Plan your course: Navigating uncertainty
At Elevation Business Consulting, we are focused on helping small business owners end the daily operational scramble. The journey involves building a map to guide you to success on your terms. The process starts with finding your trail so you can plan your course and then keep yourself moving forward on your trail.
Follow the journey of a small business owner eager to end the daily chaos and spend more time doing what he does best to expand his impact on his local community. By studying Travis from Hunchback Graphics’ experience, you will be better positioned to start your journey to end the daily scramble.
Previously, Travis found his trail by identifying his current state, determining where he wanted to go and then evaluating his daily activities . With his roadmap built, he was faced with new questions about how to proceed as demands on his business change.
Plan your course: Navigating uncertainty
Hunchback Graphics is busy. They are actively delivering many projects, all with different scopes and timelines. This aligns with Travis’ desire to build the firm to serve as a one-stop shop for the branding and design needs of his clients. With growth comes uncertainty and Travis was facing questions on how best to proceed.
With the roadmap he built with Elevation Business Consulting, he was able to assess the best course moving forward.
The struggle
Prospects were interested in partnering with the Hunchback Graphic team and Travis was fielding multiple calls a week. The requests for support were different than what he typically received. Prospects had preferences for platforms and applications beyond what his team was commonly working on. As he spoke with potential clients, he became concerned the tools his team were most efficient and comfortable on were quickly becoming obsolete. He questioned whether he needed to invest in the new tools, change the services he partnered with, or simply stick with what he knew and turn away the work.
Taking Action
Travis researched reasons the applications and platforms were gaining interest or if it was simply luck that they all came at once. His network confirmed that it was simply a timing thing and there was no significant change in features or status of any of the tools. With that, he revisited his roadmap to determine what an expansion of tools would mean for his forward progress. Hunchback Graphics desires to be a well-rounded design shop that offers a wide breadth of branding and design services. Adding strength across multiple platforms would be an assist as they grow.
He confirmed with his co-owner the level of interest and capacity they each had to increase efficiency with the additional tools and agreed to move forward with the projects. Technology is constantly changing, and Travis committed to staying current on trends and features of different tools. Maintaining that knowledge will better equip him to navigate the uncertainty that comes with requests for support in new areas.
Success
Hunchback Graphics has been able to deliver on the new projects and received additional work as a result. As more prospects inquire about support on specific applications, Travis is better equipped to assess how the tool would fit into the firm’s toolbox and determine how much to invest in expanding the team’s knowledge. Facing the uncertainty of changes to demand for specific tools reinforced to Travis that his roadmap is a great guide for decision making.