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Dr. Larry Osborne, senior pastor of North Coast Church in Vista, CA, shared his ideas about how to grow a business and still have a life when he spoke at the International Franchise Association’s prayer breakfast earlier this week in San Diego.
While he presented five success principles, for this blog I zeroed in on the 5th: Do the right thing even if it doesn’t work.
Could there be a stronger lesson for franchisors and franchisees?
Trust Matters in Franchising
Success in franchising (which includes building a business while still having a life) is based on trust. Violate trust and you destroy any chance of building a long-lasting, successful relationship in franchising. Some folks are learning that lesson the hard way.
Dr. Osborne pointed out that we often hear that fulfillment is found by climbing the success ladder higher and higher. “But if the ladder isn’t leaning on the right wall, climbing it at all is a mistake. That’s when we lose ourselves.”
He continued, “Every step we take feels like the right step until we get to the top and realize: Is that all there is?”
Avoid Losing Yourself
As business people it’s easy today to lose ourselves thinking that we’re doing the right thing because, for the moment at least, it works. We make a decision because it elevates us on the success ladder one or two more steps. Take enough of those steps and eventually you realize you lost yourself by betraying customers, employees, coworkers, friends. In franchising, you also betrayed your franchisor or franchisees.
So you traded in one of your most valuable character qualities–trust–for a climb up a ladder that’s leaning on the wrong wall. Not the way to grow a business or to cultivate a life that you could cherish.
Dr. Osborne’s other four success principles:
- Build the business you’d want to work in.
- Pursue your calling, not your potential.
- Do your best. Then take a nap.
- Give what you want rather than taking what you deserve.
He closed with this question: “Are you following a plan that someone else created for you . . . someone who doesn’t care about you?”
If so, your ladder is definitely leaning on the wrong wall.
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