in Business, business models, business strategy, enduring businesses, houseplants, plants

(house)plants part six

This summer I had the chance, for the first time, to grow my own vegetables in our garden.

It’s a sight to behold.

First is I’m surprised just how fast they grow. Watering them regularly and seeing them up-close makes you realized how quickly they can turn. They are slow in that they are forming before your eyes, but if you don’t watch them for a day or two, you can miss them transforming into their final edible forms. It’s a pleasant surprise!

Here’s some additional observations:

  • Plants have a cycle. They have season when they thrive and seasons when they are dormant.
  • Getting rid of yellowing leaves is a must to supporting concentrating the resources to the parts that are still thriving.
  • The fruits of the harvest comes weeks (months or years) later and the abundance is a reflection of the perfect starting conditions all those days ago. (I see this in my tomatoes plants, 80% of the fruits are all ripening at the same time. Something was great maybe 6-8 weeks ago.)

This occurs to me and how it (again) applies to businesses:

  • All business have cycles
  • All businesses have areas where it’s not as profitable and likely need “pruning”
  • Bezos and Gates both said sometime similar to this: that all outcomes experienced in their business today was a result of actions, decisions made years ago. I think Bezos says 7 years and Gates said 10. Sometimes in the early days it’s hard to realize how quickly and how fast things grow, but those starting conditions are a critical piece to grow something new.