Thinking Horizontally

How to Expand Your Business through Horizontal Growth

James Manske

• Publisher: New Degree Press
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781637300893
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

As a business owner or entrepreneur, do you wonder how you can increase sales and the bottom line? Do you question where to focus your energy to build your company? How do successful people like John Paul DeJoria, founder of Paul Mitchell and Patron, perceive proper growth?

Thinking Horizontally - How to Expand Your Business through Horizontal Growth illustrates how to focus your mindset to achieve success through a specific ideology. By u tilizing your strong points, you can build corollary income sources that tie into your business to achieve success sooner.

Ultimately, Thinking Horizontally inspires fruitful dialogue, encouraging questions like:

• What areas of my company can benefit from more simplicity?
• Where can I create spin-off opportunities?
• How can I hire great talent and become more analytical in my business?

Thinking Horizontally speaks to entrepreneurs starting new business and business owners who want to take their company to new heights. If you want to create new revenue streams and a better future, this book will help you simplify your company processes in a new way.

Chapter 1

Obsessed and Focused Entrepreneurs

Can you remember a time when you felt so focused on a task that you lost track of time? When you wanted to keep pushing and keep working so that nothing could stand in your way or slow you down? Deep down, I seemed to have this feeling more times than not and was curious if this was a common trait. What I found is that this is a prevalent characteristic of successful people across all industries.

Studies by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi suggest this “flow state” is associated with subjective well-being, satisfaction with life and happiness, and in a business setting, is linked to motivation and productivity. Csíkszentmihályi defines this state as, “concentration that is so intense that no attention is left over to think about anything irrelevant or to worry about problems. Self-consciousness disappears, and the sense of time becomes distorted.”4

During my youth, I was always obsessed with work. I loved it! Making that first dollar and my first paycheck working in a local bakery all gave me a sense of purpose and accomplishment. I was a sponge and wanted to absorb as much knowledge as I could about how businesses work and operate. Even then I displayed a focus and drive that made me who I am today: an entrepreneur who always wants to concentrate to improve my skills.

This perception of excitement creates a notion of comfort and the ability to work through any objective ahead of you. Maybe you’ve experienced this state during a sport you were participating in or while you were playing an instrument, but this heightened sense of focus and awareness is the main backbone to all successful entrepreneurs and provides the focus necessary to get through all tasks and stages of business.

The obsessive feeling to concentrate and create an opportunity runs through the veins of all successful people at an early age. Most don’t realize where this comes from, but soon those small steps of achievement build into a larger base for their future endeavors.

I truly believe that there is a thought process that makes entrepreneurs obsessed with what they do. They are born to work hard and not to give up easily or without a fight. They will do whatever it takes to succeed and prosper.

For me and many other successful entrepreneurs, it starts with our first business and an obsessive focus on a main product or service. The beginning of my first legitimate business, a mowing business, started with mowing in my parents’ neighborhood. I would go around and ask neighbors if I would be able to cut their grass for a small fee. My goal was to cut enough yards to not have to work for another person ever again. This focus and dedication began to gain traction and continued to grow throughout high school and college.

After many years of growth and adding in six other divisions of service for our clients, I was able to build a lawn and landscaping organization that services an entire metropolitan area and holds government contracts in five different states. Without the focus on being self-employed, I would not have been able to achieve the growth and success I desired.

Now my focus has shifted, becoming more analytical. I am constantly viewing and reviewing my lawn and landscape company as well as my other businesses, which include my real estate holding companies, a commercial real estate broker business, a construction equipment manufacturing company, a consulting service, and now two other companies that I have recently bought into. Each of these organizations I view as well-oiled machines, each with its own purpose and structure that contribute to my overall portfolio.

Removing Yourself, Both Mind and Body

One way that I became focused on my goals and companies was by elevating myself above the organization and always taking a look at all the moving parts. By separating and analyzing, you are able to constantly see what is working and what isn’t working and also where possible opportunities are.

You must not lose focus on these moving parts otherwise one small gear may cause the entire company to lose traction and potentially fail. This focus will help identify any weaknesses so that you can then brainstorm possible solutions you can implement to turn that weakness into a strength. Each gear is a part of your machine: your employees, your operations, your marketing, your sales, and more. When one of these gears isn’t working or not properly contributing to running your machine, the entire organization can suffer. These gears should be your key focus to view and manage.

With my current businesses, I am constantly thinking and brainstorming ideas. There’s never a day or time that I am not thinking of what else I can be doing to reach a goal. Even while on vacation, I may be relaxed in a different city somewhere around the world, but in the back of my mind, the ideas never stop coming. When I am in a different city, state, or even country, my mind is removed from the day-to-day routine of normality. This allows me to concentrate on experiencing a different culture and somewhere along the way, the mind opens up to creative thinking. This is truly where I have found I am able to come up with unique ideas and audit all of my businesses.

If you are stuck and needing to create new ideas, I implore you to remove yourself from the day-to-day distractions of your business and do something that sets your mind at ease. Take a trip, go on a hike, or just get a hotel room where you can simply relax your mind. By taking your thoughts off your operations and business, you will come to find that some amazing ideas and processes will soon come into your mind.

One way to cultivate this passion is to seek out a company that is similar to yours in a different city or state. Call the owner and tell him or her you are going to be in town and would like to chat about their business and learn more about how they operate. Especially if you are in a different market, most business owners would gladly share their company’s processes and operations with you. It will give you a chance to see a different perspective of how another individual has gained success.

Many things can be learned from an experience like this. By sharing both of your insights, it is a win-win for both parties, and hopefully you will walk away knowing more than when you began.

Several years back, I did this with a trip I had planned in Atlanta, Georgia, for a trade show. I knew I had an afternoon that was not filled yet and decided to reach out to a top landscaping company in the area. We went through their company and operations and went out to dinner to discuss more of the managerial processes as well. It was a great experience to learn how someone in a different part of the country operates and runs their company. I’m obsessed with learning as much about my companies’ industries and want to gather as many insights as possible to form the best organization.

This simple task can break you out of your local market to see what others are doing within your industry or even similar industries. You have to always think about what new ideas and improvements you can bring to your company to succeed and one-up the competition.

I am constantly planning, thinking, and setting reminders with new ideas of what the next big thing will be. Thoughts on solving issues and implementing new processes are always noted as well. Whether it is during the day or in the middle of the night, it’s a great way to keep track of thoughts and also stay organized.

This continual-thinking mindset is a blessing and a curse to all entrepreneurs. It gives us all the ability to create life-changing products and services for consumers, but at the same time, it keeps us from being able to fully relax. We often lack the ability to turn our brains off or be satisfied with a feeling of “just good enough.”

This trait runs deep in my body, and I would never change this for anything. It has made me who I am today, and I know it will never change.

Most entrepreneurs believe that when they reach a certain milestone, they will become fulfilled. Perhaps the goal was making $100,000 a year. However, when it is reached, satisfaction is lacking. So much sweat, tears, time, and energy has been expended to reach this goal that one feels numb to the accomplishment. Visualizing it for so long and achieving it leaves you unimpressed with the result. Because it feels that not much has changed, you focus on the next ...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Obsessed and Focused Entrepreneurs
• Chapter 2: Science of Diversification
• Chapter 3: Importance Now: Speed of Change
• Chapter 4: Looking for Corollaries
• Chapter 5: Build on the Customer
• Chapter 6: Simplifying
• Chapter 7: Hiring Talent
• Chapter 8: Mastering Analytical Thinking
• Chapter 9: New and Aspiring Owners
• Chapter 10: Experienced Entrepreneurs and Stagnation
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
• Appendix