The Inc.com article “Biggest Obstacle to Business Growth,” discusses the possibility that your own assumptions and self-limiting parameters may be the primary factor holding you back from business growth. Stop dwelling on the external limits that you can’t change, and take control of the ones that you can

By shattering these assumptions and challenging the existing perspective of the marketplace, you can open your business to new ideas and opportunities and potentially change the market landscape. Think about when people used to say, “No one will pay for water in a bottle when they can get it out of the tap.”

So how do you break free? First ask yourself: What are the self-limiting parameters you have constructed? Your primary focus should be your view on the market: prospects, customers, and competitors. Then ask yourself these questions:

1. What was true about the market a year or two ago that is no longer true?
2. Why are new competitors in my market getting traction?
3. When are my customers most vulnerable to offers from my competitors?
4. How do prospects find us not compared with a year or two ago?
5. Which new market opportunities am I failing to take advantage of?
6. Who is my new buyer?

By answering these questions you can begin to shed your assumptions and look beyond your traditional framework.

Click here to read the entire article from Inc.com.