“Oh, My! You’ve Gotten So Big!”

     Remember hearing this every Thanksgiving  while you were growing up? The proclamation was typically accompanied by a hand on top of your head or shoulder?

     Ah, yes, and it usually came from some ignorant,  but maybe well-intentioned adult member of your dysfunctional family? Some aunt or uncle you only ever saw once a year gorging herself or himself on the annual turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce banquet?

     Well, that was good training. Now you own and run or manage a business.  The likelihood is great indeed that you still see signs of ignorance in your family, and that it has — VOILA! — remained a dysfunctional entity!

     But odds are those growing-up days  dished out more suffering than you recall. Insecurity. Anxiety. Disproportionate thrusts of physical and emotional change. Hatred of all people older than 23.

     When did you last travel with a fourteen year-old?  You look at one a little crooked, and odds are you’ll be rewarded with a convulsive shudder followed by a flood of tears. He or she’s worried about which sweater to wear or iPod tune to buy and you’re trying to resolve travel delays. It’s a communications lock-down and some one’s going to end up angry.

     How did you handle it then?  Somehow you got through it all because here you are reading this post. What about now? Has your business reached puberty? Is it still in adolescence? Is it caught in the middle somewhere?

     Do you find yourself gulping, clenching your teeth and scratching  your head more that the startup years when there wasn’t even time to eat, never-mind scratch? Do you hate when people talk about how much your business has grown when in your heart you know you’re stuck in mud and hoping it’s not quicksand?

     Well, then, give your business a shot of “Adult.”  Stop thinking small and defeated. Stop acting small and defeated. Stop resenting outsiders sizing up your venture. Stop choosing to accept your circumstances. START choosing to change your circumstances. 

YOU DO NOT NEED TO CHOOSE TO SETTLE FOR ANYTHING.

     Some after-hours places to start:

• Run your disk defragment and anti-virus programs (uh, not at the same time)!
• Clean out your old email files, old databases, old business card collections!
• Clean out your supply cabinet (and discover what’s been over and under ordered)!
• Develop 3 new challenges for each employee and plan a group briefing!
• Explain your business to a five year-old and to an 80 year-old, then listen!   
• Check out work spaces – are they getting cluttered? Sloppy? Dirty? Lighting?

     Add your own. A quick monthly take on these “inventory” items will help your business grow up faster and with less damage than most humans experience! What have you got to lose? What have you got to lose if you stay stuck in mud another few years?

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