11750 Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 1 ©2007 FlashPoint! (company name) Stages of Growth X-Ray Date

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 2 ©2007 FlashPoint! Cracking the Code to Your Company’s Growth “Give a business owner a business plan, help them for a month. Teach a business owner the tools to grow their business, help them for a lifetime.” Laurie Taylor, President, FlashPoint!

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 3 ©2007 FlashPoint! Taking the Time to THINK About Your Business

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 4 ©2007 FlashPoint! Cracking the Code It’s NOT about hitting a bulls eye every time It’s about KNOWING WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW It’s an Attitude

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 5 ©2007 FlashPoint! It’s An Attitude What do I really want? How do I go about getting it?

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 6 ©2007 FlashPoint! You Can Predict How to Manage Growth There is a model for growth that will improve your chances for success Understand the ‘constrictions’ that are occurring, how to identify and release them Look at where the ‘circulation’ is happening, how to maintain it and improve upon it Identify (company’s) TOP 6 – 8 Initiatives that will have the most positive impact on growth opportunities Realize you can get ahead of your growth curve and proactively manage growth

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 7 ©2007 FlashPoint! Quick Study Guide Fill in the blanks and keep it handy during the session Start using a new language of business growth Make a commitment to implement at least 2 new ideas from today’s discussion Share at least 3 critical ideas that you pick up today with someone in your division

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 8 ©2007 FlashPoint! The 7 Stages of Entrepreneurial Growth Copyright 2006 James Fischer, Origin Institute

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 9 ©2007 FlashPoint! The Rules The movement from one stage of growth to another begins as soon as you land in any stage of growth What you don’t get done in a specific stage of growth does not go away Time will make a difference If you aren’t growing, you are dying

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 10 ©2007 FlashPoint! Hidden Agents Three Faces of a Leader Modalities 27 Challenges/27 Strengths Builder/Protector Ratio Non-Negotiable Leadership Rules

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 11 ©2007 FlashPoint! Start Up Stage 1: 1 – 10 employees Don’t worry about hitting a bulls-eye, just hit the target! Generate income. Cash flow is biggest challenge. Risk: High – too many unknowns.

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 12 ©2007 FlashPoint! Ramp Up Stage 2: 11 – 19 employees Growth is the goal. Has to generate positive cash flow. Hiring quality people becomes your biggest challenge. Risk: Focused on growth, you forget key indicators and cash flow gets thin. Disaster could be right around the corner.

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 13 ©2007 FlashPoint! Delegation Stage 3: 20 – 34 employees CEO-Centric up to now – you have outgrown the CEOs span of control. Now -- Enterprise-Centric. Control must be delegated. Train supervisory staff to take on more responsibility and authority. Staff buy-in is your biggest challenge. Risk: Lose momentum due to slow decision making process

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 14 ©2007 FlashPoint! Professional Stage 4: 35 – 57 employees Complexity requires advanced operational and managerial systems. Must invest in training. Your ability to have a solid project management template is your top challenge. Trial and error is out. Just hiring more people is not the answer. Risk: CEO risks losing firm by saving money on talent.

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 15 ©2007 FlashPoint! Integration Stage 5: 58 – 95 employees Whole company must act together to create a position of strength. The right hand needs to know what the left hand is doing. Decisions need to be made according to a plan and a process. Improving sales is your top challenge. Risk: Without integration you won’t obtain efficiencies of scale. Competition will eat you for lunch.

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 16 ©2007 FlashPoint! Strategic Stage 6: 96 – 160 employees Move from annual planning concept to multiyear approach. Staff buy-in is biggest challenge. Bring on a Board of Directors to help you create a larger strategic market orientation. Risk: Not seeing the larger strategic picture could cause the ‘too little, too late’ syndrome.

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 17 ©2007 FlashPoint! Visionary Stage 7: 161 – 500 employees Foster exploration, identify new opps, develop action plans. Top challenge is your products/services are not differentiated in the market place. Ignite fires of inspiration, innovation and the spirit of reaching out to new territories. Be relentless in allowing mistakes in the pursuit of new endeavors. Risk: Management’s efforts to professionalize the company can crush the entrepreneurial spirit so necessary to maintain a competitive edge.

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 18 ©2007 FlashPoint! Flood Zone Copyright 2006 James Fischer, Origin Institute

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 19 ©2007 FlashPoint! Wind Tunnel Copyright 2006 James Fischer, Origin Institute

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 20 ©2007 FlashPoint! The Three Gates of Focus Copyright 2006 James Fischer, Origin Institute

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 21 ©2007 FlashPoint! Three Gates of Focus Revenue/Profit Gate –Predicting growth by maximizing and anticipating revenue, protection and capacity issues People Gate –Building competency and innovation through the conscious development of people Process Gate –Transforming complexity into clarity through systems

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 22 ©2007 FlashPoint! Three Gates of Focus Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6 Stage 7 Profit People Process Profit Process People Profit Process Profit People Profit People Process People Profit Process People Process Profit

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 23 ©2007 FlashPoint! Hidden Agents These are agents that lie beneath the surface of your company and create obstacles to a company’s growth On the surface, the issue looked much different than what it really was The ability to address what was going on didn’t seem to identify the real cause These become constrictors if left alone

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 24 ©2007 FlashPoint! What Leadership Face Are You Wearing Today? Visionary: Can take the most insignificant situation and turn it into an opportunity. Manager: Creates order and focuses on the pragmatic systems and procedures that make the company run well. Specialist: Is action oriented and detail focused, driven to complete tasks and centers on results, not ideas.

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 25 ©2007 FlashPoint! Three Faces of A Leader Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6 Stage 7 Visionary 40% Manager 10% Specialist 50% Visionary 40% Manager 20% Specialist 40% Visionary 10% Manager 60% Specialist 30% Visionary 10% Manager 70% Specialist 20% Visionary 30% Manager 60% Specialist 10% Visionary 45% Manager 50% Specialist 5% Visionary 75% Manager 20% Specialist 5%

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 26 ©2007 FlashPoint! The 27 Challenges Exercise Review results of Challenges/Strengths exercise Create discussion and get consensus Determine which issues should be noted for final initiatives

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 27 ©2007 FlashPoint! Top Business Challenges & Strengths Strengths Cash Flow Limited Capital Project Management New Staff Orientation Market Changes Anticipating Problems Challenges Customer Migration Employee Turnover Flexible Planning Unclear Values Resistant to Change Marketing Position

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 28 ©2007 FlashPoint! Challenges By Stage of Growth Stage 1 – 1 to 10 employees Cash Flow Destabilized by Chaos Slow Product Development And Getting to Market Limited Capital to Grow Improve Sales

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 29 ©2007 FlashPoint! Challenges by Stage of Growth Stage 2 – 11 to 19 employees Hiring Quality People Improve Sales Cash Flow Leadership/Staff Gap Limited Capital to Grow

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 30 ©2007 FlashPoint! Challenges by Stage of Growth Stage 3 – 20 to 34 employees Staff Buy In Leadership/Staff Gap Weak Business Design Core Values Unclear Culture Resistant to Change

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 31 ©2007 FlashPoint! Challenges by Stage of Growth Stage 4 – 35 to 57 employees Weak Project Management Difficulty Diagnosing Problems Employee Turn Over Not Getting Systems in Place Organization Uniformed About Company Growth

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 32 ©2007 FlashPoint! Challenges by Stage of Growth Stage 5 – 58 to 95 employees Improve Sales Difficulty Forecasting Problems Cost of Lost Expertise Weak Business Design Staff Training

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 33 ©2007 FlashPoint! Challenges by Stage of Growth Stage 6 – 96 to 160 employees Staff Buy In Staff Satisfaction/Profit Relationship Not Seen New Staff Orientation Weak Business Design Hiring Quality Staff

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 34 ©2007 FlashPoint! Challenges by Stage of Growth Stage 7 – 161 to 500 employees Products Not Differentiated Inadequate Profits Slow Getting Offering to Market Weak Business Design Marketplace Changes Too Quickly

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 35 ©2007 FlashPoint! Builders and Protectors: How Is this Impacting Your Growth? Builders: A Builder mindset creates new ideas, takes on new initiatives, finds ways to expand the revenue and profitability of the enterprise. They are risk tolerant and highly supportive of growth. Protectors: A Protector mindset is cautious and prefers to slow things down. They are risk adverse and highly suspicious of growth.

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 36 ©2007 FlashPoint! Builder/Protector Ratio Assessment Leadership Business Fundamentals Feeling Respected & Valued Implementing Change Innovation Team Maturity

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 37 ©2007 FlashPoint! Builder/Protector Ratios Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6 Stage 7 B/P 4:1 B/P 3:1 B/P 1:1 B/P 3:2 B/P 2:1 B/P 3:1 B/P 2:1

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 38 ©2007 FlashPoint! Leadership Rules of the Road Hidden in each person working at your company are answers to questions not yet asked. Start the dialogue that will uncover the questions so you can get to the answers.

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 39 ©2007 FlashPoint! Template for Initiatives

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 40 ©2007 FlashPoint! Capturing Initiatives

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 41 ©2007 FlashPoint! Communication Plan What needs to be communicated How will it be communicated Meeting protocol What needs to be transferred to who How will you capture it What does CEO know that others need to know What do Managers know that others need to know What do Staff know that others need to know What do Individual Teams know that others need to know

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 42 ©2007 FlashPoint! Know Where to Focus Tune In to What Your Company is Telling You

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 43 ©2007 FlashPoint! Tips on Applying What You Learned Today You can proactively manage growth Apply a language of growth – start with the 3 Gates of Focus Recognize the Builder and the Protector Mindset Understand the leadership challenges facing your managers Tap into the intelligence of every single person in the company

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 44 ©2007 FlashPoint! Key Messages The movement from one stage of growth to another begins as soon as you land in any stage of growth. What you don’t get done in a specific stage of growth DOES NOT GO AWAY. Time will make a difference. If you aren’t growing you are dying.

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 45 ©2007 FlashPoint! Critical Initiatives Review the top Determine who owns each one Create milestones Proactively manage your results

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 46 ©2007 FlashPoint! The 7 Stages of Entrepreneurial Growth Copyright 2006 James Fischer, Origin Institute

FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business | Newton St. | Westminster, CO | | 47 ©2007 FlashPoint! Revelations Write down 10 ideas you will walk away with from today’s session Share these with each other as you begin to understand how growth is impacting you Remember to take time to THINK about your business