Bloginar Weekly Lesson Ten: Getting Out of Your Own Way
I am thrilled to share my interview on creating your own lucky opportunities with JJ Ramberg of MSNBC’s Your Business! Please watch it then continue with the weekly bloginar lesson: Getting Out of Your Own Way!
If you have specific questions that I can address – please visit my newly redesigned website m-edge.com and click on the link for Biz-Edge where we answer YOUR business questions!
Are you frustrated with the rate of growth your firm is achieving or have you hit the kind of plateau that emerging firms often experience? Perhaps you’re struggling to enter new markets, drive more revenue or increase profits, yet you’re stuck. Well, that plateau is much more common than you might expect, and the reason for it is often the same.
The bootstrapping skills owners relied on to get to their current level of success are often not the skills that they need to move forward to the next level. Many new business owners find that in the early stages they need to control everything and make sure every “I” is dotted and every “T” crossed. However, by its very nature, growth into a different stage WILL BE UNCOMFORTABLE, because it is different. This actually is a good thing – if you don’t get a few butterflies in your stomach, you’re probably not pushing hard enough. Yet, without systems in place and a willingness and confidence to delegate responsibilities in a different way, your business simply can’t achieve a solid, sustainable growth level.
If you choose to grow your organization, you are also committing to challenging yourself in a new way. It is the rare founder who can do this without feeling a serious degree of discomfort. But, you need to make the choice on whether you can and want to become the kind of leader your company needs you to be in order to successfully lead the organization, or confront your shortcomings and decide if it’s better for somebody else to carry the company forward.
Weekly Lesson Ten (Answer these questions…)
Are you ready to commit to growth or do you want to remain at your current stage?
If growth is a goal, what needs to change in your business?
How important is delegation of decision-making at your company?
If you need to control specific decisions, which ones are they and how will you include your team in the process so you don’t become an obstacle?
While I am currently pursuing my doctorate in education at Johns Hopkins University (part-time), I remain passionate about helping small business owners and entrepreneurs accelerate growth. I founded my consulting firm, Marketing Edge Consulting Group, in 1999 and established the company's training division, Edge Institute, in 2013 with a focus on helping small business owners, executives, students and entrepreneurs better understand how their key stakeholders think, what they value and what influences their purchasing decisions. I then show them how to apply this knowledge to create targeted business growth programs that drive revenue growth while increasing profitability and customer loyalty.
I teach entrepreneurship and marketing courses at Babson College. Previously I taught marketing courses at the Heller School for Social Policy & Management at Brandeis University. I also spent 13+ years at the Boston University Questrom School of Business where I taught entrepreneurial sales & marketing courses, ran their New Venture Competition for ten years and served as the Faculty Director for the university’s top ranked Online Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship Program from 2005 to 2014.
I have conducted business growth workshops throughout the US for organizations ranging from publicly funded groups like the MA Supplier Diversity Office to Fortune 500 companies like Fidelity Investments and Carrier Corporation. I served as the Lead Instructor for Interise’s nationwide training program, run in conjunction with the US SBA: Small Business Association's Emerging Leaders (e200) Initiative, providing training to hundreds of business owners throughout the U.S. I was also the Managing Director for the BU Urban Business Accelerator Program, an educational program that brought students to economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Boston with the goal of improving financial capacity & business.
For Babson Global, I was on a 3-person MBA design team that created an innovative MBA program for the Mohammad Bin Salman College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Saudi Arabia. I also led the design teams for the Masters in Entrepreneurial Leadership and the 4-year undergraduate marketing degree.
I specialize in custom-designing classroom and online business growth training programs ranging from 1/2 day workshops to intensive 9-month programs for a companies as well as government agencies and organizations. I have taught in the U.S. and abroad including: China, Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
I have more than 30 years of direct industry experience and hold an MBA from Boston University and a BA in Economics and Sociology from Brandeis University. I am currently pursuing my doctorate in education at Johns Hopkins University School of Education.
View all posts by Beth Goldstein, Edge Institute
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