In New Zealand, some people think that keeping a business small is a good idea. They believe it's a way to have a relaxed and stress-free life compared to running a big business. However, the truth is, most small business owners face a lot of stress and problems every day. In New Zealand, there are about 600,000 businesses, but only 7% of them have more than 10 employees. Most of these businesses stay small not because the owners want them to, but because they are unsure how to make them bigger. Growing a successful business, no matter its size, is really hard work.

When a business has the potential to become bigger and more successful, it often faces tough challenges. These challenges can create stress. But if a business doesn't overcome these challenges, it stays small and misses out on reaching its full potential. Instead of choosing to stay small, it would be better for business owners to learn how to grow their business successfully. The most successful businesses break through these challenges and give their owners the freedom to enjoy a great lifestyle.

As a business grows, it potentially goes through five stages. However, each of these stages is limited by a challenge, or crisis point, which ultimately keeps many businesses limited in size. Each challenge, or crisis, needs to be overcome to advance to the next level.

At the start, during the "creative" stage, the owners do everything themselves. But as the business grows, this becomes too much for them to handle. This is when a leader needs to step in and organize things. In the "directive" stage, the leader makes most decisions. However, as the business keeps growing, it becomes tough for one person to make all the choices. This leads to the "delegation" stage, where tasks are given to others to help. But sometimes, businesses struggle here because they don't have good systems in place.

To break through this barrier, businesses need better control systems to coordinate efforts. However, as the business continues to grow, these controls can become too strict and slow things down. At this point, the business needs to change to reach the fifth stage. At each crisis point, the business needs to change its structure and management style. To grow to the fifth stage, where a business is able to operate without the owner’s day to day input, the business needs to be run by people in a professional management team, in collaboration with the owner. The owner moves from being the operator to being the orchestrator.

Moving to the fifth stage is extremely challenging for most business founders, because there needs to be a shift in focus from the delivery of products and services performed by the business, to building the business as a product in itself. This is how a business becomes scalable and saleable. Most founders never have the skills to achieve this level of growth.

These growth stages were discovered by a professor at Harvard University named Larry Greiner about 50 years ago. Knowing about these stages can help businesses prepare and avoid unnecessary stress. Many business owners in New Zealand are never informed about these stages, so they often face problems that could have been avoided.

The main message is that wanting to keep a business small can limit its potential. Unplanned growth can create stress and risks for a business. By planning ahead and knowing about these growth stages, business owners can make their businesses bigger and more successful while keeping stress and risks low. This means they can have more control and enjoy a better life!