Grow Slow

I’ve thought this for a long time, and it was nice to see Time Magazine with a piece on growing slow. It talks about some Internet businesses that aren’t looking to hit a home run in the short term.

I’ve thought this for a long time. You don’t need constant growing sales, don’t need to be achieving 20% growth year after year. There’s nothing wrong with that, or for even trying to get there, but that’s not for everyone.

Slow growth, or even steady sales that are better than break even, is perfectly acceptable. Look around you in the local community. How many of those businesses that you frequent are happy and content with fairly steady sales, or slow growth?

Some people are gamblers, but most of us are not. Owning a business is a big gamble for many people, don’t compound the stress and concern by obsessing over the stories of those people that have hit it big and grown by staggering amounts every year.

Set reasonable goals that make sense for you, and that you are comfortable. Keep working on your business, but don’t measure yourself by the success stories in the media. There are hundreds, if not thousans of slow growth, steady sales businesses that provide their owners with a yearly profit for every Facebook story.

There are also hundreds of busts for every success story because the owners gambled or planned on exponential growth.