Martine Roch

In oceanography, a rogue wave refers to a massive wave that pops up, seemingly out of nowhere, when multiple unlikely natural phenomena collide. In the deep ocean, these waves routinely sink large ships. In business, they decimate growth and risk mitigation plans. What does it take for your organization not only to stay afloat when a rogue wave hits, but to actually turn it to your advantage? In this piece, the author describes a 3-part framework for resilient growth that helped HP emerge successful after a year of several potentially business-ending challenges. This approach — which can be adapted to any organization — involves building awareness of potential threats and opportunities on the horizon, adapting behaviors based on these trends, and ensuring a culture of open communication, clear processes, and a healthy balance of hierarchy and independence.

What would you do if one of your largest competitors attempted to force

Entrepreneur/Franchise Owner of Sylvan Learning Center of Murrieta. Ensuring the educational success in Murrieta/Temecula, California.

Experience, they say, is the best teacher. This rings close to home if you’ve had to learn a lesson the hard way. Starting a business isn’t all beds of roses and definitely not as easy as some people portray. Usually, there are hurdles to jump and challenges that keep coming up. Of course, in my case, I managed to overcome them and keep my business afloat, though it would have been much easier if I had known about some of these challenges beforehand.

Here’s a list of nine things I wish I had been aware of before starting my business that you can learn from as you start yours. 

1. It’s more than just being passionate. 

Many people often go into particular businesses because they have a passion for it. This was exactly what