When Is “Good Enough” Not Enough?

Sometimes a business is created to fill a need, make its owner a few bucks, and then continue to make that steady income. There’s nothing wrong with that, so long as that’s what your goal is. If that’s good enough for you, then more power to you!

But some of us dream big, envision big, and don’t stop working until we can push our visions and dreams even further. If you’re in this camp, then “good enough” just means “it’s time to lock this in and move up again!”

It’s important to remember that being reckless and taking unnecessary risks is not what I’m talking about here. You should always be sure to protect your investments and your business, not to mention yours and your family’s livelihood.

But what you should also remember is that if you feel like your day-to-day is leaving you wanting to get more, your business might not be “good enough;” you might just be stuck in a rut.

Understand Your Mindset

When I first started out in business, I had the wrong mindset altogether. I thought the money would just be flowing in, and that I could get away with anything. I was young, stupid, and needed to get my act together. What I had was not even “good enough,” I just thought I was ready to move up. I wasn’t.

So before you start thinking about expanding your business, you need to make sure you have a growth mindset in place. This has multiple parts, but includes:

• Is my business making a profit?
• Am I financially secure in my personal life?
• Do I have room to grow with my current business model?
• Where do I want to see my business in 1, 3, and 5 years?

These are not all of the things you need to consider – that would take too much time to cover. But this is a good place to start when asking yourself if your earnings and business are “good enough.” If you want to dive in more right away, you can check out my book The Power of Consistency or sign up for my online training.

Let’s look at a couple of these ideas to help you identify if your business really is “good enough” for now, or if you’re ready to move forward with new growth.

Financial Security

If you’re making a profit with your business, but aren’t financially secure in your personal life, you might be at a point where your business is still good enough. You’re making money, but you’re still working on recovering from your initial investment into your business to maintain your family and personal life.

That’s fine! It’s important to not make rash, stupid decisions based on a whim. Look at one of my first businesses, before I learned a lot of lessons in prison and the school of hard knocks.

I didn’t even earn the money to start. You can get the full story in The Upside of Fear, but I borrowed money from my dad and proceeded to, without any knowledge or research into what I was doing, buy a bunch of auto parts and tried to sell them out of my pickup to auto shops and gas stations. Needless to say, it failed.

I started that business in debt, didn’t know my target market or the business at all, and ended up in a worse position than I had started. That’s not the ideal goal.

If you’re not in a place where you have done the research and planned ahead, and if making that decision could most definitely leave you and your family out to dry, it’s the perfect time to start doing the research, setting aside profits for the new investment, and plan for a future time when “good enough” will no longer apply to your business situation.

Where And How Can My Business Grow?

You’ll see me referencing research a lot, and that’s for good reason. I used to expect things to just work out on their own, with no effort from myself. I finally forced myself to learn about effective business, pursue my degrees, and put myself to actual work. I never found real success until I started doing those things.

So you’re at a point where you feel like your business is “good enough,” but you feel that tingling sensation in the back of your brain telling you that you can do more, do better. That’s not the sign for you to jump randomly into the next big thing – it’s the sign for you to start looking at yourself and your business for places to improve.

Growing your business relies on you being consistent, learning about your market and product, and knowing where you can make room to expand your business without taking away from your main line. Sounds simple, right?

In theory it is. But you have to be able to be honest with yourself, set goals, and be actively involved in the process. Your business won’t expand itself, and if you’re not willing to put in the work to get it to grow, then maybe what you have already is “good enough.” At least right now.

So Is My Business Situation “Good Enough”?

At the end of the day, only you can answer that question. I have created and provided a lot of tools to help people improve their businesses and expand their potential.

But you need to keep in mind that we all have the potential for growth and more success. My challenge to you is, “Are you ready to step up and go for it?”

Read up on your field, look into business programs for your particular business. I started in sales, and my book Consistency Selling, is focused on tools specifically for sales-oriented businesses. You might need to find a book about manufacturing, or retail, or whatever it is that you feel you need to expand to get out of your business’ current rut.

But remember to be responsible, take ownership of the tasks involved, and plan ahead to make the most of your potential success. Your business might be “good enough,” but is it as good as it can be?