Four Small Business Types: 'The Four Thoses'

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There are four small business types, we tend to work with on a daily basis. That is, there are four types of receptivity and readiness to receive, regarding business organization using business systematization!

ASK YOURSELF …

1. What if there was one simple decision you could make to boost your business growth exponentially and reduce employee turnover?
2. What if you could fulfill the dream you had of owning a business that would afford you financial independence?
3. And, what if it would free up a large chunk of your time to spend on important issues?

Think of it, you could grow your business by devoting time to key clients. Consequently, you could do the things you’ve always wanted to do, but never had the time!

What We Call 'The Four Thoses'

This is for those four small business types that have ears to hear and eyes to see!

There’s a biblical parable about four “THOSES” having to do with types of ground or soil, in which a farmer sowed seed, hoping for the best crop.

Allow me to correlate those types of soil with various types of business owners, by sharing what we’ve witnessed at Ebiz Products LLC. We call them, “The Four THOSES.”

Groundwork | Four Small Business Types

To begin with, let’s identify the various types of soil or ground … fertile and otherwise:

1. Wayside (Hard ground)
2. Stony (Rocky ground with little moisture)
3. Thorny (Ground full of weeds and thorns)
4. Good (Fertile ground)

When encouraging and coaching various business owners and leaders over the years, we’ve often been surprised! In fact, shocked, saddened and, thankfully, stimulated with what we’ve witnessed in dealing with the four “THOSES.”

TYPE 1 – BY THE WAYSIDE

There are those business owners who say, “chaos in business is normal.” They believe, “It’s just part of doing business” and “you should just deal with it, accept and expect it, because some things just can’t be fixed!” They rationalize that, “People are human; they make mistakes and cause a certain amount of acceptable chaos or collateral damage.” Besides, they say they’ve tried putting in written controls, and their people just wouldn’t buy into them, much less use them. Hmm!

When I first heard such responses from “those” business owners, I was surprised to say the least. To be sure, we’ve seen many businesses prosper using good business systems that drastically reduced errors and chaos. However, we have had to accept that “those” types of business owners just won’t change. THOSE are the “seeds that fall by the WAYSIDE” group; the idea of organization through systemization just won’t grow on this hard ground!

TYPE 2 – STONY GROUND

There are “those” owners who get excited when they read our book System Buster: How to Stop Them in Your Business. It’s all about fixing the problems and cleaning up the messes in a business … permanently! They tell us how great it’s going to be when they implement all these “much-needed systems.” They “can’t wait” to have written processes, daily routine checklists, quality and service control checklists, etc. Suddenly, the future looks brighter for their business.

So, you can imagine our amazement when “THOSE” owners can’t be reached after that!

Apparently, they’ve gone back to business-as-usual. We are left to wonder, what happened? The truth is, THOSE type owners get excited about every “new” thing that passes by in the business world. The key phrase is, “passes by.” They salivate, briefly, over new products, new methods, new books, new employees, new you-name-it! But, they’re also the ones who half-try products and methods, half-read a book, and therefore, never see the full picture.

Again, we must be patient, because reality will strike them again when a new case of chaos breaks out. We’ve learned that when someone knows the truth about a problem and recognizes the solution, they must decide.

As one business author wrote, “You are the problem, you have always been the problem, you will always be the problem until you change!” The owner must count the cost and decide to fix the issue, or it will happen over and over and over.

Yes, those are the STONY GROUND group! The seed of systemizing a business springs up for a while, but due to little watering of the processes, the “new” thing soon dies. The problem with that is, the owner’s employees, customers, and families are the ones most negatively affected.

TYPE 3 – THORNY GROUND

Then there are “those” business owners who actually sign up; even pay their startup and monthly subscription. They go on to implement a few of the systems that are available at their fingertips in System100. Those will complete two or three of the SIX available live training sessions. Yep, they’re ecstatic about all the possibilities for their business, and we would call them “true believers!” Sometimes for months, they implement systems in their business; solving many of their issues. Their employees tell us how happy they are to see the great improvement in the way they do business. Even the culture of their business improves, but then SOMETHING HAPPENS …

Due to the owner and management having more time to work on their business, the business begins growing at a faster pace. But, gradually the continual improvement stops, being choked off by all the new business they are now getting. Now, they say they're “just too busy to deal with the business of continual improvement,” so they put it on the back burner. “At least for now,” they say. But for now becomes later, and later becomes “We may never get to it.”

These are “those” seeds that fall on THORNY ground. The seed of organizing the business grows for a good while, but then the thorny weeds of prosperity set in. “We’re making money, we don’t need quality control now!” they seem to say. The thorny weeds wrap themselves around and choke that business that was finally seeing the fruit of consistent great quality and service. As the “flower” of organization through systemization slowly withers, chaos returns. It’s what “those” owners assumed was “prosperity.”

TYPE 4 – THE GOOD GROUND

Thankfully, there are “those” owners who recognize the solution to business chaos, and sign up, knowing their investment that will pay huge dividends! THOSE are real decision-makers, who want to continually improve and grow! They complete all their training sessions and want everything they can learn from our years of knowledge. Also at their disposal is our collective “brain trust” of other business leaders’ knowledge.

THOSE on good ground are not wimpy bosses, they are Lead-ships, and their employees respect them highly. They have the vision to bring order to their business and they don’t turn back to the land of chaos. They’re steadfast, resolved and prepared to turn their face toward the winds of opposition.

They don’t need anyone to convince them that organization via systemization works! They’ve seen systemized companies like, Starbucks, Toyota, McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, and countless others that started out very small, go on to greatness. THOSE businesses counted the cost early on and decided to systemize because they really cared about their customers, employees, vendors, and mostly their families.

Those on “good ground” will produce a hundredfold, a thousandfold, and some countless millions. They encourage and stimulate our business to carry on our mission of helping other businesses come to order via systemization.

Not only are they true believers, but they help and care about other business owners, by teaching, inspiring, and above all, by their example of excellence!

Did I mention? Great systems work!