Tag: manufacturing business

In this article, originally featured in Elite Business: Ambitious customers can drive growth for businesses that choose to scale alongside them, even if they are not the biggest

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Most business owners spend a great deal of time chasing bigger customers. It makes perfect sense on paper. Larger customers bring larger orders, stronger revenues and the credibility that comes with recognised names. Landing one often feels like you have reached the next stage of growth. According to a study by the UK Department for Business, companies that grow with their customers see 30% higher revenue growth.

But I have seen that strategy create as many problems as it solves. The biggest customer is not always the best customer.

Recently, I spent time with a packaging manufacturer that has quietly helped growing consumer brands bring products to market. Its work sits behind the scenes, taking an idea and turning it into something a customer can actually pick up from a supermarket shelf.

What struck me was not the product. It was their customer strategy. Instead of asking how to win the largest account in the market, the business had begun asking a better question: Which customers are growing in a way that allows us to grow with them?

That is a very different conversation.

Too many established businesses wait for enquiries to arrive or spend years pursuing one large account that eventually dictates pricing, payment terms and priorities. Before long, the customer owns the relationship, and the supplier spends more time protecting one contract than building a stronger business.

Growth becomes dependency. But there is another way.

Growing businesses need partners who can move quickly, adapt, solve problems and evolve with them. They value responsiveness more than scale alone. They are testing products, entering new markets and refining their offer. They want suppliers who are invested in their success, not simply processing orders.

That creates an opportunity for established businesses willing to think differently. Rather than acting as another supplier waiting for a purchase order, position yourself as part of your customer’s growth journey. Get involved earlier and help shape the solution rather than simply delivering it. Understand where they are trying to get to, not just what they need today.

When you do that, something important changes. Your value is no longer measured purely on price. It is measured on contribution.

I often see owners focus their sales effort on businesses that have already arrived. The more interesting opportunity is often the business that is still building.

If you choose well, your businesses compound together.

As your customer launches more products, enters new regions or grows its market share, your own business benefits naturally because you helped build that journey from the beginning.

So ask yourself a simple question: Are you spending your energy trying to win the biggest customer in your market, or are you deliberately choosing customers whose ambition, pace and potential can pull your business forward with them?

Because the strongest growth is rarely built on dependence. It is built by growing with customers who are building something just as ambitious as you are.

By Pavlo Phitidis

In this article, originally featured in Elite Business: Pavlo Phitidis explains why successful entrepreneurs don’t rely on courage alone. By building knowledge and experience, business leaders can better understand risk and make confident growth decisions

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What looks like courage from the outside is often knowledge, preparation and experience in action. The best entrepreneurs are not fearless. They simply understand the risks they are taking because they have spent years building the knowledge required to make informed decisions.

There is a popular myth in business that successful entrepreneurs are somehow wired differently from everyone else. That they are fearless. That they thrive on risk. That they possess a natural ability to leap into uncertainty while others hesitate.

In my experience, that is almost never true. The business owners who build enduring companies are not reckless, they aren’t gamblers. They don’t throw caution to the wind and hope for the best.

What they do is much more practical: they spend years learning. They immerse themselves in their industry. They understand the products, the customers, the supply chains, the operational realities and the economics. They acquire knowledge that allows them to see opportunities others miss.

Then, when a decision arrives that appears risky from the outside, they have a very different perspective from everyone else looking in.

What looks like a leap of faith is often a calculated step built on years of experience.

The distinction matters because many business owners spend too much time waiting for certainty.

They delay decisions until they have perfect information. They postpone investments until every risk has been eliminated. They wait for the market to become clearer, the economy to improve or the opportunity to become more obvious.

The problem is that certainty rarely arrives. Business is not a game of certainty. It is a game of probabilities.

Every meaningful growth decision contains risk. Expanding into a new market carries risk; hiring senior people carries risk; investing in equipment carries risk; acquiring a business carries risk; launching a new product carries risk.

The question is not whether risk exists, the question is whether you understand it well enough to make an informed decision.

This is where experience becomes such a powerful competitive advantage.

Knowledge allows you to distinguish between perceived risk and actual risk.

To an outsider, a struggling business may look like a liability. To someone who understands the products, customers, capabilities and market dynamics, it may represent an extraordinary opportunity.

To one person, an ageing piece of equipment may appear obsolete. To another, it may represent years of future service, maintenance and upgrade revenue.

The facts are often the same. What differs is the quality of understanding.

This is why the most successful business builders never stop learning. They remain close to customers. They stay connected to operational realities. They develop deep industry knowledge. They ask questions others overlook.

Knowledge becomes the foundation of confidence.

Not confidence that everything will work out exactly as planned, but confidence that they understand the variables well enough to make a decision.

That confidence creates action, and action creates opportunity.

The opposite is equally true.

When business owners lack information, uncertainty grows. Decisions become harder and risks feel larger than they really are. Opportunities are missed because the fear of failure outweighs the confidence to proceed.

This is why courage in business is often misunderstood. Courage is not acting without fear, courage is acting despite fear because you have done the work required to understand the opportunity.

The entrepreneurs who build successful businesses are not fearless. They are informed.

Their courage follows knowledge.

Don’t wait for fear to disappear. Do the work, understand the risk and then decide whether the opportunity is worth pursuing.

Pavlo Phitidis is the founder of Aurik Business Accelerator and a leading business growth strategist working with entrepreneurs across South Africa, the UK and the US. He is a regular commentator on business strategy, growth and entrepreneurship.

By Pavlo Phitidis

In this article, originally featured in Elite Business: Hardship in business is not always a warning sign. Sometimes it is the training ground that builds stronger owners and better businesses

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Most business owners spend years hoping things will eventually become easier. Easier cash flow. Easier staffing. Easier growth. Easier decisions.

I understand why. Business ownership can be relentless. The pressure is constant, and there are moments where it feels like success should surely come with less struggle. But the hard road is often shaping the very capability the business will eventually need from you.

I was reminded of this recently while spending time with a manufacturing business operating in a practical, everyday sector. The kind of business most people barely notice until something goes wrong. Yet when it does, suddenly it becomes urgent and important.

The owner had not followed some perfectly planned entrepreneurial journey. There had been setbacks, responsibility arriving too early, difficult decisions and long periods of uncertainty. That is more common than most people admit.

Too often, we look at successful businesses and assume the owner had clarity from the beginning. Most did not. Most owners learn through pressure. They grow because the demands of the business force them to grow.

That is why many owners misunderstand hardship. Not every difficult season is a sign something is broken. Sometimes difficulty is the training ground.

Of course, poor systems, weak financial discipline and operational chaos should never be accepted as normal. Those issues need fixing. But even well-run businesses face pressure because growth itself creates pressure.

A bigger business demands a different version of the owner: more resilience, better judgement, greater emotional control.

You do not develop those qualities before growth happens. More often, the business forces them out of you as it grows.

I have seen owners carry payroll through brutal trading conditions, recover from losing major customers, and navigate personal hardship while trying to keep the business stable. None of it feels valuable while you are inside it.

But over time, if the owner learns from the pressure rather than simply fighting it, something changes. Decisions improve and systems strengthen, the owner becomes calmer and more capable under pressure. The business grows because the owner grows.

Think about physical training. Nobody builds strength by avoiding resistance. Strength comes through resistance. The pressure itself forces adaptation.

Business works much the same way.

That does not mean every hard season automatically produces growth. Some owners become reactive or exhausted by prolonged pressure. Difficulty can absolutely shrink a person if it is allowed to consume them.

But I have also seen many owners emerge stronger, more focused and better able to build proper structure into the business. And structure is what matters.

Enduring businesses are not built on hustle forever. They are built on systems, leadership, consistency and sound decision-making. Businesses capable of functioning and growing without exhausting the owner every single day.

So perhaps the question is not, “Why is this hard?” Perhaps the better question is, “What is this season trying to teach me?”

Because sometimes the struggle is not blocking growth, it is preparing you for it.

By Pavlo Phitidis

In this article, originally featured in Elite Business: Hardship in business is not always a warning sign. Sometimes it is the training ground that builds stronger owners and better businesses

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Most business owners spend years hoping things will eventually become easier. Easier cash flow. Easier staffing. Easier growth. Easier decisions.

I understand why. Business ownership can be relentless. The pressure is constant, and there are moments where it feels like success should surely come with less struggle. But the hard road is often shaping the very capability the business will eventually need from you.

I was reminded of this recently while spending time with a manufacturing business operating in a practical, everyday sector. The kind of business most people barely notice until something goes wrong. Yet when it does, suddenly it becomes urgent and important.

The owner had not followed some perfectly planned entrepreneurial journey. There had been setbacks, responsibility arriving too early, difficult decisions and long periods of uncertainty. That is more common than most people admit.

Too often, we look at successful businesses and assume the owner had clarity from the beginning. Most did not. Most owners learn through pressure. They grow because the demands of the business force them to grow.

That is why many owners misunderstand hardship. Not every difficult season is a sign something is broken. Sometimes difficulty is the training ground.

Of course, poor systems, weak financial discipline and operational chaos should never be accepted as normal. Those issues need fixing. But even well-run businesses face pressure because growth itself creates pressure.

A bigger business demands a different version of the owner: more resilience, better judgement, greater emotional control.

You do not develop those qualities before growth happens. More often, the business forces them out of you as it grows.

I have seen owners carry payroll through brutal trading conditions, recover from losing major customers, and navigate personal hardship while trying to keep the business stable. None of it feels valuable while you are inside it.

But over time, if the owner learns from the pressure rather than simply fighting it, something changes. Decisions improve and systems strengthen, the owner becomes calmer and more capable under pressure. The business grows because the owner grows.

Think about physical training. Nobody builds strength by avoiding resistance. Strength comes through resistance. The pressure itself forces adaptation.

Business works much the same way.

That does not mean every hard season automatically produces growth. Some owners become reactive or exhausted by prolonged pressure. Difficulty can absolutely shrink a person if it is allowed to consume them.

But I have also seen many owners emerge stronger, more focused and better able to build proper structure into the business. And structure is what matters.

Enduring businesses are not built on hustle forever. They are built on systems, leadership, consistency and sound decision-making. Businesses capable of functioning and growing without exhausting the owner every single day.

So perhaps the question is not, “Why is this hard?” Perhaps the better question is, “What is this season trying to teach me?”

Because sometimes the struggle is not blocking growth, it is preparing you for it.

By Pavlo Phitidis