Growing pains. Growing up. Outgrown. Overgrown. Growth pattern.

There’s a growth pattern in humans that applies to businesses as well. People hook up and conceive a business plan. The plan is under wraps as planning, financing and sourcing slowly develop over the course of several months. It’s then birthed in a grand opening celebration and begins to grow.

Business growth usually means increased profits. Sometimes it means new locations, but not necessarily. What other standards do you use to measure growth, like closing ratios, employee retention, Ask Ms. Jones™ results?

Steroids and multivitamins notwithstanding, you can’t control a person’s growth. Not so with a business. You can easily stifle a company’s growth. You can financially starve it. You can let it bleed to death with excess expenses. You can let disease run rampant with poor hires. You can abandon it because of frustration and exhaustion. Sometimes that sounds a lot more appealing than nurturing it, guiding it, teaching it, training it, and protecting it.

Is your company growing, or is it dying?