A Wren Says

As a child, I dreamed of a world where I could have endless access to treats. Oh, what an amazing thing it would have been to have ice cream raining from the sky, a la in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Given the rising cost of food, I’d welcome the release on my grocery budget. Alas, as an adult, I can see how it would be a dangerous and messy place to live.

There are other things that I think naively would be a good idea, but wisdom points to otherwise. One of those things being sudden growth. It seems like it would be amazing to all of a sudden of a flood of customers all excited about your brand. But if you really think about it, that kind of intense spike in interest could actually harm your brand. You don’t want growth for growth’s sake. You want the kind of growth that you have the capacity to sustainably handle.

Before you go about trying to aggressively increase your sales, take a step back. What do your systems look like? Do you have a website equipped to handle that kind of web traffic? Do you have the staff to handle that kind of a rise in orders? Do you have the labor to support customers in store? Are your POS systems up to date enough to quickly power through transactions? And do you have the vision to guide your team through?

A deluge of growth can be a great thing, but only if you’re ready to handle it. If you’re going to pray for rain, pray also for the ability to manage the flood.

Which book’s world would be the absolute worst to live in?

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