Leap After Leap

Business Growth Hurts

Business growth, like any kind of personal or professional growth is painful. Yes, it can be incredibly rewarding, but there are no shortcuts to bypass the painful stuff. In fact, avoidance causes more pain in the long run. Leaders are tasked with choosing one painful thing or another, and it’s not always clear which is best. There is pain in enduring. There is pain in avoiding. There is pain in self-induced doubt and insecurities.

But struggling and suffering does not always equal growth or moving forward. In fact, it could very well be the opposite. Not to belittle endurance — “just surviving” can take tremendous effort.

Growth Versus Endurance

Most of us seem to prefer growth, at least in the abstract, over simply enduring. There are mountains to summit and new landscapes to take in. But knowing the difference between “growth” and “endurance” is not always easy to determine.

Fear can be a good scent to follow. Growth takes facing the monolith of our fear, while endurance is often a reactive state. When we are in reactive mode, we solve the problems that come at us and avoid looking in the direction of the monolith because it produces anxiety as it looms above. And our brains are masters of avoiding fear — it’s like our prime directive. So business growth, like all growth, means transcending our base instincts.

Our Fears Disguise The Path to Growth

Our deepest fears are masters of misdirection. The monolith whispers, “I’m too grand, too dangerous. Don’t bother. But there are easier battles you can win. You are strong. Tackle this smaller fear, and show the world how strong you are!” And so we feed our egos on small triumphs and try to forget that we live in the shadow of the monolith.

Growing an Agency by Facing Our Fears

I was recently chatting with Brad Farris, of Anchor Advisors, who consults with agency leaders. He told me that when agency owners come to him, they always have a problem they want to solve — but it’s rarely the real problem holding them back. These owners were intent on battling their small fears, but this is incredibly inefficient. It’s like treating a knife wound without removing the knife.

Clients, especially business owners and leaders, come to agencies looking for a new marketing strategy or a brand refresh, but it often becomes clear that what they really need is to fix a deeper issue or belief. A marketing director will often admit privately that they know they’re avoiding the real issue — but it’s too sensitive to bring up with the CEO or owner. And so we end up working around a major flaw in a less-than-ideal way, and this always hurts the end product.

The Cost of Avoidance

The truth is, fear runs the show more than we’d like to admit. We are wired to avoid what scares us — and business leaders are no exception. The problem is, avoiding fear doesn’t just slow business growth, it actively damages organizations. There’s a misconception that starting a business requires bravery up front but less so once it’s running. The truth? You have to take big risks over and over to grow.

The Agency Trap: Putting Out Fires

What happens too often is that agencies become addicted to solving client problems because that’s easier than solving the big problems holding them back. Facing someone else’s problems is easier than facing your own. This avoidance only makes the problems worse and creates more suffering in the long run.

So how does one grow an agency?

Well, you need to step into your fear as often as you can — like a cold plunge when you’d much rather sit beside the fire. Don’t let avoiding your fears shape your strategies. And be sure to listen.