Business Management · Issue 6 · 18 August 2025

What stage are you actually at?

The right advice for the wrong stage is still wrong.

One reason good business advice often doesn't work is that it's the right advice for the wrong stage. Tactics that are perfect for a scaling business will sink a startup, and vice versa. Before you take any advice — mine included — it's worth knowing exactly where you stand.

Roughly, businesses move through three stages. Start: proving the idea, getting the foundations and the money right, finding repeatable customers. Grow: building systems and a team so it's no longer all on you, and focusing on the few things that drive results. Scale: making the business work without you, building real enterprise value, and creating genuine choice about your future.

Most frustration comes from applying the wrong stage's playbook to your situation — scaling before the foundations hold, or still doing everything yourself long after you should have built a team.

Naming your stage honestly is the most useful thing you can do this week. It tells you what to focus on, what to ignore, and what to stop feeling guilty about.

That's exactly what the free Business Stage Assessment is built to reveal — and it points you to whether Start, Grow, or Scale is your next step.

Take the free Business Stage Assessment

Already know your stage? Jump straight to the matching course.
Browse Start · Grow · Scale

Annie

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