Overview
The Small Business Lifecycle is an amazing and very useful tool for understanding where your business is at and what is needed to move it to the next stage of growth. This Small Business Lifecycle came from a website, which is run by Charlie Gilkey (give it a look).
The Small Business Lifecycle is composed of 5 distinct stages of growth: Aspirational Stage, Entry Stage, Growth Stage, Crucible Stage and Cruise Stage. Each of these stages has its own unique strengths and challenges. By understanding these we can see where your business needs help so it can flourish. The diagram below illustrates the stages of the Small Business Life Cycle:
Stage 0 – The Aspirational Stage
The Aspirational Stage is the stage before you even start up a business. People at this stage like the idea of starting a business but haven’t yet jumped in and actually started one yet.
Stage 1 – The Entry Stage
People at the Entry Stage have started their business and are actively trying to get it off the ground. They may have few, or even no customers at this stage, but they are building their market and refining their product or service offering ideas. Congratulations – you are now a fledgling entrepreneur!
Stage 2 – The Growth Stage
The business is up and running and you have a growing stream of customers in the Growth Stage. Revenue is growing and your marketing is working. While you are not yet at full capacity, you definitely have a viable business model.
Stage 3 – The Crucible Stage
The Crucible Stage is the stage where the wheels fall off. At this stage in the Lifecycle, you are booked solid and working to full capacity. The demand for your product or service outstrips your ability to meet it. This is the stage where you need to focus on tweaking your systems. The systems you set up to start the business, and that worked so well in Stages 1 and 2, now just don’t cope.
Stage 4 – The Cruise Stage
The Cruise Stage is where entrepreneurs have worked out what was causing the bottleneck in Stage 3 and have sorted that out. Now you have a mature business with the systems and people to run the business smoothly and keep up with customer demand. Quite often this mature state of the business may seem a bit hum drum to those of us who enjoyed the thrill of the ride in Stages 1 and 2. Now is the time you can change the business model. You can also consider adding or change your products and services. Also is a good time to sell up and start again.