Cultivating Success
Strategies for growing and nurturing your business
This week, I have been hooked by the coverage of Chelsea Flower Show where beautiful plants and flowers seem to have been effortlessly positioned to create spectacular displays that tell stories, delight our senses and provide an all-day buffet for the wildlife in SW7!
I have to admit to a particular soft spot for Chelsea – one of my ‘between jobs ‘jobs in my early 20’s was as a cashier in the Exhibitors Refreshment tent. Each day in the run up to the event and during the show, I sat at a cash register totting up the sandwiches, drinks and cakes and took their money – no fancy credit cards or apps in those days. Good hard cash!
After my shift, I would spend an hour or so checking out progress and seeing these amazing displays develop. It was mind-blowing how the positioning of plants and structures could really change a space.
Lounging on the sofa last night looking at this year’s displays got me thinking about how starting and running a business is like planting and developing a garden. Hard physical and mental work, lots of planning and detail, but when it all comes together it’s just amazing!
Starting a business is just like planting a seedling. You have a great idea, you get your business plan together, find the finance to start it and ultimately take the bold step to launch it. Even if you are extremely lucky to attract business at this point, you still don’t have a mature garden. You still have a seedling that needs nurturing, patience and strategic planning to ensure it grows and succeeds.
In this post, we are going to dig into (using as many gardening analogies as I can!) the key strategies for growing and nurturing your business.
1. The vision and mission
Every successful business starts with a clear vision and mission. How do you want people to see your business, what does it stand for and how will you achieve your goals. These are the foundations for all your decisions and actions going forward and will guide what you do and how you do it.
If you have ever watched the garden designers on TV or been lucky enough to employ one yourself, you will know they map out what plants will go where, where the paths will go and how the mature garden will reflect the vision of the garden owner.
Starting a business, whether it is a side hustle or a large-scale operation needs a detailed business plan that articulates what you are going to do, why you are doing it, how you will do it, who is going to buy it and where you are going to promote or sell it.
2. Company Culture
Company culture plays a vital role in shaping the identity and values of your business.
In our garden, in order to create the right atmosphere, you will have to nurture the tender plants as well as the more vigorous and fast growing.
Whether you are a one-man band or have many employees, it is important to cultivate a positive work environment where everyone who engages with your business feel valued, empowered, and motivated to contribute their best efforts.
Your suppliers, customers and employees are all important to your success. Encourage open communication, celebrate achievements and make sure everyone feels included. The best leaders see everyone as an integral and equally important part of their journey and do their best to support everyone to achieve their best. They support, develop and listen to their team, suppliers and customers. Just like a good gardener, they will keep an eye on every plant to ensure it is able to contribute to the overall impact of the garden.
3. Embrace innovation and Adaptation
Today, due to climate change, nature depletion and trends, we are gardening in a very different way from just a few years ago. Not so long ago, the fashion was for architectural plants, minimalist surroundings and no weeds or unwanted plants. Today, the emphasis is much more on biodiversity, managing the impacts of climate change and gardens that help us recharge and recover from modern life. Even weeds have a place!
In the same way, in business adaptability is key to survival. Keep on eye fixed on the future, look out for and embrace innovation and keep looking for ways to improve your offering.
Successful businesses don’t stand still, they are constantly looking for new ways to run their operation, watching what competitors are doing, listening to customers and are willing to adapt strategies accordingly.
In our garden, if a plant doesn’t look right or its failing to thrive, we have to have the courage to move it or dispose of it. The same is true in business – what worked last year may not fit with what’s needed today.
4. Invest in your team
A garden isn’t a garden without plants of some description. If it is just mud, concrete or paving, it’s a yard! As we have seen before, to get the desired look in your garden, you must nurture your plants – feed them, prune them, protect them.
The same is true of your team. They are your most valuable and often most expensive asset. Invest in their growth and development. It may seem a costly expense, but providing opportunities for training, skill building, and career advancement will help them reach their full potential and become more productive and effective.
You may invest in their development only for them to leave and take their skills to another organisation, it’s a risk you take. However, this investment is more likely to make them feel motivated and valued and remain loyal to you.
If they do decide to leave, they may well become a real ambassador for your business and often come back later in their career bringing more skills and experience than you could have offered!
5. Foster strategic partnerships
Companion planting is a key factor in successful gardening. Placing certain plants near each other to maximise growth and health. The same is true in business.
Collaboration can be a powerful catalyst for growth. Identify potential partners, suppliers, and distributors who align with your values and objectives, and explore opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships. By leveraging each other’s strengths and resources, you can expand your reach, access new markets, and drive innovation.
Often your competitor isn’t a similar business next door, it’s one in the next town or abroad. It’s no mistake that you find businesses in a similar field forming networking groups in their locality.
If you are a hotel or a restaurant – you want people to come to your venue and they are more likely to do that if you collaborate with other hotels and restaurants to market your area. Then, when people are deciding where to go on holiday, they will choose your area rather than go abroad or to another part of the country. Even if they don’t stay with you, there is then a good chance they will come in for a drink or a meal.
6. Monitor performance and adapt accordingly
A good gardener is out checking their garden throughout the year, in all weathers. They will be looking for damage to plants, pests, diseases or where a plant has got too big for its spot or is taking over putting pressure on other plants.
When you are running a business, you need to be doing the same. Critically appraising every aspect of your business all the time. Identify some key metrics to measure success against, these could be income, customer satisfaction, stock turnover ratio, number of customers or staff engagement – whichever ones help you understand whether your business is working in the way you want and need it to. You may want to benchmark performance against competitors or your own performance in previous years.
Use this information to identify areas of the business you may need to change to remain successful. This can include taking difficult decisions, like stopping doing something that isn’t working, but it is essential if you want to remain in business.
The finished result
Starting and running a business is very like planting a garden. When you have popped the seedlings into the ground, you need to be constantly tending to them, adapting their environment to help them thrive. You may need to take difficult decisions to remove a plant from the garden because it’s not performing the way you want it to or it’s not contributing to the overall look.
I have worked with start-ups such as the rising star of health tech https://www.ultramed.co/ recent winners of the Kings Award for Enterprise and Innovation and more established businesses and charities, even starting up and running my own consultancy – https:/. Even the most brilliant ideas need a great deal of hard work, patience, determination and a willingness to adapt and change to become successful.
Success, rarely happens overnight, but with patience, determination and the right strategies in place, you can cultivate a thriving business that stands the test of time.