Executing Growth: Launch Effectively

Mercedes_Benz

It's hard to believe that 2012 is the 25th anniversary of my grandfather passing away at age 87. Other than my parents he was the one person most responsible for the person I am today. I admired him in so many ways, including his becoming an entrepreneur at age 50, being the oldest person in NY State to get a pilot's license after he sold his business … [Read more...]

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Social Media for Your Business

SocialMedia

Most businesses struggle with social media. Typical challenges include deciding which sites to use, staying on brand and being consistent. Part of the issue is that businesses often try to bite off too much. We hear from social media gurus about 'building a community', and that's a great goal, but how realistic is it for most businesses? We think it … [Read more...]

Selecting and Executing Marketing Priorities

boardroom

It's easy to make a list of all the marketing initiatives that you could be doing. It's a LONG list - from the web, to social media, publicity, advertising, referral programs, events, new market entry, new products and services, et al. That's not hard - but selecting which of them to do, designing precisely what to do with each initiative and then executing … [Read more...]

Growth Process to Grow in 2012

growth2

We've developed the "Target First" growth process at Growth Nation over the last decade and have used it successfully with over 100 businesses, with 100% success. Not bad, eh? Our shared goal is always to grow more rapidly. We recommend doing that by first defining brand positioning, developing a growth strategy and plan, and then executing the plan … [Read more...]

You Can’t Handle the Truth, NOT

Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson delivers an amazing performance in A Few Good Men. The climax when he goes ballistic and screams "You can't handle the truth" is one of the truly great movie moments! We think a lot about truth as we work with customers because sometimes it's elusive. We all have filters that screen us from the pure reality of the market and other … [Read more...]

National Export Initiative 2012

Export Ship

In 2010 President Obama announced the National Export Initiative to double exports from the U.S. within 5 years. Exports mean dollars, and dollars mean jobs. It will be up to business owners to get the job done, and we are lucky to have many here in the Western U.S. who are blazing the trail to grow exports and encourage investment. Regional export … [Read more...]

Grow Responsibly and Sustainably

global-responsibility

Is it possible to grow your business and at the same time be sustainable? It might seem to be conflicting because the more you grow, the more resources you usem and therefore one could argue that you become less supportive of sustaining life on our planet. Honestly there was a time I believed that - a product of "Limits to Growth" and other important … [Read more...]

Professional Growth Services

professional_consulting_services

I've been resisting writing this blog post for years but an incident with a potential consulting company we were considering bringing into a customer prompted me to at last get this one out. Sometimes people are just not professional.  That's reason #3 we started Growth Nation - we think business owners have a right to work with professional consultants … [Read more...]

Why Are US Companies Slow to Export?

export

Last Friday we had the honor of hosting 32 entrepreneurs from 32 countries at our offices in SkySong. The event was part of the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) administered by the World Affairs Council of Arizona and the Arizona Council for International Visitors. Congratulations WACAZ and AZCIV for securing … [Read more...]