Yesterday I started day one of the TCP One-on-One sessions on Zoom. The focus was to review the journey from January to July and get ready for August and the rest of the year.
At the end of a few of those sessions, I thought to myself, “Thank God we managed to go through this together.”
Why?
Because a lot of entrepreneurs are now at a level they have never reached before. Some have already built businesses worth RM25 million, RM30 million or RM40 million a year. They have arrived at a stage that used to be only a dream.
But reaching that level does not mean they truly understand what got them there. They may be able to hit those numbers once, but that does not mean they can repeat it, hold on to it, or go further.
I like to use the mountain climbing analogy.
I have never climbed Mount Kinabalu myself. The furthest I have gone is Gunung Ledang, and even then I did not make it to the peak. But from the bottom, a mountain can look like it is not that high and not that hard.
The reality is, many people get injured, some nearly lose their lives, and some even die while climbing or on the way down.
When you want to do something you have never done before, you need a very strong reason. What exactly do you want to achieve at the top?
For some people, it is personal achievement. For others, it is recognition. Some want to test themselves. Everyone has a different reason.
But motivation alone is not enough. Preparation is the key.
If you have never hiked or climbed a hill, you cannot just assume you are ready to climb a high mountain. The route is different, the weather is different, the gear is different, the challenges are different, and the level of endurance needed is different too.
It is the same in business.
Building RM1 million in sales a year is like climbing a small hill. When you want RM1 million a month, it is a different mountain. When you want to go from RM25 million to RM50 million, you cannot expect the same strategy, the same structure and the same capabilities to keep carrying you up.
Maybe a TikTok strategy brought a business to RM25 million or RM30 million in sales. At the early stage, the focus might be building a team of live hosts. Then adding GMV content. After that, developing affiliates and KOLs.
But once you are at that level, you have to go deeper. You need to strengthen the live host recruitment process, training, team expansion, the in-house and external live host models, content quality, conversion, cost and overall profitability.
Some businesses need to keep strengthening TikTok, but at the same time start building Shopee as a new growth engine.
And Shopee cannot just be handed to the TikTok team as extra work. It needs its own team, leaders, managers, strategy, targets and accountability.
The Shopee team has to operate as if their whole life depends on Shopee succeeding. If they always know TikTok can still save the company, they may never build Shopee with the seriousness it requires.
For other businesses, they may need to start building Google, e-commerce, Meta, Instagram, or strengthen branding. The advice cannot be the same for everyone because every business is at a different base camp.
You may have just arrived at Base Camp 1 or Base Camp 2 and feel the same method can carry you on.
But heading to Base Camp 3, the path may get slippery and there is nothing to hold on to. At that point, you need a rope. Heading to Base Camp 4, you may face unpredictable weather—something you have never experienced before.
At every stage of growth, there are things to strengthen. Things to do more of. Things to cut back. New things to start, and old things that must stop.
To move from RM25 million to RM50 million, the first person you may need to stop is yourself.
Stop trying to do everything alone. Stop thinking you can keep figuring everything out yourself. Start finding the right talent. Start building leaders. Start developing the capability of the people inside the organisation.
The reality is, many founders do not know how to do it. They may also not have the right structure to build an organisation that can move without everything depending on the founder.
Basically, there are three options.
First, try to figure everything out yourself. It might take two, three or five years. You might not get there at all, and you could even roll back down.
Second, find someone who has been through that journey, understands the route, and has brought others up and down safely.
Third, be in an environment and a group of people who are used to that journey, so you can learn from their experience.
Today, I will be meeting around 30 to 40 entrepreneurs under The Next Growth project. Over two days, we will assess their businesses, capabilities, attitude and readiness before deciding whether they are suitable to be chosen as the new players we want to develop.
Many people want to achieve something big, but at the same time they choose the hardest road—trying to solve everything on their own.
Believe me, what got you to where you are now may not be able to take you to the next level.
The higher the mountain you want to climb, the more important the right preparation, gear, team, guide and environment become.
If you want to go far, do not just ask how hard you are willing to work.
Also ask: do you have the right people, capability, structure and guidance to get you to the peak—and back down safely?
If you are building a business and facing certain challenges, me and the RichWorks team want to help you get clearer and know the real state of your business through a free report – Business Diagnostic Report (BDR) specially for you.
Identify where your business stands, and see the gaps or ‘weaknesses’ that are causing those challenges. Click the button below now.
DW