On Growth: Lionel Palatine

Growing Pains

Lionel Palatine

Okay, so you’re doing things right and money is pouring in. It won’t be long before you need more of whatever has got you to the place you’re now in. 

At this point it can be valuable to re-assert our vision. Take the time to look at ourselves and check that we are really happy with our lot. Are we growing into something we hadn’t envisaged? Are we going the way we really want or are we being carried along on a tide and no longer enjoying the ride?

Again, we need to examine our values because before long someone else will be examining our business. They may be a smaller competitor looking to give better value than you, they may be an enemy just wanting to create havoc for you, or they may be a bigger competitor looking to take you over. Whoever or whatever the challenges to your business are, they are also the challenges to your life blood, your passion, your creation. 

You need to be aware of what is going on around you. You need to be able to change, to adapt, to monitor and restructure, to be flexible to the ever changing world and events around us. Staying small gives us the ability to do these things quickly and cheaply. Moving into a bigger league with people that have regular demands, without your passion to work for nothing, will easily make you cry, sap your bank balance and turn your success into complete disarray.

You need to plan for failure in some respects so that you give yourself more ability to grow. Consider what could be the worst thing that could happen to you or your business so you can create a strategic plan to overcome the problems before they arise and hopefully, never will, but being prepared can be the difference between life and death for your business and future dreams.

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Leaving school at 15 with no decent education is certainly not what I would recommend to anyone these days. I learn more day on day now than I ever did in formal education. What schools and teachers don’t seem to understand is that people can’t be taught unless they want to learn. Now of course I want to learn more than ever and simply can’t absorb enough information. Retaining that information is another matter. 

After over 35 years running my own businesses, I still work more hours than I would care to record but the freedom of my lifestyle makes it difficult to know when work ends and play begins. Freedom has always been worth more than money to me. I like to make decisions not have others make them for me.

Lots of businesses fail, some before they even have chance to get going. Experience helps, I’ve had a travel agency and a spraying business, I have been director of a manufacturing company and a business consultant as well as a builder and property investor. Variety is the spice of life but you need to ensure you build your wealth on solid foundations.