Developing a brand new business in an industry or trying to break into a new avenue outside of your specific field in your industry can be like attempting to lift a 150 pound boulder when you’ve only ever seen someone else lift high loads. You know what your legs are supposed to be doing at different points, you may know you need to bend your knees and you may have heard people say not to lift with your back, but you may not even get the boulder of the ground – and if you do, you may be lifting in a way other people that know how to lift think looks weird. So how do we get around that? How do we learn how to lift the boulder? How do we start that new revenue stream?
There are two different pillars to be mindful of in this.
The first pillar is process. Define all of the unknowns and systematically eliminate them. Attend classes or take an online course, buy some lunches for people already in the new industry, and make detailed notes on every individual process a business in this new industry may use. Once finished with this step, you should be able to competently talk with industry professionals about the new industry – not necessarily meaning you’re an expert, but “fluent in the language”. Next, make models, surround yourself with people who are already successfully “lifting the builder”, and fully flesh out the end goal. In this stage, a solid team of people excited about the idea should start to form gravity and a five year plan should start to take shape. Finally, define your capital limitations and look back at the foundation you’ve created when choosing an avenue to break into the sector your pursuing. The proper avenue should be pretty clearly defined, even if you have to wait for a deal that fits your criteria to come around – but the background legwork is entirely meant to minimize the risks posed by capital investment in a new industry or sector within your industry.
The second pillar is personnel. New business or product development is important and can expand a successful business or even rejuvenate a stagnant business, but not every person on a team will have the time, energy, or mindset to pursue a business development project in the time frame you need. Survey your managers and supervisors and make sure you learn the strengths of your team. If you or any of your managers or supervisors have staff that are consistently working ahead and asking for more tasks, those individuals would be a great choice to task with new business development. Allow those high performing, energetic professionals to grapple with the boulder on your behalf and run these ideas to ground. With guidance and careful risk assessment, you could have an organization that expands itself and begins rapidly generating additional revenue streams because you’ve fostered an environment where new business development and innovation are rewarded and discussed freely rather than having an environment focused on only what you’ve proven works.
Call To Action
Look at your business’ earnings by categories:
Where are you in the new Business development process?
1. If you don’t know call us. We’ll determine it.
2. If you do know it, ask yourself what’s next. (We can help here too).
I hope you found something to apply to your business in this MBR. Let me know either way.
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