The Entrepreneur's Growth Strategy

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Cognition Global Concepts
Inspiring leaders, growing business
24 Dalham Place, Haverhill. CB9 0AL United Kingdom . 2A Davies Street, Ketu, Lagos Nigeria
info@cognitionglobal.com | http://www.cognitionglobal.com | +234 803 829 4647
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Introduction
In entrepreneurship, result is a critical
measure of growth. The very best
entrepreneurs across the world are
high-producers, who have discovered
better ways of bringing value to the
market by simply doing what they love,
and are good at.
U n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e c o n c e p t o f
entrepreneurship and the specific sets
of strategies that produce the ‘highest
results’ is fundamental to growing your
business. Before sharing the four
strategies you need to get good at for
growing your business entrepreneurs,
let me first correct the misconception
that stops many entrepreneurs from
growing.
The two types of economies
There are two types of economies; the
“Time-and-Effort” economy, and
“Results” economy. Organizations
operating in the time-and-effort
economy include large corporates,
educational institutions, government,
and health organizations. This economy
consists of about 80% of the global
workforce offering guaranteed income,
job security, and a set of predictable
a c t i v i t i e s . A g re a t m a j o r i t y o f
entrepreneurs started out in the Time -
and-Effort economy.
The Results economy, on the other
hand, is the high risk, unpredictable
world of the entrepreneur.
O v e r t h e p a s t s i x d e c a d e s ,
entrepreneurship was founded on the
p r e m i s e o f c r e a t i n g g r e a t e r
opportunities, generating higher
income, and living a freedom lifestyle.
Till date, that foundational premise is
still at the core of the decisions and
a c t i o n s t a k e n b y s u c c e s s f u l
entrepreneurs. Those in the Results
economy deliberately chose to give up
the comfort of guaranteed income to
pursue their own vision of a future that
promises bigger and better reward,
although, with higher risks.
T i m e - a n d - E ff o r t , a n d R e s u l t s
economies operate on different
ideologies. For example, in a Results
economy, successful entrepreneurs
focus most on ‘results’ by taking more
risks, while the bureaucratic nature of
large corporates leads operators in the
T i m e - a n d - E ff o r t e c o n o m y t h e
opportunity to a risk averse and
‘entitlement’ attitude.
Coincidentally, individuals coming into
entrepreneurship from Time-and-Effort
economy tend to demonstrate both
bureaucratic and entitlement attitudes,
which usually makes them experience
f r u s t r a t i o n a n d a s l u g g i s h
entrepreneurial growth.
This Free Report will show you some
key concepts for creating measurable
results in the Results economy.
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Two Decisions that set the best
Entrepreneurs apart.
Successful entrepreneurs are driven by
results. By focusing on the activities
they have natural abilities for, they
produce more and enjoy a greater
reward in return.
Starting a new entrepreneurial journey
is simple and easy, but succeeding with
it requires a different type of mindset.
This is particularly so, as it confers on
you, the responsibility for making key
decisions, as well as identifying and
executing growth strategies.
In 1803, a French philosopher called
J e a n - B a p t i s t e S a y, d e fi n e d a n
entrepreneur as “Someone who takes
resources from a lower (productivity) to
a higher level of productivity and
greater yield.”
Moving resources from lower level to a
higher level of productivity involves
developing new capabilities, and
building a robust structure that
supports high-performance activities.
Accomplishing that requires making
two fundamental strategic decisions
that would set you apart in the
marketplace.
The two fundamental
entrepreneurial decisions.
If you have been in business in the past
three years or more, odds are you have
made the following entrepreneurial
decisions, directly or indirectly:
1. To not depend on anyone else for
your personal financial success; and
2. To not expect any opportunity in the
marketplace until you first add value
to others.
Individuals who intentionally made
these decisions are high-producers.
They think differently, develop
strategies differently, execute actions
differently, thereby creating the future
they desire based on their own
compelling visions.
But there is a big challenge here…..!
“…
Entrepreneurship
was founded on
the premise of
creating greater
opportunities,
generating higher
income, and living
a freedom
lifestyle.”
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The Greatest Challenge Facing
Every Entrepreneur.
The greatest challenge facing every
entrepreneur is transitioning from one
growth phase to another. Typically,
entrepreneurs are expected to grow
from one phase to another. Sadly, many
are not growing because they do not
have the capability to accelerate to the
next phase.
This is usually a ripple effect of a
combination of time pressure, cash
flow, lack of direction, distractions,
w r o n g r e l a t i o n s h i p , b u r n o u t ,
ineffectiveness and uncertainty.
They are some of the forces that
prevent entrepreneurs from adding
value by focusing on their moneymaking
activities. In entrepreneurial
world, Dan Sullivan refers to these
forces as “The Ceiling of Complexity.”
A ceiling of complexity is the
combination of uncoordinated activities
prevent entrepreneurs from reaching
STAR performance. It is the reason why
entrepreneurs work so hard (year-afteryear)
in activities that produce no
significant measurable result and
growth.
Let me explain further…
If you look back to the year, when you
first started your business until now,
chances are that you might recognize
t h e m o m e n t s w h e n y o u m a d e
significant progress. It could have been
times you closed a sales deal with a
client, or got awarded a contract.
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Entrepreneurs tend to grow with each
important milestones they reach. They
learn new skills in the process and
become more effective in handling
transactions of similar nature.
Nevertheless, each of those milestones
also brings with them a little bit of
complexity, which it adds to the
entrepreneurs’ lives and business.
For example; supposing that you were
awarded a new contract, that single
contract could impose a demand on
you for keeping a new set of financial
records, attend several meetings, solicit
for additional cash flow, or enter into
complicated relationships (depending
on the parties involved). It could also
force you to honor new commitments,
carry out a research, or travel long
distances.
Time and again, entrepreneurs go
through these same activities over an
indefinite period of time. And because
they focus more on results, they
entrepreneurs pay no attention to how
adversely the complexities affect them
until it prevents them from further
growth, beyond their present level.
So, when entrepreneurs hit the ceiling
of complexity, further growth becomes
practically impossible until the ‘ceiling’
gets broken.
How to breakthrough the
Ceiling of Complexity
The ceiling of complexity is a season of
crisis. It is a time when your best effort
doesn’t seem to produce your desired
results. This is true for entrepreneurs as
well as CEOs and other executives in
the Time-and-Effort economy.
The moment a person hits the Ceiling
of Complexity, there is a temptation to
work harder and longer hours too.
Many entrepreneurs respond to it by
taking on new lines of products or
services, or floating a brand new
company to start a new business
entirely. Most CEOs respond by
investing heavily in new strategies,
many of which produce no real result.
The first thing you must do to break
through the ceiling of complexity and
achieve further growth in your
entrepreneurial career is not to engage
in further long hours of hard work. In
fact, working harder and longer hours
only becomes counter-productive. If
you must underline the last two
statements, please do!
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“When
entrepreneurs hit
the Ceiling of
Complexity, further
growth becomes
practically
impossible until the
‘ceiling’ gets
broken.”
To breakthrough the ceiling of
complexity, you need to engage in
“Smart-Working.” You remember what
Albert Einstein said…? You cannot
solve a problem with the same mind set
that created it; that exactly what Smart-
Working advocates.
It means going back to the drawing
board to extract those things (activities,
functions, roles) that you were
productive at, and focusing only on
doing them. Smart-Working assumes
that going by the level of complexities
you have accumulated to-date, a new
level of simplicity is required to make
you more effective.
One way to achieve that simplicity is by
decluttering your life by delegating
everything else, except roles that you
have Unique Capability for. This is how
you break your ceiling of complexity.
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One Growth Concept that Makes
All the Difference.
Over the past decades, entrepreneurs
have come to term with the idea that
entrepreneurship is a tough game. Many of
them have great product and service ideas
but lack the structure and roadmap to build
a sustainable enterprise out of them. As a
result, they go through each day in
frustration, and constantly feeling fatigued.
Let me share one simple concept you can
implement right away to free yourself from
that ceiling of complexity.
Concept 1: Change your
mindset.
I do not say this in the context of
motivational speaking; after all, I’m not a
motivational speaker. But seriously
speaking, you must change your mindset if
you must accelerate to your next growth
level.
Let me explain…
I told you earlier, that the ceiling of
complexity is a function of all your past
achievements, right? Let’s now assume
that the total sum of revenue from all your
transactions in the past twelve months
amounted to N15 million. Invariably, you
are at a N15 million growth phase, right?
Okay; let us assume further that, right now,
you are aiming to take your business to
N50 million per annum growth level three
years from today. So, here you are today
(on N15 million growth phase) stretching
towards N50 million, in three years time.
The biggest question in anybody’s mind is;
how?
Before I share the “How?” with you, let me
first demonstrate how the ceiling of
complexity impacts your growth, and why
you need to deal with it first.
If you have been in business for three years
or more, odds are you have achieved some
sort of goals in the past. When people
achieve goals, they unintentionally get
imprisoned by the goals they achieved.
The reason goals imprison people is
because they have a preconceived mindset
that a whole new opportunity would open
up to them, the moment they achieved
their initial goals. But they become
confused and frustrated when they realized
that the opportunities aren’t opening up,
after all.
Part of that frustration occurs when you
want to grow from N15 million to N50
million with N15 million structure,
relationships, or support.
What many entrepreneurs do not realize is
that it takes “Smart-Working” - better
thinking and planning to get to the next
phase of life and business. Winning a
contact yesterday and making a sale today,
is not a guarantee that similar opportunities
would show up for you tomorrow.
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Smart-Working also implies thinking at a
deeper level, building robust structures
commensurate with the goal you are
seeking, developing better relationships
and habits, and executing relentless
actions for the goal to happen.
Let me quickly explain three steps of the
‘Smart-Working’ strategies that you will
need for breaking through the ceiling of
complexity.
Step 1: Set new goals.
Setting a new goal is fundamentally crucial
if you must breakthrough the ceiling of
complexity effectively. It is a smart way of
planning your journey and identifying the
resources you will need to reach the
destination. In fact, it demonstrates your
personal commitment and discipline for
staying focused and accountable for
achieving the result. Setting a goal for your
new growth phase is not a delectable
assignment; you’ve got to either sit down
and do it or never talk about it.
Step 2: Create a robust
structure.
Obviously, many entrepreneurs operate in
Solopreneur fashion, and that’s okay as
long as they want to stay modest. But in
reality, jumping from N15 million growth to
N50 million requires a robust support
system. The decision to build a robust
support system is critical as you cannot
pull a N50 million cheque all by yourself
and stay focused to deliver incredible value
to the clients.
individuals, who are presently operating at
a higher level of goals and achievements.
The next important part of building your
support structure is one that ensures the
effectiveness of your operating processes.
These are people, technologies and all
kinds of resources required for performing
your N50 million growth activities. It also
includes experts whom you will rely on for
developing new skills and accountability to
focus on your own Unique Capability.
Step 3: Develop a new habit.
Developing a newly improved habit is
essential for achieving a new and
higher goal. A change of habit would
mean developing new and better ways
of communicating, asking questions
with the intention to learn, listening
actively, and developing a new
perspective towards issues.
Developing a new habit will not only
help you to achieve your N50 million
growth, it will contribute greatly to your
personal growth and make you a better
person when you reach your new
growth phase. That’s crucial because a
new habit helps in sustaining your new
growth phase.
To break the ceiling and reach a new
growth phase needs a new structure. At
N15 million growth level, you probably had
some sort of structure - support staff,
consultants, freelancers, and relationship
with people. Consequently, a new goal will
require new relationships at a higher level,
social relationships, and new habits. You
also need to surround yourself with
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The 4 Entrepreneurial Strategies for
Continuous Growth.
person’s mindset helps in creating the
actions they accept or reject, and
serves as the lens through which they
look at the world. Interestingly, mindset
determines how each individual grows
his or her own business.
In Page 8 of this report, I shared some
useful insights about mindset, which
you can review to gain a fresh insight.
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Create a Bigger vision
Freedom is the number one reason
driving entrepreneurship. Successful
entrepreneurs enjoy the freedom of
doing what they love, when they want.
But growth is a function of productivity,
meaning that to enjoy freedom,
entrepreneurs must be willing to
execute proven strategies that will help
them to multiply productivity and create
sustainable growth.
What I want to do here is share four
simple but powerful strategies you can
leverage to put your business on the
path of growth. I hope you will find
them useful?
1.
Change your mindset.
An individual’s mindset is central to his
or her belief. It influences their choices
and judgement of right and wrong. A
Successful entrepreneurs live in the
future. I say that because every
individual has three parts; past-based
self, future-based self, and presentbased
self.
The past-based self of an individual is
who that individual used to be. It is
influenced by the powerful experiences
and events that such individuals went
through in life. The future-based self is
who an individual is going to be in the
future. This person is influenced by the
powerful goals and self images they
hold of themselves about the future.
Finally, the present-based self is
someone who is influenced by both
their past-based self and future-based
self; i.e. who they used to be, and who
they want to become.
Let me explain this in a greater detail.
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The Past-based Entrepreneur
Past-based self entrepreneurs are
dominated by their past achievements.
They grew their business to a certain
growth phase but did not have the
capability to break their ceiling of
complexity, they quit. The way to know
them is that they constantly talk about
events that occurred thirty years ago in
their lives. Their mindset and everything
they know reflects the past they are in.
Because they live in the past, they
believe that the future is completely
distant and will take a very long
struggle to reach. As a result they resist
any new concept, knowledge, or
change because they fear that it would
take them out of their comfort zone.
T h e s e e n t r e p r e n e u r s fi n d l i f e
increasingly challenging and hopeless
because to them, every meaningful
occurrences of life have already taken
place, and there is no hope for the
future.
T h e F u t u r e - B a s e d
Entrepreneur
Future-based self entrepreneurs
anticipate the future. They believe that
everything they have accomplished up
until now is only preparatory to the
bigger, brighter and more powerful
future ahead of them.
They have powerful self-image of
themselves about the future, and they
constantly modify them as new
knowledge, new developments, and
new innovations are released. That
modification is crucial for preparing
these types of entrepreneurs for the
bigger and powerful future they are
seeking. An important feature of futurebase
entrepreneurs is that they
leverage the present to lay a solid
foundation for the future.
What’s the Difference?
A significant factor distinguishing pastbased
and future-based entrepreneurs
is that while the events of life happen to
past-based self entrepreneurs by
chance, future-based self entrepreneurs
intentionally created the actions that led
to where they are in the present, and
where they want to be in the future.
Most entrepreneurs do not take
deliberate actions to growing their
business. They wait for the environment
to dictate their reactions. As a futureb
a s e d e n t r e p r e n e u r, h a v i n g a
compelling vision of the future requires
taking deliberate steps in creating
results through goal setting, developing
imaginations, taking risk, and focusing
all your Unique Capability on your
money-making activities.
3.
Focus on your Unique
Capability.
A successful entrepreneur is a genius.
A genius in this context is not someone
having a high IQ. Instead, it is an
individual who demonstrates an
exceptional creativity and influence in
taking productivity to the degree of
achievement.
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E n t r e p r e n e u r s p r o d u c i n g a t a
consistent high level of performance
are those leveraging their Unique
Capabilities. They are not experienced
in everything, instead they display great
expertise in one or two areas they have
greater skill in their business.
Your Unique Capability is the factor that
enables you to create more value for
the client, while enjoying a greater
sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in
your work. Unique capability is different
for different people, nevertheless, it is
that aspect of your “Calling” in
business that you can offer without
noticing the passage of time.
In business, it could be a strong
n e g o t i a t i o n s k i l l , a p o w e r f u l
presentation skill, or the ability to
develop new products or services. Your
greatest challenge today will be to
identify what exactly that capability is
that makes you Unique in your
entrepreneurial career.
Focusing on your Unique Capability
and delegating everything else to your
support team is the easiest way to
b e c o m i n g a h i g h - p r o d u c i n g
entrepreneur.
4.
Commit to never-ending
Learning & Growth.
The best entrepreneurs are life-long
learners. They are individuals who
acknowledge learning as a strategy for
improving their personal development
a n d g ro w t h . T h e s e i n d i v i d u a l s
recognize that they are the most
important resource in their business
that must first be taken to a higher
productivity level. As a result, they
invest in themselves to become the
best in their industries.
Investing deliberately in your personal
and professional development is one
strategy that will create a stronger
c o m p e t i t i v e a d v a n t a g e i n t h e
marketplace for you, and its return on
investment is priceless.
Achieving a consistent personal
development and growth is easy, but it
requires discipline and commitment.
Choosing the price of that discipline
a n d commitment f r e a k s m a n y
entrepreneurs out, they succumb to
average.
“Focusing on your
Unique Capability and
delegating everything
else to your support
team is the easiest way
to becoming a highproducing
entrepreneur.”
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“Focusing on your
Unique Capability
and delegating
everything else to
your support team
is the easiest way
to becoming a
high-producing
entrepreneur.”
If you want to up your game and build a
stronger competitive advantage in your
industry, commit today to reading as
many best business books and
magazines in your industry as possible.
Find the best leadership books also,
and read them.
When you read, make note of the key
ideas the author makes, and practice
them. Doing that consistently for three
to five years would put you among the
one percent league of the best people
in your industry.
Your mindset - the way you think would
change, your confidence would
improve and you would develop a
better approach to providing better and
quality service to your clients.
Surrounding yourself with only the
“best people” is a very important
aspect of developing a never-ending
learning growth strategy. It has been
said that entrepreneurship is a lonely
game; therefore, you need the support
and ideas of other people who are
headed in the same direction as you to
play effectively.
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About Nkem Mpamah
Nkem Mpamah started his career originally in the financial services industry,
precisely in banking. He was a financial reporting and strategic planning specialist
for the US, UK, and Nigerian companies he worked for. Nkem had a successful
career maintaining oversight on profitability and cost, competitor benchmarking,
and strategic policy development for achieving sustainable growth until 2010, when
he pursued a career in business and executive coaching.
Becoming a Certified Coach and member of the International Coach Federation
(ICF), Nkem founded Cognition Global Concepts Limited in 2010, in Cambridge
United Kingdom to provide the framework for entrepreneurs and business executive
to multiply productivity and growth.
Over the past seven years, Nkem has developed an enviable reputation and
excellent track record in Business & Executive coaching. He coaches successful
entrepreneurs, CEOs, and high-potential individuals to develop clarity, improve
leadership quality, multiply productivity, and grow revenue. His clients span across
the United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia, Germany, India, and
Nigeria. He is the author of two published books in business and life success. He is
creator of The EntreCoach Program.
The EntreCoach Program
The EntreCoach Program is a comprehensive business coaching framework
offering proven support and tools for experienced entrepreneurs to multiply
profitability and growth.
The goal of the Program is to raise entrepreneur’s awareness to the huge
possibilities around them, and to support them develop focused actionable plans to
maximize those possibilities and growth.
The EntreCoach Program is more than a Mastermind group. Every 90 days, our
participants gather in an environment devoid of every-day distraction to strategize
their vision, set new goals, develop new strategies, and create action plans they will
execute prior to the next 90 days.
Presently, The EntreCoach Program holds live in Lagos Nigeria and online. Each
session combines workshop, group business coaching, and mastermind sessions
aimed at helping you to make the much needed shift in mindset, discover a new
strategy, share your challenges, receive constructive feedback, develop
accountability, and get fired up to create your 10X growth.
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“Every 90 days, our
participants will gather
in a conducive
environment devoid of
the every-day
distractions to strategize
their visions, set new
goals, develop new
strategies, and create
action plans they will
execute prior to the
next 90 days.”
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Until you take the right first step, nothing will change.
“…..if you’re in and
about Nigeria, and
believe that
participating in
The EntreCoach
Program could
avail your business
the opportunity of
growing faster, why
not get an
appointment now,
and discuss
modalities directly
with Nkem?”
Being an entrepreneur means you’ve taken a leap of faith to
start your own business, right? By giving up your security—a
steady job, a regular paycheck, and clearly defined
responsibilities—in exchange for unlimited opportunity, you’ve
taken the risk that 95 percent of people on the planet won’t
take. You’re betting on your capability and problem-solving
skills to create the types of solutions that people are willing to
pay you for.
We encourage you to continually strive to stay focused and
increase your chances of achieving all you envisioned when you
first made that crucial decision of becoming an entrepreneur?
However, if you’re in and about Nigeria, and believe that
participating in The EntreCoach Program could avail your
business the opportunity of growing faster, why not get an
appointment now and discuss modalities directly with Nkem?
We wish you every success in your entrepreneurial journey.
Take good care.
Cognition Global Concepts
Inspiring leaders, growing business
24 Dalham Place, Haverhill. CB9 0AL United Kingdom . 2A Davies Street, Ketu, Lagos Nigeria
info@cognitionglobal.com | http://www.cognitionglobal.com | +234 803 829 4647
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