Start Slow, Grow Big: Slowing Down is the Best Way to Get Ahead

By: Jon Dwoskin

It seems as though every day the world is beginning to move faster and faster. The business world can even begin to follow suit. Often times, in my career, I have seen entrepreneurs or business people with great products or ideas, but they lack one specific quality: patience. They want to rush and get their product out there or move on their great idea. Moving faster and faster does not always equal success. Too many times it can actually lead to burn out.

Everyone knows the fable of the Turtle and the Hare. The lesson is simple, yet profound — slow and steady wins the race. Sure, that doesn’t work in a 100-meter sprint, but business isn’t a sprint, it never will be a sprint, it is always a marathon. If you want to grow your business and you want to sustain your growth, you must pace yourself and refuse the temptation to sprint.

Slow down, keep the quality —

Some of the best cookies I have ever tasted in my life are Carol’s Cookies. I had the privilege to talk with Carol Goldman, the owner of Carol’s Cookies, cookies that were named the fourth best cookie in American by People Magazine. She shared advice on her success and it boiled down to this: take it slow. She said, “I felt that the reason my business was successful…is because I started out slowly. My passion was at first was just a hobby…Making cookies, giving them out to people…I feel that if people start out slowly, learn how to promote their product instead of rushing into anything…growth will occur.”

Carol took the time and care to grow her business, working out of her own kitchen for years, and learning how to promote her wonderful product. But, the number one thing she taught me by sharing her wisdom of going slow was this: by going slow, she didn’t water down her product. “I have kept the quality,” she said.  “I use the same ingredients as I used almost 40 years ago…. Every cookie is weighed and every cookie’s made by hand.” Quality trumps quantity every time—you allow yourself to keep the quality when you take it slow and protect the process.

Too often, for those that want to sprint, in order to keep up with the demand corners eventually have to be cut. When corners are cut, quality drops, and your once good idea turns into a water-down version of itself. Don’t let this happen. Go slow and grow big.

Take time to reflect —

Slowing down also gives you an opportunity to stop and think. Through the hustle and bustle of the business life, the little things can often be overlooked. Things like the way you treat your employees or honoring the people who gave you your start all go a long way to helping you to sustain your growth.

In talking to Carol, she has grown her company from three employees, to thirty and just recently had to hire a bakery manager because she couldn’t manage all of the employees and keep up her quality. “I always felt like my employees were family. I did extra things for them, they did extra things for me,” Carol recalled. It can be easily overlooked, but the way you treat your employees will drastically affect your ability to grow your business.

Carol takes it a step farther too: she honors those that got her started in the business. She got started in a small grocery chain, led by a man who she was introduced to. Though this man doesn’t work for the grocery chain any longer, she still takes him a tin of cookies every year as a gesture for taking a chance on her in the beginning. Small deeds like this make business personal, not just charts and graphs and balance sheets—and it makes all the difference.

Slowing down and trusting the growth process allows these types of personal connections to take place and really brings the business down to a personal level. By creating a culture that employees love to work in can create a foundation that your business can explode from naturally. Reflecting also allows you as a leader to do a little bit of soul-care and really align yourself with your people, your business, and your community. Take the time to reflect, and don’t push this time off with an excuse that there is something else that can be done. Taking the time to reflect, caring for your employees, and honoring those who helped you get where you are will take you to heights you never imagined.

In Summary —

• Business is a marathon, not a sprint — so don’t rush the process.
• Reflecting is a necessary tool that will help to grow you, your employees, and your company.
• Quality over quantity should be the mark of your growth. There is no substitute.

By following the example of the turtle set in the old fable or the pure example of Carol Goldman, you can trust that a slow process can be a better process. For the sake of your company, for the sake of your growth, take it slow. Take it slow and think through all the questions, have answers for the disrupters, and let the growth happen naturally. You cannot force it, you don’t want to force it, because it is your business and your business matters!

Think Big!

Jon Dwoskin

Business Coach/Author/Speaker