Lessons From the Plant World on Growing a Business

Ever since I read Paul Hawken’s marvelous Growing a Business, I have looked for metaphors in the plant world to help me solve problems and find better ways of growing my business.

Even though I never lived on a farm, I grew up surrounded by small family farms and went to school with kids who lived on those farms. I didn’t realize they were teaching me many things that would serve me well as a non-farming entrepreneur.

I noticed that even though side-by-side farms endured the same weather conditions and shared the same soil, they didn’t necessarily produce the same results. The human factor had a great deal to do with a farm’s success or failure.

In most places in the Midwest, spring is for planting, summer is for growing and autumn is for harvesting.

So what does a farmer do when the crops are in the ground, but not ready to come out?

A smart farmer works on growing the business.

Your business may resemble a garden more than a farm, but here are some lessons gleaned from good farmers that will also work in a small garden.

Make business a daily practice. Eastern disciplines such as yoga and meditation talk about the power of daily practice.

Paul Hawken says, “Business is no different from learning to play the piano or to ride a surfboard. With most activities there is no presumption of excellence in the beginning, but many newcomers suppose that they should sit down at the desk on the first day and become Superbusinessperson, in full command of the situation.”

Even if you have not made the transition from employee to entrepreneur, having a regular time every day to move closer will bring big results over time. For instance, if social media is part of your activity, spend a few minutes every day rather than a big chunk of time posting once a week.

And if you are years into running a business, be diligent about cultivating new ideas. Complacency is the beginning of the end of even the best business ideas.

Get rid of the weeds. After a seminar I taught on thinking like an entrepreneur, I received an e-mail from one of the participants telling me that her first project after the seminar was to get her home office in order. That involved removing nine large bags of trash.

Even if the clutter’s gone, spend time every day pulling weed or two. Get rid of a self-limiting thought. Cancel a project that no longer excites you. Eliminate what you don’t want to make room for the things that matter.

You get the idea.

Build a Seed Bank. Like a regular bank, a Seed Bank is a physical place where you store ideas.

The best way I know to build such a collection is to constantly be on the lookout for ideas and write them down when they come. Cocktail napkins should only be temporary; your Seed Bank deserves its own special place.

Challenge yourself to see possibilities. If you faithfully did this for the next 90 days, you’d have more ideas than you could use in a year.

Don’t be afraid to get dirty. The Joyfully Jobless life is participatory, not a spectator sport. Try things. Be willing to do things badly. Reconfigure. Learn to find creative solutions.

Keep watering and nurturing. Staying inspired and creating an excellent business requires on-going attention. Know what inspires you and refresh yourself often.

Connect often with people who fan your own creative spirit. Once you’ve spent time with a group of creative thinkers, it’s a pleasure you’ll want to repeat. Accept invitations—and issue them, too.

As Goethe said, “To know someone, here or there, with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts unexpressed–that can make this earth a garden.”