When I was in the ninth grade, my dad lost his business. He was 50 years old at the time, and while he lived to be 71, I can say that, in many ways, he never recovered from the blow.

What are the Non-Negotiable Business Development Rules?

Business Development Rules focus on the functions of a company that generate, sustain, and grow revenue. These functions include Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service.

All businesses need to focus on six essential areas in order to prosper and grow. Without giving adequate attention to these areas, the business will inevitably suffer. These six foundational areas are:

The Three Faces of a Leader measures the proportion of time and energy a leader spends embodying the three primary leadership roles, or faces, within an organization. The three faces are Visionary, Manager, and Specialist.

The Organizational ReWilding Stages of Growth, formerly known as the 7 Stages of Growth, is a business growth methodology based on the distinct stages businesses grow through. Each Stage has rules of growth, which if followed, create the environment for sustainable, profitable growth.

Over a decade ago, James Fischer published the book, Navigating the Growth Curve, in which he presented a groundbreaking methodology for understanding how businesses grow.  Based on decades of research and observation of small and mid-sized businesses, Fischer discovered how the complexity of an organization drives the rules by which a business must operate to continue to grow.

Understanding the stages of business growth, and how companies progress through these stages, is essential for any entrepreneur hoping to thrive in the chaotic beginnings of starting a company.

When a company has grown to 11 – 19 employees, survival mode is quickly replaced with growth as the top priority. This is called Stage 2, or Ramp Up.

As a Stage Three company (20-34 employees), it’s critical to understand that what has worked in the past may not work any longer.

In a Stage 4 company, comprised of 35 – 57 employees, the changes that occur are exponentially more impactful than anything the company has experienced to date.

With the company size ranging from 58-95 employees, integration between departments is the key to success in Stage 5..

Stage 6 is called the Strategic Stage because the risk of not seeing the larger strategic picture could cause the ‘too little, too late’ syndrome.

Stage 7 is not an easy transformation for a CEO, but a critical one to think about in this largest Stage of Growth.

Standing right in the middle of the convention entry door, index finger pointed directly at my chest, the business owner looked me straight in the eye and told me my ideas on how to manage business growth were rubbish.