A child’s favourite word is story. In fact the same could be true of everyone. We all love to listen to a story or to tell a story. In the book, The Slight Edge, the author Jeff Olson often uses stories as analogies to deeper meanings.

The Slight Edge, as the name would suggest, suggests that to be successful, you just need to have a slight edge in a number of different aspects of your life.

In this article, I will aim to mirror the analogy created by Jeff Olson to Starting a Business for yourself, or even running your existing business. We run both online and offline business. We have experienced failure and success and as a result, can relate very well to the author.

In this particular story, the author tells about a Water Hyacinth and how it can grow exponentially in a relatively short period of time but not by all its own efforts.

It would be a brilliant way to demonstrate how a typical MLM business owner could explain the potential growth in an area.

The lesson that I took from the book, in relation to starting a business was that you must be prepared to persevere and with this you simply will not experience the joy and rewards that success brings.

Every person that starts a business wants to be successful. But are they prepared to crank the pump and put massive effort in to the business until it start to grow exponentially.

In the case of the water hyacinth, the plant uses the art of leverage to grow each day. Instead of planting its own seeds and waiting, it sends out its own daughter tentacles which enable it to use leverage. Ever more with ever less. It’s the key to business Success.

Look at McDonalds restaurants – by using a system for running a restaurant which covers every aspect of the business, they could leverage it and grow it quickly without ever losing consistency or quality. It is often said that a 17 year old could run a McDonalds for you – the same one that will not tidy up their bedroom.

If you are thinking about starting a business, either offline or online, think leverage before you think “I’m the only person that can do this”.

By thinking this way, you will give yourself room to grow and develop beyond your own capabilities and will reap the reward.