PPB October 2017

leadership to your team. Keep an eye on your gross profit per employee at this stage to ensure that you don’t strip the business of operating profit. • The opportunity: Now that your infrastructure can be amortized and leveraged across a bigger team and more sales, you want to make sure your compensation plans are built to inspire growth. It’s OK to make tweaks to your compensation structure as your business changes, just be sure to clearly communicate the reasons and the benefits to each person involved. STAGE 5: Organizational Specialization • Developing Niches. Now that you have a team producing more and more work, you will begin to develop an expertise in special niches. Salespeople will develop confidence in certain segments of the business (this can be product categories like awards programs, specialties like incentives or company stores, expertise in industry verticals, or creative specialties like custom products and fashion- forward merchandising). Roles within your organization become more specialized as your team grows and your salespeople start developing niches. • The challenges: Spreading yourself too thin. One of the most dangerous areas for a distributor at this phase is to become all things to all people. The opportunities in the promotional products industry are immense, and though it’s tempting to say “yes” to everything, it would be unwise. Instead of catalyzing your team around a market niche, you could water down your effectiveness. Instead of a team and unity of one, you would create small “mini-businesses” within your company, diluting your profit, reducing your effectiveness and increasing your overhead, leading to a strain on your entire infrastructure. Instead of being efficient, streamlined and focused, your operation could become bloated, sluggish and complex. • The opportunities: Clients will generally lead you toward your unique value proposition. Pay close attention to these niches. With an eye on the market and your margin, notice how much competition you have in these categories. Refine by testing and proving your concept over and over. Your largest market advantage can take place in this season. Once you determine what those niches are for your unique value proposition, double-down and focus. Entrepreneurship has its own rewards. Though we have been speaking in terms of winning a marathon, much of the joy you will derive from your journey is the run itself, not reaching the finish line. These five business stages not only represent watermarks for your business but also defining moments for your life. It’s where you test your mettle, push your limits and realize the joy of building something that you are proud to be a part of. It’s a good reminder that we are not merely aiming at some pinnacle of success, but rather that we are achieving success at every stage. As commentator Andy Rooney put it, “Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.” This article is the third in a multi-part series entitled “The Path to $10Million,” a series focused on growth. Find additional installments in this series at community.commonsku.com . Catherine Graham is president of Toronto-based distributor RIGHTSLEEVE and CEO of commonsku. Reach her at catherine@commonsku.com. Bobby Lehew is chief content officer at commonsku. Reach him at bobby@commonsku.com . Muchof the joy youwill derive fromyour journey is the run itself, not reaching the finish line. 60 | OCTOBER 2017 | GROW