How to Build Growth Through Industrial Infrastructure

More revenue doesn’t automatically mean you’ve built a more valuable business. I want to know what you’re keeping, whether it runs without you and whether you’ve done anything more than make yourself a job.

Steve Harmon returned to his family’s business and found hundreds of thousands in liabilities missing from the books, plus cheques they couldn’t afford to send. I get into why he bought the warehouses the business operated, why doubling headcount isn’t scaling, and why an accountant says you can’t run a business by the numbers. We finish with the questions experienced leaders should be asking, and what it means to lead by serving and teaching.

In this episode Here’s what I’d put to work: Build a repeatable process and a team that can deliver without you. Review the rent and other recurring costs leaving the business. Ask where owning the underlying asset could make sense. Before calling it a sales problem, check the asset, the location and the service customers actually receive. Stop treating headcount as proof of scale. Hire for quality, set a clear goal, and clear the crap out of people’s way. Prepare the next generation by teaching and asking better questions, rather than staying at the centre of every decision.