Founders Message - Max International Virtual Office

corporate message
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CorporaTe Message
Mike Larkins: Max Enters Phase II
I am really honored and excited to be a part of the Max Corporate team.
We have tremendous potential and opportunity in front of us. I would
like to share some insights that might help you better understand where
we have been and where we are going.
All companies pass through three distinct phases of growth. Most ventures
are started by an entrepreneurial individual or group that has a great
idea that they launch and then work like crazy to make it successful. This
is referred to as Phase I. Phase I is where companies begin—and most
end. A new business comes to market with a product or an idea, and the
first priority is to discover a “success pattern” before time runs out. The
game is survival.
With survival as the only thing that matters, most Phase I companies
do a lot of muddling around, going in one direction, and then another. In this phase you must have cash
flow to survive, so companies try a lot of things, make a lot of mistakes and do some things that turn out to
be self-defeating. It is characterized by lots of crisis-to-crisis management with corporate leaders working
very hard to figure out the “success pattern.” It is characterized by experiences of excitement, confusion,
inventing, learning, anxiety, hope, trial and error, risk taking, frustration, elation, and innovation. Phase I is
an exhilarating roller coaster ride with plenty of ups and downs. Max International is emerging from Phase I
and company employees and Max Associates can all relate to the scenario described above. Max Founders,
company executives, field leaders and Associates did well. Everyone should be congratulated for navigating
and surviving the challenges of Phase I.
We have learned in Phase I that MaxGXL and Max WLX are incredible products that really work. We have
a Compensation Plan that exceeds industry expectations. We have a developing company culture that
attracts and creates loyal Associates and customers. We have unique Founders and executives that want Max
International to become a pace-setter in the industry. Most would agree that we have discovered a unique
“success pattern.”
With the success pattern in place, Phase II begins with relatively fast growth. All the pieces start to come
together. The mission of Phase II is to take the “success pattern” and duplicate it everywhere possible. Phase
II shifts the focus from survival to predictability. The company must become “effective” and “efficient” in its
operations, systems and service. In Phase I, almost everything is tolerated if it helps the company survive.
In Phase II, we look for ideas and systems that help us create uniformity, consistency and simplicity that will
help Associates grow their business. It is the time when the company scales up its personnel, systems and
overall capabilities to support the growth that the field creates. Phase II is about stability. Words that describe
Phase II are: normal, comfortable, systematic, profitable, structured, repetition, duplication and success.
As Max enters this phase of its growth and evolution, the company’s collaboration with field leaders and
Associates is of paramount importance. Cross-line systems like our 5-point “Max Story” presentation become