Dear Entrepreneur,

Let’s pretend you’re in the market for a good pumpkin. At the local pumpkin patch you spot it – the biggest pumpkin you’ve ever seen. As you walk over to it, you don’t even see the other pumpkins. Although it is surrounded by red tape and signs saying “prize winning pumpkin not for sale,” your kids are begging you to buy it.

There is something absolutely irresistible, something magnetic about being the extreme. Be it the strongest, or the fastest, or the most unique. The farmer with the most extraordinary pumpkin in the field wins.

The same is true for entrepreneurs. Yet most entrepreneurs work their tails off, only to end up with small, ordinary, unremarkable pumpkins. To grow a successful business your company must be irresistibly magnetic. The average businesses lose and are left to rot. It’s the most unique who win.

The above is from the Introduction to the book “The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field” by Mike Michalowicz. As those of you who have read the book know, Mike demonstrates how you can grow an extraordinary business by following the same formula as a farmer uses to grow a giant pumpkin: Select and plant the right seed, identify the most promising pumpkins, kill off the rest of the vine, and nurture only the pumpkins with the biggest potential.

So many businesses make the mistake of trying to be like all of the other businesses out there, after all, why reinvent the wheel? Or they think if they are “the best” at what they do, that will be enough to catapult them ahead. They also make the mistake of thinking that quantity is more important than quality. What I mean is that they try to serve everyone, which leaves them serving almost no one.

The strategy of copying what other similar businesses are doing, and trying to reach as broad a base as possible, actually leaves you with a very ordinary pumpkin. Imagine a large field of pumpkins, all of similar size, shape and color. How would you pick? They all look the same.

Since The Pumpkin Plan was published, and Mike and I launched Provendus Group in 2012, our certified Strategists have worked with business, after business, after business to implement these strategies and experience explosive growth. Some had growing businesses that had suddenly plateaued. Others were continuing to grow, but at the cost of their profits and the business owner’s health. In all cases, what got them here was not going to get them any further.

Because our mission here at Provendus Group is to save small business from extinction, and to enable entrepreneurs to build thriving companies that make an impact on the economy and the world, we are launching the Pumpkin Plan Your Biz blog series to support as many passionate business owners as possible to use the Pumpkin Plan methods to grow an extraordinary business without burning out in the process.

In the same spirit, we are also launching a FREE community on Facebook: Pumpkin Planners Rock. Please go to the group and request to join. You will receive support in implementing the Pumpkin Plan from me and our brilliant team of Pumpkin Plan Strategists. We will share tips, insights and strategies that we have learned over the past 5 years of Pumpkin Planning businesses.

The idea is to start at the beginning, and walk you through Pumpkin Planning Your Biz step by step. There will be activities, suggestions and analysis along the way. It will be up to you to do the work, but we promise if you take action your business will move forward.

Many of you are familiar with the book The E-Myth by Michael Gerber, where he introduces the concept of working “ON” your business vs. working “IN” your business. No matter how busy you are, in order for your business to experience healthy growth, you must of course have people working “IN” your business, but you must also have someone, most likely you, working “ON” the business. I have personally seen this phenomenon over and over again. The business owners who say they don’t have time to work ON their business stay stuck on the hamster wheel. Those who make the time for strategy, planning and continual learning move forward and create their dream business and their dream life.

So what do you say? Are You Ready to Pumpkin Plan YOUR Business? If you are, then join us over at Pumpkin Planners Rock and let’s grow YOUR giant pumpkin!

Would you like individual help with growing your business? Click Here to learn more and Find a Strategist.