Caterpillar stage

 When a butterfly egg hatches, it is still not the butterfly that is inside – there is still a way to go before the beauty of the butterfly reaches its full potential. Instead, you get the larva or caterpillar.

You probably know the larva in its most common form of a caterpillar. This is a big change for the egg, since it now moves from chasing scraps of food to having a ferocious appetite and eating everything in its way.

The entrepreneur now is in bootstrapping mode. He is gorging on every resource available to him. Friends, family and fools, everybody is a money bag. He is trying to make the idea work. To survive, grow and develop the caterpillar is feeding on every leaf, every stem and every green thing around it. So is the entrepreneur. This is also the most vulnerable phase for the caterpillar. It is available as a sitting duck to hungry predators. It is slow, it is weak, it cant fly and is large and seemingly tasty and a filling snack to predators. Only defense it has is camouflage.

Once your business has moved past the gestation period of the egg/birth, you are hungry for more. You are ready for bigger clients; bigger projects; bigger paydays. The thing is, your current set-up may not be ready for this. But that is okay.

A caterpillar can go through five or six growth spurts before it is ready to move to the next stage. Your business can be the same.

• Feast on the business that will help you grow.
• Stay hungry and eat what you can.
• Acknowledge that growth means change, and plan for staggered growth.
• Prepare yourself for the wrap period, where the finish line is in sight but you are not quite there yet.

Caterpillars shed their skin as they grow. Don’t be afraid to shed what you have encountered so far – new is good, and the only way to truly grow.