I am writing this letter on a Saturday I feel the need to take some refreshing gear.
Just commit to a day without imagining what await me following week, relax and may be not even take a book to read.
I’ve had a very tight week of networking with business owners. Mainly, listening their pain points and expected to give them feedback that would make them feel there’s solution on the other side.
It feels like a pastor who keep receiving community needs.
But that is what I was looking for when I committed to steer growth of our agency – Cygnus Consulting. www.cygnus.co.ke
I’ve run businesses for over 15 years now. But properly designed business since 2011.
Driving from ideation, start up and operating the same. Those three phases require their own specific masterly.
But ideally its all about juggling multiple tasks and projects simultaneously with zero employees at first.
Identifying right pillars can really offload you quite much and create flow that’s very promising.
In this letter, I want to focus on building that one pillar that carries a lot of hope for anyone interested in growing their small businesses.
I always say- there are two types of business founders. One that desires to meet bills and secondly the one that admires growing an enterprise into real business.
Second one will be more favored by this letter.
What’s Business Pillar ?
A business pillar helps the operator create buffer of ensuring operations are growing the business without over relying on him or her.
It closes you off from getting absorbed and drowned in routine operations. Opens you to start developing the mindset of strategic measures to implement in the business.
You are able to have goals, improvement projects and timelines organized in harmonious way creating real traction.
A business pillar really comes to create leverage
Check some great letter I did last on business pillars https://gachokas-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/eleven-powerful-pillars-to-grow-your-small-business
Why is Leverage Important
Leverage is the start of wealth mindset.
Leverage is ability to create influence, sway, clout, authority, pull, importance towards something in a bid to generate more return on investment.
Leverage gives return where you have invested no capital of your own.
If you’re going to grow business you need help. Your hours in a day are limited and therefore puts a cap on how much you can be productive.
What’s needed is a way to compound your effort.
You do this through applying leverage.
It’s the ripple effect you create when you perform small actions. It’s like throwing a pebble in water and it creates wave of ripples.
Leverage is how you transform your pebble of actions into multiplications. Including amplifying impact of your decisions and your judgement.
Great to note, leverage is always free, if you chose the right kind.
One Pillar That is Your Great Leverage
Business owners and operators must balance huge aspect of business controls
Ranging from;
Financials
Operational flow
What makes money
Who are your customers
Company mission and goals
Stakeholders welfare like staff
Competition and moats to work with
Marketing or demand creation strategies
It therefore says, business is one of sort that flows like river. If you don’t have ability to tap at the most optimal position, then the flow of ‘’water’’ can’t wait and will drift important aspects away from you.
What matters then is ability to create leverage that your small actions will still generate increased impact.
What is that one pillar ?
Partnerships
After I lost all my cash capital when building my startups, I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go.
Literally, my mind was shut.
Banks denied me more loans, friends lost trust with me.
But I knew deep inside, entrepreneurship was the thing for me.
After rolling minds for days, I agreed with myself that world will not stop. Will continue and can’t wait for my problems.
I entered into imaginative phase. I needed to innovate. That was the only way.
Partnership was the only thing to carry me forward.
Partnerships gives you a chance to really imagine what is that thing you can give freely to others as you also enjoy their strength.
This is mastery of self. Digging deeper and deeper of who you are
You end up realizing potential you even never thought you have.
How To Start Building Partnerships Leverage
Let’s start off
Dig deeper and identify your potential ready to exchange with others
Dig deeper and pick one venture you want to grow
Make sure the venture you choose to grow is the one you have good information on how to go about it and not the one you just hear has potential cash back.
Identify the key areas you need partnership- below are few key areas to build partnership on;
Strategic direction partnership leverage – you might not get anything else from a person but getting chance to tap from their experience is paramount. Getting a chance to breath strategic direction you can take about a business.
Connecting projects partnership leverage – When you are operating business, it’s good to create sub projects of diff aspects like products optimization, location enhancement, logistics and so on. Look for partnership with people who have ability to unlock such for you.
Technology partnership leverage – Technology continues to evolve in a huge manner that unlocks much more business potential. This is an area that can create potential for you too. Look for partners that can elevate your business operations beyond your individual efforts.
Marketing partnership leverage – Marketing which is simply creating demand for your products is the most lucrative partnership you can bag in any season. This helps you ride on trust of other people to get customers.
These different partnerships evolve on the go.
You learn and re learn on the go
Looks very simple but carries some hidden power that some businesses have grown through.
Partnership are built on foundation of one key element – Relationship building
Ability to build relationship flows from your background believe system. Some people grew never trusting any person.
Without reversing that mentality, your ability to build partnerships will always be limited.
Partnerships is about trusting other people with your mind
When it flops, it’s painful and mainly emotionally. When it yields, it can be very rewarding.
Remember from start point of this letter, I explored and experienced partnership when I was having no other capital at all. I had nothing else to lose.
Losing my emotion was not the most painful thing ever. So, open heart needed.
Executing your partnership journey will take you back to knowing the areas you need build partnership. That’s start point.
Next, create a tracker;
partnership in progress,
partnership in waiting feedback
partnership in waiting to be identified
Next create activities planner that make sure you are the one proactively initiating and following through. Follow this until it picks up momentum. You will start reaping.
Once you have started with partners, key thing is you build your foundations. This will help in a big way in creating roadmap to realize potential of your small business.
Keep remembering that each baby step, always leads to something big if you stay on course.
That’s good for now.
I hope it helps. I only write to reflect on one more thing that can make you a better business person.
If you have enjoyed this, check our gallery of newsletter more www.poweringhouse.com
Thank you
Gachoka
I am Gachoka Kang’ata (GK) very passionate about entrepreneurship growth . My mission- Sharing for Growth. Sharing on how to become better person to grow business. Over 5,000 reads this newsletter monthly.
MD at Cygnus Consulting – working with mid-sized businesses on– Operations Excellence through Continuous Improvement (CI) Designs. So far, Cygnus pride having worked with over 50 Owners and decision makers. See more: www.cygnus.co.ke
Founder & dedicated coach of micro & small enterprises for growth. Looking forward to impact over 1000 small business in 5 years. See more www.poweringhouse.com
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