How a Willingness to Change Resulted in 350% Sales Growth for One Small Business

It's nice to think that success in business comes down to nothing more than hard work.

Unfortunately, many small business owners put in plenty of time and effort, only to find that sales growth happens too slowly and their ventures fail.

Brian Young, the CEO of Home Painters Toronto, was in that boat. "When I first started my business, I believed that I should run it one way, and it worked that way for 10 years," he says. "But, when the Internet came into play, it turned things upside down. I worked very hard for the next 15 years trying to make the same old things work, and it almost lost me my business."

One day, Young received a wake-up call. He realized that his stubborn mindset was holding him back from growing his business.

Young's wake-up call was harsher than many of us experience. One day, while going door-to-door in a neighborhood, prospecting for customers, he received his epiphany. "Someone was upset that I knocked on their door during dinner," he says. "He punched me in the face. That's when I realized I needed to change my marketing tactics."

Flexibility and the Willingness to Change

Too often, we establish a business model that worked at one time, then insist on it remaining the same. "My business worked well for 10 years," Young says. "But I didn't change anything when the times moved on. I didn't adapt."

Young says that, to some degree, he was stubborn about his business. He decided that what had worked for the first 10 years should work indefinitely. "Entrepreneurs have to be stubborn in some ways in order to have the grit to keep pushing through the tough times," he says. "However, it's also important to be big enough to know when it's time to be flexible and adapt to a different environment."

The punch in the face forced Young to reevaluate his business. Rather than seeing sales growth, he realized that he was seeing his sales shrink. "I acknowledged that my sales were dropping between 10 percent and 15 percent a year," he says.

Young's hard work and stubbornness had enabled him to just get by for 15 years, eking out just enough in sales to keep the business afloat. However, he wasn't growing. He knew that if something didn't change quickly, all the hard work in the world wouldn't save his home painting business.

Young decided it was time for change.

First of all, he realized that he needed help understanding digital marketing. A home painting business might not be an obvious choice for online marketing, but Young knew that he needed a home in cyberspace.

Young began using Infusionsoft, a software designed to help automate and manage enterprise resources, and hired a business coach to help him learn the basics of online marketing and sales growth. In the first three years since adopting a newer, more flexible approach to his business, Young has seen Home Painters Toronto sales grow by 350 percent. "The growth has since leveled off to about 20 to 25 percent increase in sales a year, but that's a lot better than declining sales," he points out.

"When something is no longer working, you need to be willing to change," Young continues. "That's especially true now. You have to be willing to adjust strategies online every six months or so. If you aren't flexible in your thinking, your business will be left behind."

Young also started changing the way he handled day to day business tasks. In the past, he tried to do everything himself as a one man army. As sales exploded, he realized that he needed to change his outlook on outsourcing and delegation in order to keep up with the sales.

"Anyone who has run a business often likes to do things on their own," Young says. "You might do it best, but if you can get someone to do it at least 80 percent as well as you, you can save time. You don't have to be doing everything yourself."

With the help of business coaches, Young also developed new systems of automation to help streamline his operation. Now, instead of working 90 hours per week, Young works about 60 hours per week. He relishes the fact that he now has time to enjoy life and spend time with his family.

Working harder doesn't help you if you're stuck in the wrong mindset and a process that is holding you back. Rather than continuing to run your business the same way over time, Young suggests taking a step back and honestly considering the idea that it could be time for a change.

Once you realize that a successful business requires a flexible mindset and the willingness to change, you are on your way to a better future. "If you can manage your psychology," Young says, "you're about 95 percent of the way there."