Article
When growth hurts: My lessons on leading through the toughest times
Tuike Järvi
Fusion Ecosystem
Growth isn’t always smooth. It stretches you, challenges your assumptions, and forces tough calls. But those moments — the hard ones — are often where the real learning happens. <br> <br> This is a story about what I’ve learned leading through some of those times. Not just how to grow, but how to keep going when it’s hardest.
To get in the right mood, let’s start with a little story.
Imagine this.
You’re leading your own consulting business — one you co-founded with a handful of trusted people a few years back. You’re responsible for the growth of the company, for closing new customers, and for bringing in the work that keeps your team engaged and the lights on.
Last year was tough, but you managed to close three new clients. The future finally looked promising.
It wasn’t easy getting there. It took hundreds of sales meetings, dozens of proposals, long nights, and even longer weeks. But looking back, you felt proud. You felt like, maybe, you could finally breathe a little.
Then one quiet Monday morning, coffee in hand, you open your inbox to find an email from your biggest customer.
They’re halting all development. The team is let go.
Fast forward two weeks — and you’ve lost 30% of your projected annual revenue. In days. All three new clients are gone. Not just their business, but the exciting projects your team loved, the future references you were counting on, the sense of momentum you had worked so hard to build.
And now? Salaries are at risk. The runway is short. The weight of responsibility is crushing, and for the first time, you wonder if everything you did last year was for nothing.
That wasn’t a story. That was my real life.
The obstacle that time? COVID. But as you know, in business — there’s always another obstacle coming, today it is the war and tariffs, tomorrow something else.
The hidden growth blockers no one talks about
Growth is often painted as this exciting, upward trajectory filled with new deals, bigger offices, and scaling success. In reality, growth can hurt. It tests your resilience, your values, and your limits.
For me, the three hardest growth blockers I’ve faced during my career looked like this:
- Losing most of our expected revenue overnight during a global crisis.
- Letting go of a lucrative client whose toxic behavior was pushing my entire team toward a breakdown.(Pro tip: if you spot bad behavior in the sales phase, it won’t get better later.)
- Stopping a winning proposal process because a key consultant came to me with suicidal thoughts.
It’s easy to think the hard part is winning new business or refining your service offering. But in consulting, the real complexity lies in the people part — your team, your customers, yourself.
What separates growth companies from the rest
In my years leading consulting businesses and working with others at Fusion, I’ve seen what makes certain companies not just grow, but thrive. And it usually comes down to three things.
- Understanding that sales serves people
Sales isn’t about you. Not even when you’re the founder. In a people business like consulting, it’s about truly serving others — your team, your clients, their customers.
If you’re selling work your team dreads or projects that don’t make your clients happy, no amount of revenue will fix the deeper problem. Sell what serves.
- Finding momentum
The market moves fast. The companies that grow are the ones that chase momentum — those trends, industries, or needs that are heating up.
Be ready to pivot. Not your entire business model, but your focus, your offers, your positioning.
Early-stage growth isn’t about sticking rigidly to a plan. It’s about selling what you can close, what your team can deliver well, and what makes your clients better off. Build a pipeline, then get selective.
- Building a culture of growth
Selling consulting services isn’t like selling a product. It’s the people inside your business who drive growth.
That means creating a culture where everyone can act, speak up, and contribute ideas. Where it’s psychologically safe to take risks and suggest new things. And where small wins are celebrated like major milestones.
One of my favorite real-life examples:
A client ended a contract overnight with a single email. Instead of panicking, I asked the team what they wanted to do next.
They took ten minutes, came back, and pitched a project idea for a healthcare company they admired. They built a solution around their skills and the client’s needs. I barely had to sell it — the client loved it. That company became one of our biggest customers.
It wasn’t my sales skills that made it happen. It was the growth culture we’d built.
Your growth blockers — and how to overcome them
If you’re reading this, you’ve likely faced your own growth blockers. Maybe you’re in the middle of one right now. It might not be a global pandemic or a toxic client, but it could be team burnout, a stalled pipeline, or losing your top talent.
The lesson is this: growth isn’t about avoiding obstacles. It’s about moving through them. Together.
A challenge for you
Take ten minutes today — with a co-founder, a colleague, or a mentor — and talk about the biggest blockers you’ve faced growing your business.
What were they? How did you get through them? What would you do differently now?
Then, swap ideas on how to build a culture where those blockers don’t stop you, but make you sharper, stronger, and more connected.
Because in the end, growth isn’t just about revenue. It’s about resilience.
About the Author
Tuike Järvi
Fusion Ecosystem