What they Don't Teach You In Entrepreneurship School

So you have taken all the classes, you have used up all your startup funds, your customers want more, you want more, and your company is taking off.

Desire to Succeed – tools you can use.

Optimize your life by uncomplicating your life.

What they don’t teach you in your “startup courses” is that business is easy; the people make it difficult.

Conflict Resolution – we are taught to play nice, not make waves, break the rules, and not cause a disturbance. Yet, as business owners, we must point out people’s pain, cause disruption to reveal other people’s pain, and touch those pain points to provide the solution – we can solve their program.

Customer Engagement – not all customers are good customers, yet to improve the relationships, we should have a ‘community,’ which means including our customers in our lives and being vulnerable. Hence, they know we are like them, and we understand who they are, give them free samples of your work, share your family and personal interest, and take an interest in what they are doing and their goals.

Partner Engagement – as we grow, we need help, so we ask a friend/relative, “If we do this together, we can both get rich” – then you find out your partner isn’t as capable as you thought, they have other interest, they have different values or beliefs about work, expenses, and accountability. Now what?

These are all predictable issues that we all run into. Yet, we don’t talk about how to handle difficult conversations, build a community, or select and develop the right team/customers. How or where do we learn what works or options we might have? What has worked for others? Who has been through these issues and can share what worked for them? What success models or tools can you use to leverage difficult situations?

SOLUTIONS:

Get in a Mastermind Group so you can hear what others before you have done to handle these kinds of issues and what the consequences have been when they go untreated.
Develop your group, an Advisory Group, or an informal Board of Directors
Meet with your key customers who have been through growth issues like these to hear how they lead through these difficult conversations.

You are not alone in this game; others have traveled these roads before you – learn from them and make the solutions your own. It is about managing conflict and adversity that will grow your company and add value to others.

Categories: Leadership, Scaling