Keeping It Real Can Keep You Small

Keeping it real can keep you small. A business can start with one community, one market, one type of customer, or one local audience—and build everything around them. But what happens when those customers change, leave, spend less, solve the problem you were helping them with, or are all affected by the same economic pressure? That same mindset can show up outside of business too. We turn down opportunities for relationships. We delay certifications because we are trying to stay available to everybody. We avoid changing because we are worried about what people who knew the old version of us will think. In this episode of The Intentional Operator, I'm talking about customer concentration, the pressure to “keep it real,” crabs-in-a-barrel thinking, growth, relationships, career opportunities, and what can happen when loyalty starts making financial decisions for you. Because integrity and likability are not the same thing. And sometimes growth requires breaking the shell you've already outgrown. Subscribe to The Intentional Operator for more conversations about business ownership, money, growth, decision-making, and operating more intentionally.