Effective Scaling Part 1: Thriving Amidst Uncertainty
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This four-part series will cover startup planning, people, efficiency, and resources as crucial inflection points in growth.
"If there's one thing that's certain
in business, it's uncertainty."
โ Stephen Covey
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Uncertainty is everywhere. In farming, you plant crops without knowing what the weather and markets will bring every season.
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In startups, the long-term volatility of customers, teams, investors, markets, and the overall economy can deter success.
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Uncertainty often causes fear. Instead of cowering in a corner, however, channel your energy based on your vision, values, and desired outcomes.
Optimize What You Control
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As a founder, YOU are the only certainty about the future. So, you want to dedicate time and energy optimizing what you control.
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Prepare scenarios and budgets for the expected, best, and worst cases.
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Determining responses will give you more options now and lower stress if anything bad happens later.
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Review data consistently for insights and revisit entire plans at least quarterly to make necessary adjustments.
Seek Advice Constantly
To keep developing as a leader and discover opportunities, regularly seek peers, investors, team, customers, etc. and ask them open-ended questions.
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Create a challenge network of people who will candidly say what you need to hear, not only what you want to hear.
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At least quarterly, approach them with specific obstacles and broad perspectives (e.g. where should we be in one year?).
Learn Differently
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Constantly learn new concepts to stockpile ideas and adapt if needed.
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Seek multiple sources across different fields. Read articles and books outside your industry, review competing sources, and read fiction for new ideas.
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Create time to work on the business, not only in the business. For instance, I break away weekly to review and update my objectives.
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Regularly test new ideas by running experiments:
Create a hypothesis
Describe the expected outcomes
Determine (limited) resources
Measure results
Decide the next steps
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Develop Self-Awareness
As we become more self-aware, we will better handle pressure, form relationships, and make decisions.
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Some people increase awareness through internally focused activities such as writing, mindfulness, and breathing.
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Others look externally by engaging plenty of advisors, mentors, peers, and team members who can provide candid and constructive feedback.
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Finally, make room for activities that will reinforce you against day-to-day stress, such as exercise, a healthy diet, sleep, and time with family & friends.
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Give any new habit at least 6 weeks to feel the results.
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You cannot predict the elements, but by recognizing and optimizing what you control, you can maximize options.
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This post was written by me with AI editing. The image is AI generated.
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