Why do Businesses remain Small?

Its simpler, less stressful and more return on hours invested to run a professionally managed large organization, than to run a small or a medium-sized business. Inspite of this, nearly all small and medium-sized business owners choose to remain small, consciously or unconsciously. Here's why:
1. The purpose is missing.
2. The business reflects the limitations of the business owner's personality.
3. The business owner is too busy working in the business than on the business.

The Purpose is Missing
Being an entrepreneur is not about money, or fame. Its about solving problems for the society and the passion of creating opportunities where people only see problems.
- Steve Jobs. Co-Founder, Apple. Net worth in 2011 at the time of his death: USD 10.2 Billion.

Being purpose driven provides a company the competitive edge, staff confidence and strong innovation. Recent research at Harvard shows that companies with a ‘higher purpose’ are more than three times as likely to retain their employees. Deloitte found that companies with a strong sense of purpose were almost twice as likely to be confident about business growth in both the short and long term. 
- Richard Branson. Founder, Virgin Group through which he started and controls more than 400 companies. Net worth: USD 5.1 Billion.

Most businesses are started with the objective of making the founder financially free. Though this is a sound objective, it doesn't have the horse-power to lead the founder too far. As long as the passion is more for making money than for making a difference through solving a problem; the business meanders along the path of mediocrity without any definite direction.

Business is a beautiful opportunity to live your purpose of life. Most business owners are not aware of their purpose of life, leave alone have that be connected to the business that they run. As long as that disconnect remains; the businesses that they run will never deeply fulfil them nor create unimaginable wealth. The business owner will continue to dance to the tune of mediocrity, chasing their customers rather than experience the joy of customers chasing them.

The Business Reflects the Limitations of the Business Owner's Personality
Ask yourself: What are your strengths? What makes you different from everyone else? What are you terrible at? This introspection is important because it will offer an almost exact preview of how your company will operate down the line. Founders have demonstrated time and time again that the essence of your grown-up company is going to reflect your own key traits.
- Inc. (US Business Magazine)

This makes the business owners the biggest barrier to their own business' growth. Most of the time, the business owners are so busy being busy, rushing around, doing ten things at a time that there is no time for self-reflection to discover their own blind spots, their own limitations that impede the success of their business. There is no understanding of the importance of focusing on their leadership depth, which is the biggest block holding their business back. The business will scale to the extent the business owner scales up as a leader.

Some of the leadership skills that the business owners need to learn to grow their businesses with greater velocity - self-awareness of their limitations / blind spots and courage to go beyond; emotional intelligence to increase performance and productivity in the organization, starting with one's own self; effective delegation; creating a learning organization to provide thought leadership transforming the industry itself and inside of that the community that it is a part of; creating an organizational culture of personal accountability and excellence; creating a blue ocean to be a monopoly, leaving the competition far behind to fight bloody wars in the red ocean; inspiring (not motivating) employees, customers, suppliers and other stake-holders through leading, coaching and nurturing to give not only their mind but their hearts and souls to the Higher Purpose of the organization for the organization to cut-over from good to great.

The Business Owner is too Busy Working in the Business than on the Business
If you are a part of the painting, how can you see the whole picture to figure out if it is what you wanted in the first place or if the painting needs to look different? You need to step out of the painting to become the painter.

If you are engaged in operations day-in day-out; fire-fighting all the time; you won't have the clarity and the big-picture understanding to lead your business to greater heights of success and profitability. 

To be able to manage this transition, you will have to unlearn a lot of old habits and learn new ones which require you to keep stepping out of your comfort zone. To begin the journey to work on the business,
1. The first thing you want to do is set the Standards for everything because you don't want your business to buckle down as soon as you begin to step away.
2. The second step is to define, plan and implement the Standards through Systems, Procedures and Tools.
3. The next step is to Hire Right - giving greater importance to the mindset than the skillset because it is easier to coach people on skills than on the right mindset.
4. Train, train and train. Remember if there is a problem, it is always because either the process isn't there, or isn't implemented correctly or people are not trained to effectively follow through. Getting upset and angry is the shortest route to cutting out your connection to innovation and process excellence.
5. Delegation not by running away from what you don't want to do but by careful planning, coaching and measures based review to support your people to be successful in whatever task you delegate them with; which means they actually do the job better than you.

In Conclusion
Just as our responsibility to our infant is to support her growth till she stands independently on her own feet; it is our responsibility to support the growth of our business till it grows to become an extraordinary business, running independently of us. Any limitation that we place on business growth is more a function of our own personal limitations than anything else. To ensure business growth;
1. The business owner would begin with a deeper understanding of his own higher purpose and have that be lived through his business; so that his people have the experience of building a cathedral rather than merely cutting stones.
2. Be passionate about the personal transformation that the journey of leading your organization from good to great will require by nourishing, growing and transforming all the four bodies that we human beings possess - intellectual / mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.
3. Be clear right in the beginning about the intent to lead the business to greatness; and move towards working on the business than in the business at the right time.

If you follow the right approach and methodology, you will own not just one small struggling organization but many great organizations growing with velocity. 

​Wishing you many deeply fulfilling, successful, profitable, purpose-driven businesses that transform you and the world around you. 

Love, Jyoti.