Growing a Business is Like Growing a Garden

Darren Rowse has an excellent video today discussing starting a blog and how it could be compared to watching grass grow. I’d suggest it’s more like growing a garden vs. just watching the grass grow. And I would take his video a step further and say that anything in life could be compared to growing a garden. The amount of effort you put into your garden will (most times) equal the net result of a greater garden.

It all begins with strong roots. So many times I see businesses that want to become the leader without ever caring about the roots of the business. Sure there are those successes but it’s almost as likely as winning the $163 million dollar lottery tonight.

I can use CenterNetworks as a good example of a garden. When I started CN, I knew that my goal was (and still is) to be #1 in the category. I started with a blank dirt pit of a garden and very inferior tools due to my lack of contacts/money compared to my competitors. I spent a lot of time going from garden to garden, hopping the fences to see what the others in my ‘hood were doing. How are they planting the flowers to get the sun, what types of fertilizer and water are they using, etc. I knew from the get-go that some of the other gardeners had better tools than I did. That just meant I had to work harder with the tools I did have in my toolbelt.

I also saw (and continue to see) lots of poor garden treatment. Gardeners who abuse their garden — and while it does take time — their roots are slowly falling apart. But because I have watched all and see what techniques work, I know my garden will be strong and will continue to grow stronger over time.

Of course on CN I know that the garden is actually a combined effort. (I guess this applies to a business as well) All of the great CN readers are the water to help the garden grow. I put in the plants, wack the weeds, but ya’all contribute the water and the advertisers contribute the sun. (ok that was very cheesy but it makes sense!)

What are you using to grow your garden?

As Darren notes in the video, you can’t expect to have a full, rich garden after day 1. This was something that was very hard for me when I started. It takes time to build a garden that people want to come by and view every day. As you begin to nurture your garden, not only will your neighbors come visit but they will tell others about how great your garden is and the amazing growth you have received based on your hard work.

The worst thing happens when a garden starts to blossom and then the gardeners forget what got them to the beautiful garden and begin to abuse it. I’ve also witnessed this from many entrepreneurs — see a bit of hope from the garden and poof, they forget what got them to that point and the garden wilts quicker than it was built up. Almost as if because they have a nice garden today it should always remain a good garden. Not so fella.

Anyway, what I am saying is that it <strike>can</strike> will take time to build your business. Not everyone has a name or lots of money to build their garden quickly. But keep putting the time and effort into your garden and one day you will have a beautiful garden that you can be proud of. And also remember that just because you don’t see flowers doesn’t mean your work is going unnoticed. There’s things happening below the soil line.

I know that I am very proud of the garden that we have built together and can’t wait to see how it blossoms in 2008.