For most entrepreneurs, it’s a lizard’s life!

In the daily challenge to be entrepreneurial, it took a jolt from nature’s infinite wisdom on a recent visit to the Natural History Museum to be reminded that ‘ecdysis’ – the manner in which a reptile or arthropod routinely casts off its outer layer – is crucial to allow growth and maturity during the cycle of life.

We’re reminded all too often of the meteoric success of a few start-ups such as Facebook, Map My Fitness or Spotify that pupate and metamorphose like magnificent butterflies to the applaud of the masses, but it’s worth reminding ourselves that the reality for the majority of entrepreneurial start-ups is much more akin to the moulting of a lizard’s life cycle.

So, rather than let today’s online, networked, up to the minute pressured world induce stress and pressure on us to succeed in an instant; we should take a lesson from nature and recognise that the entrepreneurial life cycle repeats itself in businesses of all sizes, from bedroom start-ups to corporate entrepreneurship activities in global corporations. They all start with an entrepreneur who perceives an opportunity, creates a business to pursue it, assembles the required resources, implements a practical plan, and assumes the risks and the rewards all in a timely manner for all involved.

So what are the 7 steps of the business life cycle?

1. Seed/Opportunity Recognition                                                                        

This is when your business is just a thought or an idea. It is the very conception or birth of a new business addressing the challenge in question, how to focus in on it and evaluating viable sources of funding.

2. Start-Up/Market Entry                                                                                      

Your business is born and now exists legally. Products or services are in production and you have your first customers.

3. Growth/Survival                                                                                              

Your business has made it through the first few shedding of layers. Revenues and customers are increasing with many new opportunities and issues along with a rising of costs. Profits are growing, but competition is surfacing.

4. Established                                                                                                        

Your business has now matured into a thriving company with a place in the market and loyal customers. Sales growth is manageable but not explosive. In fact, business life has become almost routine.

5. Expansion                                                                                                       

 This stage is characterized by a new period of growth into new markets and distribution channels. Does the business owner seek to gain a larger market share and find new revenue and profit channels or keep a steady ship.

6. Maturity                                                                                                          

Year over year sales and profits tend to be stable, however competition remains fierce. Eventually sales start to fall off and a decision is needed whether to expand or exit the company.

7. Exit/Liquidity                                                                                                  

 This is the big opportunity for your business to cash out on all the effort and years of hard work. Or it can mean shutting down the business.

Each stage (or molting) of the business will require a different strategy when it comes to market penetration, business development, and retaining market share. As the business matures, operations and priorities change requiring business financing to also change as well, but by being readily aware and understanding these stages, entrepreneurs, business managers, investors, and consultants will be able to make more informed decisions, and most of all, prepare themselves for the challenges that lie ahead.

Therefore, don’t be tempted to compare yourselves to internet success stories or question why you’re not yet the success you expected to be and instead, take a step back and look at where you are in the cycle of things. Focus on the how far you’ve come, what you’ve learnt and most of all – appreciate nature’s ‘cycle of life’.