Scale for sale

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

“Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought. But that was the thing that I was born for.” ― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

As an exhortation, you rarely hear the small business owner talk about building their company for sale. When they do, it’s normally premised on retirement, winding down or offloading their wee enterprise before something goes awry.

Imagine if it were otherwise.

Namely, the only goal of starting a business — any business — is to sell it.

This would mean that the business would be like any other product and not treated as part of the lifestyle of the owner or, more likely, a job by any other name.

(Don’t forget the premise of the E-Myth: Over 25 years ago, Michael E. Gerber wrote a best-selling business book called The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. The E-Myth (“Entrepreneurial Myth”) is the mistaken belief that most businesses are started by people with tangible business skills, when in fact most are started by “technicians” who know nothing about running a business. Hence most fail. — Forbes)

You might, of course, disagree with me — there are always exceptions to the rule — but too many small businesses end up as Zombie businesses or they simply fail, never to be heard from again.

Perhaps there’s something else in play; namely, the idea of a small business. The name. Look at the name. Who wants to own something that has no potential to scale? Again, this circles back to a fundamental flaw in the start-up world: a small business is no more effective than the idea upon which it is built.

What is the idea? Well, normally, it’s directly related to the E-Myth by dint of the fact that the person who starts a business believes the thing that they’re good at — e.g. a lawyer, accountant, plumber, chiropodist — means that they’ll be able to successfully run a business offering the same product or service. It rarely works out that way.

Imagine instead if they went to work on the business with one idea in mind: to scale for sale. Yes I repeat myself but I’m convinced — no, it’s more than that: it’s a rock-solid conviction — that if that mindset were applied, allied to a green product or service (see the business https://lucyandyak.com/ which I really, really like) that it could awaken and transform the lives of every (small) business owner. In other words, it wouldn’t be a business project per se but a personal one where someone’s primary aim was the sine qua non of the business, meaning that they came alive to who they are at the deepest, most foundational level.

I think it’s worth me saying that the reason I’ve changed tack with my writing is because I’ve been seized, once again, by the idea of starting a business that can be, if nothing else, economically viable through all economic conditions. I’ve taken the first step by registering a new company at Companies House. I’ve also written down my Dream, Vision, Purpose and Mission and am now starting to create all the parts of the business that, god willing, will enable me to start it, grow it and sell it. I see this as something I can do alongside the lawyering but the long-term plan is to scale for sale by adopting a franchise prototype model. The essence of the business is to inspire and help small business owners get clear on the idea upon which the business (either a start-up or going concern) is based, which will ultimately determine if it succeeds or fails.

In short, the vision is to become known as the world’s leading incubator for small business creation.

It’s very early days and, ordinarily, I wouldn’t be sharing any of this information with you but the truth is this business isn’t new but has been with me since I left legal practice for the first time in August 2010. The difference this time is that I’m determined to build everything I need first, including the business development programme (i.e. lead generation, lead conversion and client fulfilment), before I officially go live.

I’ll say this: for the first time in a long time I feel like I’m actually creating something instead of wasting so much time, as I’ve done in the past, talking about what I’m going to do and never doing it.

If of course this sort of material doesn’t float your boat — i.e. the start-up is me — then I’ll not be offended if you unsubscribe. To be clear, I’m not pitching you on anything and I’m bound to continue to share my chagrin with the ecocidal tendencies of companies and how business might be a force for good instead but I feel that by writing down where I’m at it will help me on my journey to start NewCo.

Anyhow, it’s Saturday. I’m off to my normal haunt: Dartington Hall, near Totnes for a coffee and a mooch.

Take care,

Julian