We've a big problem here in the UK

A shortage of garden gnomes.

As a knock-on effect of the lockdowns and blockage of the Suez Canal, garden centres all over the UK are struggling to source our bearded little buddies at a rate that matches demand.

There's just not enough gnomes to go around.

Now, I'm no gardener - you heard what happened last time I tried to do a bit of work in the garden! It landed me with 6 weeks of back pain and a rather large physio bill…

But I find this fascinating.

You see, it's the butterfly effect in action.

“In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.”

Yeah - you lost me too.

To put it simply, the butterfly effect is the idea that small things can have a large and unpredictable knock-on effect.

As we're seeing with the Suez Canal debacle - and the gnomes.

So what if we apply this to business?

If we accept that every little thing we do - or don't do - has a butterfly effect, then just think how much influence you could have?

The tiny choices we make every minute of every day could literally transform your business.

Let's take emails as an example;

I'm a stickler for responding to my emails fast. It's ingrained in me thanks to a lifetime in freight.

If I took a day longer - or even just a few more hours - to respond, the job might have gone to someone else.

Well, it's only one job, you might say…

But is it?

That one job could have turned into a regular client. Or a client that becomes your biggest referrer. Or a client that introduces you to a mega client who completely transforms your cash flow.

You just don't know.

This is great news!

It means that you don't have to make big jumps to keep pushing your business forward. For many of you out there, there will be some teeny tiny tweaks you could make that would have a butterfly effect and skyrocket your business.

So what small changes could you make?