This morning, I was playing with Dudo, my dog, in the garden. We were running around and having fun. It made me think about how different my life is now compared to 2015.
Back then, I was sitting in an empty office. My business had failed. I felt lost and confused. I thought growing a business just meant making more money. But I was completely wrong.
Today, I want to share what I learned about how to grow a business—the hard way.
My Failed Business Taught Me Everything
In 2015, I lost my first business. I used to sit in my air-conditioned office every day, looking at reports I didn’t understand. I waited for customers to come. I waited for sales to go up. But nothing happened.
That’s when I learned the most important lesson: you cannot grow a business by just waiting and hoping. You need to work hard. You need to build something real.
After my failure, I started again from zero. I built a garden business. This time, I didn’t sit in an office. I picked up tools. I cleaned the land myself. I built things with my own hands.
And slowly, my business started to grow.
Through this journey of rebuilding a failed business, I discovered something important: there are actually four types of business growth. Understanding which type you need right now can save you years of struggle.
Let me explain each one.
What Are the Four Types of Business Growth?
1. Organic Growth – Growing Naturally Through Good Work
Organic growth is the most natural way to grow. It happens when you do great work, and your customers tell other people about you. This type of growth is slow, but it’s very reliable.
My Real-Life Business Growth Example
When I started my garden business, I didn’t have money for advertising. So I just focused on making the garden beautiful every single day.
I used a wheelbarrow. I used a grass cutter. I cleaned the land bit by bit. Every day, I made the garden just 1% better than yesterday.
People walking by started to notice. They saw the improvements. Some of them became customers. Some of them told their friends. I didn’t do any marketing. I just did good work.
The Lesson: Sometimes you don’t need a fancy plan. You just need to do better work than you did yesterday. That’s organic growth.
2. Strategic Growth – Creating Something New to Attract Attention
Strategic growth is different. This happens when you create something new and different to attract people who have never heard of you before.
For me, this was the “Rainbow Heart” moment.
How to Grow a Business with Strategy
About one month after I built a small walking bridge in my garden, I looked at it again. It was nice, but boring. Nobody stopped to look at it. I needed something that would make people stop and say, “Wow!”
So I decided to build a giant Rainbow Heart next to the bridge. It was big, colorful, and impossible to miss.
I didn’t hire anyone to build it. My team and I built it ourselves.
And then something amazing happened. People didn’t just walk past anymore. They stopped. They took photos. They shared those photos on Facebook and Instagram. A few months later, new visitors came to my garden just to see the Rainbow Heart.
That’s strategic growth—when you create something special that acts like a magnet for new customers.
The Lesson: Think about what your “Rainbow Heart” could be. What can you create that makes people stop and pay attention?
3. Internal Growth – Making Your Business Run Smoothly
Here’s something most people forget: you can’t drive a car fast if the engine is broken.
Internal growth is not about getting more customers. It’s about fixing problems inside your business so everything runs better.
Organic Growth vs Strategic Growth vs Internal Growth
In my first business, I wasted so much time because I was disorganized. I made bad decisions. I was always stressed and confused.
When I started my garden business, I knew I had to change. So I created simple systems to help myself.
One system was the “Check-Mark Calendar.” Every day, I would check off the important tasks I completed. This helped me build good habits.
I also stopped trying to do everything at once. I focused only on the most important work, like designing the garden and building structures. Suddenly, my business became easier to run. I had more time. I had more energy. And I made better decisions.
The Lesson: If you feel overwhelmed and stressed, you probably don’t need more customers yet. You need internal growth—better habits and better systems.
4. Partnership Growth – Growing Together with Others
Sometimes the fastest way to grow is to work with other people. Partnership growth means collaborating with others who have strengths you don’t have.
My first business partnership failed because we wanted different things. But I learned that real partnership works when both people help each other.
You don’t always need to officially partner with another company. You can collaborate in small ways. For example, imagine I build the Rainbow Heart photo spot, and a local photographer offers to take photos there for customers. We both win. They get a beautiful location. I get more visitors.
The Lesson: You don’t have to do everything alone. Find people who are good at things you’re not good at.
How to Rebuild a Failed Business: Which Growth Type Do You Need?
Now that you know the four types of business growth, here’s the important question: Which type do you need right now?
Most people think they always need more sales (organic growth). But that’s not always true. Ask yourself these questions:
- Are You Feeling Stressed and Overwhelmed? → You need Internal Growth. Focus on creating better systems and habits first.
- Is Nobody Noticing Your Business? → You need Strategic Growth. Create your own “Rainbow Heart”—something that makes people stop and look.
- Is Everything Going Well, But Just Needs Time? → You need Organic Growth. Keep doing good work. Be patient. Let word-of-mouth work for you.
- Do You Need Skills or Resources You Don’t Have? → You need Partnership Growth. Find someone to collaborate with.
The Real Business Success Story Lesson
My business success story isn’t about getting rich quickly. It’s about understanding that growth comes in different forms.
When my first business failed in 2015, I didn’t understand this. I thought there was only one way to grow: make more money, get more customers. But real growth is about choosing the right type of growth at the right time.
Today, my garden business is successful—not because I’m smarter than before, but because I understand these four types of growth.
Your Next Step
Growth is a choice you make every single day. Today, look at your business honestly. You don’t need to do everything at once. Just choose one type of growth and focus on it.
That’s exactly how I rebuilt my failed business into something I’m proud of today. And if I can do it, so can you.
