Resources to run a better business.

It’s not the easiest time to be an entrepreneur. I’ve been at this entrepreneurship thing for 30+ years now. I’ve been through plenty of ups and downs. Some successes (and plenty of failures) were my own doing. Others were completely out of my control. Right now, there are a lot of business owners dealing with the uncontrollable.

One of the reasons I love spending time with entrepreneurs is their optimism. Entrepreneurs are always looking for the next opportunity. They find ways to spin straw into gold. They see possibilities that nobody else can. They also, unfortunately, tend to have unrealistic expectations.

Your greatest strengths are the abilities you’re most likely to overlook. Why? Because the things you’re really, really good are central to who you are. They come naturally to you. So you don’t recognize that those talents set you apart. That not everybody sees the world in quite the same way you do. This concept became apparent to me recently. We just finished developing a new tool for the Growth Method called Front Domino Thinking.

Too much teamwork is not a good thing.‍ Here’s a scenario I’ve seen dozens of times in growing companies. The business has gotten bigger, more complex. ‍And bigger businesses—like bigger children—have bigger problems.‍ But the team that’s running the business? They’re still operating off of an older playbook.

Core values are the backbone of your company culture. At least, they should be. But in my experience, entrepreneurs often have gaps when it comes to living their core values.

Here’s a little story about beating the competition. My family loves Toy Story Mania. If you haven’t been, it’s an attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, where you “zip through an exhilarating 4D shootin’ game starring Toy Story characters—and blast away.’

As a culture, we value hard work.‍ Even as we talk about the importance of delegation, getting out of the weeds, and working on the business instead of in it…we don’t always believe it.‍ I’ve fallen into this trap. You probably have too.

I receive a fair number of comments about the Voice of the Entrepreneur. The question I get the most, though, is this:‍You don’t actually write that thing…do you?

Crews & co. is pleased to announce Mark Sapienza and Ray Chang as the firm’s newest Growth Consultants!