How Building A Business Is Like Playing Jenga

A few weeks ago, I bought the game Jenga, to teach my 4 year old son how to play. For anyone unfamiliar with the game, it's the game where you stack small wood bricks into a tower, and then take turns removing a brick to restack it back up on top. If you remove a piece that causes the tower to fall, you lose. 

I explained to my son, that he ideally wants to build a strong, consistent, sturdy, straight foundation to the tower, so that it stands tall and stable as pieces are removed. And, explained, it's not advisable to remove too many bricks from the base, as it will create too many holes and make it likely to topple over faster.

As I continued to explain, it really had me thinking - there are a TON of similarities between the strategy of this game as well as building a business. Or, growing a relationship. Or really ANYTHING that can turn into something worthwhile over time in your life. 

When starting a business, if you don't take the time to build a strong, sturdy foundation from the beginning, your "tower" or company, will be compromised and begin to lean over time. Making it susceptible to crashing to the ground the second one wrong move is made. Many people make the mistake over and over again, of not taking the proper time in the beginning, to make sure they are addressing and laying every foundational block straight in their business.

In addition to business basics that are often skipped or missed, there are major life topics that are not addressed early on. It is often surprising to me just HOW much many other areas of life such as relationships, family, finances, mindset, and health (physical and emotional) are neglected and forgotten by people when they start a business. However, ALL of these areas should be treated as equal-sized pieces in the game, and it is CRUCIAL that they are given the same level of attention and brought under control during the foundational phases. If avoided, it's not a matter of IF, but WHEN, the "tower" will begin to lean and be on the brink of collapse. All of these areas of life work in cohesion with your business and affect one another if they are not stable and in balance from the very start. 

You may be thinking, "what if I already have a business, and failed to address these beginning pieces from the start?". It's NOT too late to circle back to fill in any gaps that were missed early on, to "reinforce your foundation". In fact, this is something that I often work a lot on with my clients who are already business owners, and is often essential to work through when they feel stuck, fearful, overwhelmed, or unbalanced but cannot pinpoint why.

Building a strong, straight foundation will NOT make you completely immune to challenges and prevent them from ever happening. However, I can guarantee that it WILL give you the greatest chance for building a tower (or business) that will be tall, stable, and remain standing longer amidst any obstacles. And, it will give YOU the resiliency needed to work through any setbacks - even if you find yourself needing to pick up each brick and start over to rebuild it stronger and larger the next time.