The ONE thing holding your business back

It's not what you think. And the fix is simpler than you'd expect. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ No longer interested? [Remove yourself here from all my emails.]( Hey , Ever feel like your business is running in place? You're working harder than ever, but growth has... well, plateaued? 😥 I've been there. And I've got a story that might shed some light on why. Here's the thing: In every business, at any given time, there's ONE thing holding it back. One bottleneck. One weak link in the chain. Find it, fix it, and watch your business transform. Sounds simple, right? But here's the catch: Most of us are blind to our own bottlenecks. Let me explain with a personal story. I'm a marketing guy. Always have been. I can sense what makes people tick, what gets them to change behavior. It's how I've built and sold multiple 7-figure businesses. With one of my previous businesses, we hit over $1 million in revenue in the first week of launching. Champagne time, right? 🍾 Well, yes and no. Not gonna lie, breaking my PR felt kinda awesome 😂 But that early success masked a deeper issue. See, I'm pretty good at marketing. I can get people excited about a product and convince them to jump on board. But that strength became a double-edged sword. While the business was growing every single month for years in a row, other crucial factors were lurking beneath the surface. The biggest one? Product-market fit. It hit me when I compared our metrics to companies like Buffer and ConvertKit, who publicly share their data. Our churn rate was significantly higher. And that, my friend, was the ONE thing capping our growth. Here's the kicker: I didn't see it at first. Or maybe, if I'm being honest, I didn't want to see it. Why? Because when you're good at something, you tend to view every problem through that lens. Low sales? More marketing! High churn? Market better! Product issues? You guessed it... marketing! But sometimes, marketing isn't the answer. Sometimes, you need to step out of your comfort zone and tackle the real issue. (Quick side note: For me, it was marketing because that's my strength. For you, it might be something else. For example, technical folks often default to technical solutions, even when the problem lies elsewhere. Sound familiar?) In our case, the real issue was product-market fit. We'd rushed to market, focused on getting new customers rather than keeping the ones we had. My marketing prowess had become a blindspot, masking the need to refine our product. So, why am I telling you this? Because your business has a "ONE thing" too. It's your bottleneck. The thing that's holding everything else back. Here's how to find it: 1. Break your business down into its core steps: - Getting attention (marketing) - Converting that attention (sales) - Delivering value (product/service) - Keeping customers (retention) - Encouraging referrals 2. For each step, ask yourself: - What's our current performance? - What's the industry standard? - What's the best-in-class performance? 3. The biggest gap? That's likely your bottleneck. Want a shortcut to finding your ONE thing? I've got two powerful frameworks that have helped me and countless others. Just reply with "ONE THING" and I'll send them over! Now, here's the crucial part: Once you've identified your bottleneck, you need to focus on it relentlessly. This is where I went wrong. I kept doing what I was good at (marketing) instead of what the business really needed (improving product-market fit). What I'll do differently next time? I'll go slower initially. Less marketing, more focus on getting to true product-market fit. It might seem counterintuitive, but I'm convinced it'll lead to faster scaling in the long run. So, here's your challenge: Take 15 minutes right now to list out your business steps and rate your performance in each. Where's your bottleneck? Then, commit to focusing on that ONE thing for the next month. Nothing else. Just that. Sounds scary, right? But trust me, it's worth it. Remember, what got you here won't get you there. Sometimes, the key to growth is focusing on your weak spots, not your strengths. Hit reply and let me know what your ONE thing is. I read every email, and your insights might just spark my next big idea (and I'll give you full credit, of course). Talk soon, Wilco P.S. Struggling to find your ONE thing? I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. Reply "ONE THING" and I'll share them with you. P.P.S. Want to dive deeper into breaking through growth plateaus? I'm thinking of doing a video on this. Interested? Let me know! [Wilco de Kreij] Thanks for reading ! 🙏 My mission is to give small businesses the marketing power of giants. Inside my emails, you’ll get proven best practices, innovative strategies and real-world tactics that I’ve learned in my businesses. Prefer not to receive these emails? No problem - you can [unsubscribe]( at any time. This email reached you at {EMAIL} because you signed up for my newsletter or purchased one of my products. You can always [unsubscribe]( or [change your details](. Emarky B.V., Gageldijk 21, 3602AG Maarssen, The Netherlands