The rule of 4 by 2 for growing a small business.

A few weeks after writing about the rule of four, I heard another battered, bruised and successful business owner put an even better twist on my rule of four for small business.

He called it the rule of “4 by 2″.

It will take four times as long as you think, and cost you twice as much; or take twice as long and four times the cost. The only difference is you get to choose.

Now this is an excellent way to think about the rule of four, you have a choice:

Grow faster, and you’ll need more cash; or
Grow more slowly, and you conserve cash (but the impatient small business owner within you will be frustrated by this)

It is an on-going struggle to balance growth with time and cash, our two most limited resources.

The key point from my original “rule of 4″ post still stands. Small business is harder than most people think – I believe twice as hard to start, and four times as hard to grow.