I’m not a huge fan of frameworks. The pretence that there is a process that will always work is kind of annoying.
So I’m pleased to introduce “the loop”. A framework so grounded in reality, its name isn’t even capitalised.
Growth is not a straight line
When people think about their goals, it’s often a straight line with two points on it: where you are today and where you are heading.
You feel like you get there by focussing on certain things.
In fact, it’s a point that spirals outwards, getting larger and larger.
To go round you can’t just focus on some things, everything needs to line up.
The loop
The way to achieve this type of growth is to create a situation where your efforts amplify. Rather than moving along a straight line, create a loop where each effort makes the next stronger.
Each time you go around the loop it will be one of two things:
- A bit easier
- Bigger and better
You can either cruise round with less effort (scaling) or keep pushing and do something bigger or more impactful (growth).
The loop has no beginning, but if you were starting from absolute zero, you’re going to need a reputation and relationships.
The stages of the loop
This isn’t a prescribed framework with nicely branded infographics.
I mean, look at it…
I haven’t put nice alliterative names on the different stages. And that’s because in the real world, segmenting your business growth like this is arbitrary.
The point is that everything affects everything else, and these stages are just so I can explain it.
Here are some arbitrary points on the loop:
- Build reputation and relationships
- Attract clients
- Deliver value
- Prove results
Note there’s also no finances mentioned on the loop. That’s because money can fund growth but it doesn’t cause it. Please make money as you grow.
Every stage of the loop works because of all the previous stages. They are most impacted by the one immediately beforehand, but it’s true for any stage that things are made easier by having strength in the other three.
For example, you might attract clients through your reputation, but your reputation relies on proving the results of the work you deliver.
In fact, every stage also relies on itself (to attract clients, you need to attract clients). The work you deliver is the result of previous work. Each step compounds.
The loop is a flywheel, which is what makes it powerful.
Build reputation and relationships
Reputation and relationships are the most robust assets your business has.
The market can’t affect them and they passively generate opportunities. People work for and buy from people they trust. The more they trust them, the more they invest.
Every success story is built here. The mistake when looking for direction from more established agencies is to look only at the tactics and ignore the people they know and the audience they have built.
To be fair, a lot of the people that have had success are selling access to their tactics and promising the world.
The hope is it might work for you. What isn’t mentioned is that these things worked because they were layered on top of who they were.
How they built that reputation is the thing to copy.
They won’t have always looked like they do now. Once upon a time, their business will have looked exactly like yours does today. It takes time, but once you have it, you’ll find all those tactics suddenly work.
The only way to build is the hard way. Brick by brick, there’s no shortcut. As a founder, this is your job. Long-termism is the order of the day. Sticking around is the new growth hack.
Every time you go round the loop, you’ll have a better reputation and stronger relationships.
Attract clients
You need to layer marketing on top. Marketing is the effective communication of your reputation and builds new relationships. Whatever tactic you use, that’s the strategy.
Attracting clients covers everything from branding and outreach to pitching and signing contracts. Who you position yourself to be for, and what value you provide.
Positioning is something that happens whether you design how it happens or not. Everyone has a story in their head about everyone else. The story you have about a business is its positioning. Taking control of people’s story about you is important.
Also, knowing the problem you solve. Again, this is something that just happens organically and is therefore hard to define. If you aren’t intentional about it, you are probably solving lots of different problems. Reacting to whatever you are asked. Being intentional means creating an offering.
Lining it up with the rest of the flywheel is where the fun starts. Attracting clients is easy if you:
- Have an offer which solves their problem
- Have a reputation for getting results for that type of work
- Your delivery process is specific to that problem
Existing clients + History of delivery + proof + reputation = more sales
Every time round, you’ll have better opportunities, whether the clients are more famous, have deeper pockets or need more valuable work.
Deliver value
Reputation, a great offer and great clients are meaningless if you can’t actually deliver.
Quality of work is essential for growth and affects every part of the business flywheel, particularly during delivery. High-quality work leads to fewer problems, better results, a stronger reputation, and more attractive prospects, as everyone wants to buy good work.
Quality means delivering value in everything you do. While not every stage needs to be polished (like sketches or wireframes), each component must achieve its intended outcomes. Poor quality can hold back progress and even reverse it, making it crucial to consistently demand excellence and view every detail as an opportunity for improvement.
Quality isn’t just limited to your deliverables, it needs to be considered in the people you hire and work with, and how you treat your clients.
As you grow, you may become removed from the actual work. You may leave direct responsibility for clients behind (and it’s a lovely moment), but you must never stop being accountable. Progress round the loop will undoubtedly stall if you do.
Prove results
To both your client and the outside world, it needs to be obvious what change you created. This is often an afterthought, but every project you finish and can’t explain the results of is a wasted opportunity.
Proving results comes in two different forms: proof that you have happy customers and proof that your work makes a positive change.
Proving you have happy customers involves getting testimonials and being allowed to publish case studies.
This is actually harder than you think, even when your clients are happy.
Obviously, unhappy clients are of no use. And that’s why, like every other part of the flywheel, attending to the previous stage of delivering quality and value is so important.
As well as just being happy, you need to be able to get your clients to endorse you.
Proving the value of your work is also harder than it looks and varies depending on your discipline. Some agencies, such as marketing agencies, will work in a way that allows you access to data. Others, such as branding, may need to be more innovative about how they measure results.
You have to gather some compelling evidence to power you round the loop.
The current state of your loop
You already have a loop. Your exercise this week is to draw it and analyse where it’s strong and where it’s weak.
What’s pushing you round and what’s slowing you down? Is your loop even connecting up? Or is the value you deliver different from the thing you are trying to create a reputation for?
If you aren’t growing, then something in your loop isn’t working. These things are all difficult, and as you grow, what’s required of each of them will change.
That’s why this whole founder thing is endlessly interesting, never fully solved and never, ever, easy.