 years lost touch with customers

Founder and CEO of Biggby Coffee Bean Fish

Error: no longer communicate with customers.In 1995 I opened a coffee house which I have been doing their own coffee, which allowed me to constantly maintain communication with visitors . Within four years, we have decided to engage in franchising. Once I got distracted from work and realized that our network is comprised of more than a hundred points, and I had been sitting out all day in the office, answering phone calls and letters , I spend business negotiations . I could not see our visitors for weeks.

Conclusion: every day I started to call in at our cafe , changing , so the office to work on the road. Since three years have passed , and we were able to increase profits in half. Now we have reached a figure of $ 40 million per year, and this year we expect to increase this figure , as sales in the same cafe increased by 7%, and more continue to grow.

Mark Sheehan , 59 years old : the tasks performed by incompetent people

CEO of Rubicon Sports Mark Sheehan

Error: excessive self-confidence. The company Rubicon, engaged in the manufacture of heavy-duty rescue and ski jackets , considered it possible for her to extend the range of products and production run of summer clothes . We offer consumers a line of clothing for children that protects against ultraviolet radiation , called Sun Shredders. We made a mistake with this project , deciding that customers liked the colors and patterns . We turned to designers of high-tech professional clothes for adults with a request to design clothes for the children, that was far from their area.

Conclusion : It is better to do that than to you better than anyone .

Rob Basso, 37 years has not identified the target audience

The founder of Advantage Payroll Services RobBasso

Error: guided by a very wide range of consumers , rather than to form his target audience. I bought a marketing firm contact list of companies, each of which we sent our flyer . After that, we started to call all of these companies. But we did not even bother to properly determine who exactly should be directed to our offer. It turned out that the flyers were sent to CEOs , while the purchasing decisions of the Company are CFOs . Thus, it was in vain spent a lot of money .

Conclusion : over time , we found that our target audience are companies that employ 15 employees , it must be service companies, and besides, they have to be in a certain area. Only after that we managed to organize a sale. But it was necessary to think through all the start.

David Hauser , 28 years: looking for new people, but because of their compatibility with the team

Grasshopper Group co-founder David Houser

Error: hired a new employee , based on their technical abilities , not thinking about personal compatibility with older employees. A few years ago, Grasshopper, which supplies small companies virtual phone system started very actively developed , the search for new employee has considerable challenge for us . We are looking for people with a technical mindset and hire only the best professionals , forgetting that they would find a common language with already working with us humans.

Conclusion : When a company is in the early stage of development , corporate culture is no less important than professionalism sotrudnikov.Teper we were special criteria by which we take people to work. Now we hire a new person that fits all of our requirements , and do not even know exactly what duties he will perform in our company.

Tom Walter , 62 years : It is used in the old methods

CEO of Tasty Catering Tom Walter

Error: working with clients using older methods . When we have had some success , engaged in the organization of corporate and outdoor events , we decided to expand the business – organized inexpensive eateries. Our sales are well known and always take into account the needs of enterprise customers. As for the cheap eats , there must have very different , and therefore our sales staff were not disappointed.

Bottom line: before you do something , you need to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses.

David Nour , 42 years : the company wanted to increase due to increased office

The founder of Relationship Economics , David Nour .

Error: The thought that the size of the office corresponds to the successful growth of the company . I was wrong for a long time , considering that the size is always correspond to the prestige of the company. That is why at the time I decided to team up with a consulting company hired new employees , rented a large office , has increased the number of services bought another Copier and even a gym for employees. Six years were spent one million dollars , and then I decided to go to our customers with the question : ” Why did you choose us .” They replied that they use our services because we have a lot of interesting ideas , we are energetic and always implement original solutions . On the number of copiers in our office , no one mentioned.

Conclusion: I have cut staff Relationship Economics, moved to a new office , where I now work only . Now I get more money , headache was much less, and life became more balanced.

Greg Ehresmann , 54 : rushed to the employment of new managers

The owner of the family business – the restaurant Triple XXX, Diner (a type of fast food ) Route 66, as well as companies engaged in the manufacture of soda , Greg Ehresmann.

Error: wanting to expand, hastened to hire professionals bad . Opening the second point , we have taken the work of the manager who assured us in the presence of her relevant experience . But, as it turned out later , no experience she had , and with the opening of another point of the work was several times more . And as I got to the one institution (which is about 20 minutes drive from the other) , the other has had to put out the fire .

Conclusion: hire people people on whom you can always rely on.

Shelly Sun, 39 years old : I wanted to promote several projects

CEO of BrightStar Franchising San Shelley .

Error: undertook the implementation of several projects, but failed to finish any of them . Agency nurses BrightStar provides health care at home, as well as services carers . Recipients of our franchises , we have always offered several projects, as a result of complaints received by unfocused and messy approach .

Conclusion : always focus on the most important processes and bring them before the end of the implementation , and then proceed to less important projects.