Limited Resource Thinking

Recently I was considering the concept of limited resource thinking.

It is often the case that a business may be held back by the owners having limited resource thinking.

What exactly does this mean?

A business owner may think they are unable to grow or expand because they have limited resources.

Those resources may refer to human resources (staff), working capital, physical resources, or a customer base.

Each and every one of those problems, however, can quite easily be solved provided the owner or operator of the business thinks in abundance rather than in terms of limited resources.

In this case, the problem lies not in the implementation or operation of the business but primarily in the way in which the business owner thinks.

Perhaps your response may be that this is easy to say but difficult to put into practice.

In reality most resources can be found through outsourcing or developing partnerships.

For example, if a business owner really wanted to grow the business but felt limited by lack of financial capital, opportunities may exist with angel funding, venture capital partners, or joint venture partners.

Limited resource thinking with respect to financial resources may extend to the inability to employ sufficient staff to implement growth strategies.

This may be resolved through outsourcing or using contract labour.

Asking existing employees to contribute by way of a share in future profits or even under an employee ownership scheme are also excellent ways of moving past the perceived barrier of financial scarcity.

It may also be the case that you could partner with other suppliers in return for a joint venture or a profit share program or even in return for providing your services in lieu of payment.

Business premises necessary to implement strategic growth plans may also be secured by sharing with another business, subleasing from an existing partner, supplier or alliance or again providing the landlord with a percentage of the profits from your project in return for the landlord providing additional business space.

This comes down to simply resolving the question as to whether you seek to be a part of the problem or a part of the solution.

Abundance thinking in and of itself will not resolve these issues; however, abundance thinking will diminish the limited resource thinking and thus open your mind to alternative possibilities and the opportunity to think outside the square to find the solutions you seek.

See if you can remove limited resource thinking from your business.