The single question I asked when I find the strangest things keep happening to me: How in the world do I keep on ending up in the same situation??
Let me explain. Years ago I found myself back in a 9 to 5 job. Grinding it out. Having burned myself out living two lives: saving lives as a Fire Captain and helping businesses grow and scale while coaching clients on how to optimize themselves to have peak experiences in their life and business. I was helping people very well on both fronts, with only one problem, I was on empty. So I let all my hard work and effort begin to fall apart. After winding down my practice and shuttering my office and closing down my pipelines, I walked away. I thought I wouldn't end up in this situation again. I was wrong.
There I was, several years later, in an office and staring across from me was a frustrated business owner, fed up with not being able to break past their plateaus and asking me to partner up and come on board to run operations and bring their business to the next level. Isn't this what I was running from? Although I mentioned to him that I had no background in this field whatsoever, he said I know that YOU can help.
What was the problem? He had been building the business for several years, overcome some challenges, experienced some growth and built a team, only to hit a sticking point that he couldn't get past! He couldn't understand why he wasn't growing beyond where he was! Then I felt that old familiar fire starts to burn again and agreed to partner up. I began to get excited about the possibilities for the future of the business. In the few short years that followed, although he fought every suggested change, tooth and nail, the business experienced 3X growth as I applied my unique method of Active Problem Deconstruction. I spent many days, weeks and months utterly frustrated at why growth was constrained far below what could have been and the simple answer was, it was not the market, the service, the products, the clients, or the timing that held business back most.
The Founder had convinced themselves that they knew best that the methods and strategies that got them to where they were is what was going to bring them to the next level, only to stay stuck and blame all the wrong things.
The problem was the Founder. At each stage of business growth the plateaus and causes will not automatically be resolved with the old fixes of the past. Once a Founder learns the strategies and methods needed to get to the next level, they break past those old limits and reach new heights.
And just like that I was back. Since then, I have helped many Founders in early-stage businesses who have found themselves stuck while trying to grow. Having come to accept that I am at my best when I am helping to solve interesting problems and systemic issues that hold businesses and individuals back from getting optimal results. The other important lesson I learned was to be selective in only working with Founders who really want to commit to shifting their perspectives and methods in order to help their business experience explosive growth.
What's holding you back?
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