In this issue, you will learn:

1. Business building and customer retention.

2. Key growth landmarks and what you need to do.

3. How to Become Part of the "0.4% Club."

Reading time: 2 minutes.

Building a business is like building muscle

Most gyms lose 50% of new members within 6 months.

Only 18% of the members stay in the long run.

Not exercising, lack of motivation, and not seeing results fast enough are common reasons.

The same thing happens to the clients of any business who sign up for something.

If you have an inspiring vision, a strong culture that attracts great people, and a better work environment for your team, you will quickly keep customers and bring in new ones.

A never-ending circle.

Walking through the valleys of death

In Scaling Up, Verne talks about the valleys of death in corporate growth.

If you make more than $1 million a year, you're in the "4% Club."

Obstacles to a company's growth

It's complexity! 

This complexity has created three barriers to growth: 

• Leadership: Inability to recruit/develop enough delegable, predictable leaders.

• Scalable infrastructure: lack of business systems, structures, and processes documented and followed with a common understanding to handle growth-related communications and decisions.

• Marketing: Failure to expand an effective marketing function to attract new relationships (customers, talent, etc.) as the company grows.

This is where the business must take a leap or risk falling into the abyss.

What happens when your company grows?

When a company grows from 2 to 10 employees:

• Operations must change.

• Some owners don't understand that they can't run the business alone and must change their mindset.

• An assistant manager is needed.

Businesses face extra challenges with 25 employees:

• You need to hire a finance manager.

When you have 100 employees:

• You can't have a single staff meeting.

• People will want to know the company's rules.

• You need them to handle certain situations.

All these challenges come at different growth stages and require change. 

If you don't, you'll fall behind or remain a small company. 

Want to be part of the 0.4% club?

1. Learn something: Leaders are readers! The best founders read every day for at least 30 minutes.

2. Get a coach: You need someone to guide you through the valleys of death.

3. Consistency: Master the art of showing up even when you don't like it, and you feel low. Life happens.

Change your mindset! And repeat after me:

• Organizational development is a journey, not a destination. 

• Continuous improvement is a habit, not a task or a single engagement. 

• This journey takes time and requires patience, perseverance, and effort. 

It's like a baby growing up.

From the time a baby is in the cradle and learning to roll, crawl, walk, and run, with many falls along the way, until he or she is a teenager, they need to be cared for and taught all the time.

How can I improve the Business Builder?

Hit reply and let me know!

- Luqman