I am a home-based business entrepreneur and full-time mommy. My business is in network marketing, but I also coach home-based business female entrepreneurs. Today I want to talk about the four stages of business growth.
I’m part of a leadership group right now and it’s pretty amazing what we’re learning. One of the things we’ve talked about is the four stages of business growth as an entrepreneur. This could apply to any business, not just network marketing.
As a coach, I work with all types of businesses, and help women in the service industry with their mindset, money motivation, how to grow their business, how to strategize, etc. I consider myself a success mentor, because what I love to see most is female entrepreneurs, especially mom entrepreneurs, really step into their own and grow their team, grow their businesses, or whatever that might look like for you.
The 4 Stages of Business Growth as an Entrepreneur
I was able to grow a network marketing business very, very quickly right out of the gates, and I became a 6-figure income earner in less than a year. When I built this large organization, I had to learn how to work with a lot of different personalities and a team of people. As you know, there’s a lot of psychology that comes along with that. I couldn’t understand how people weren’t growing as quickly as me or why there was negative beliefs coming into play. I had to grow personally. When you own a business and you are a leader, you have to grow yourself.
These four stages of business growth are super important, because they help you grow as a person and help you set realistic expectations for working with others.
Stage #1: Inception
Something that happens a lot when someone starts a business is that they get super excited and want to shout it from the mountaintops. But that rush during your first launch can actually be an overload of excitement…or maybe there’s crickets, and you find that nobody wants to hear about your product, service, or opportunity.
When you’re growing your business and interacting with others, you want to make sure that you’re sharing that personal excitement that comes from within. And as a leader, you need to be ready for what’s coming next.
Stage #2: Deception
Deception is something that usually happens within the first couple weeks of when you are first starting out with your new opportunity or business. You’re about to launch and you’re hearing crickets. Or maybe your Facebook ads are running and nobody’s landing in your inbox or scheduling calls. That’s where deception comes into play.
During this stage, it’s important to have accountability and be surrounded by a great team, as well as other leaders and coaches. You don’t want to be stuck in this deception stage. It’s just your own mind talking mindless chatter, telling you you’re not meant to be successful. Those are false thoughts.
What you focus on, you bring in. Stop focusing on what you’re not good at, and focus instead on what’s going to work.
Move through this phase as quickly as possible. But don’t worry you guys, we’ve all been there.
Stage #3: Transformation
Transformation happens when you get to the other side of deception and celebrate that. You’re starting to figure this whole thing out, and are now able to move forward in your business and really get your feet wet. You’re transforming into a leader, and your team or business is starting to grow.
Stage #4: Identity
The identity stage of business growth is when you achieve a goal or a vision. When you hit that vision, you don’t want to stay there, you want to create a new vision board or you want to keep going and achieve more things. You never want to stay here in this stage — you want to step up your game and keep moving.
As a home-based business owner, sometimes we can feel like we’re in a block. We’ve all been there.
Step out of your comfort zone! Add value and support your team.
These four stages are important to understand. Often, what you focus on is what you’re going to bring back in. So let’s shift your focus. This training that I am doing now is way more in-depth, but I just wanted to tell you about these four stages of business growth and hopefully what you can expect to come up against as an entrepreneur.
Something that I see a lot is people who get started in network marketing and then immediately quit. Network marketing is a business of sales and marketing, but it attracts people who have no clue how to sell and market to other people with class.
That’s exactly what I teach people how to do — the art of sales and the art of connecting.
It’s the same thing with coaching, though. A lot of home-based business have this same problem. You get started and you’re super excited; you’re in a million different groups trying to stand out, but you just feel like you’re part of a rat race. When you feel like that, don’t quit your business — keep going! A lot of other people in your niche have become successful, so why can’t you?
I believed I could, and I did. And that’s what I want for all of you as well.
