{"id":42178,"date":"2021-07-19T05:01:27","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T09:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=42178"},"modified":"2021-07-20T00:02:16","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T04:02:16","slug":"business-growth-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"A Business Growth Plan: 3 Keys to Next-Level Success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Is your business up and running, but you wonder how to keep it going strong? Are you ready for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth\/\">business growth<\/a> plan to take your company to the next level? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In <em>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-e-myth-book\/\">E-Myth<\/a> Revisited<\/em>, Michael E. Gerber shares three elements of an effective <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan-2\/\">business growth plan<\/a> for ongoing success. It involves three activities: innovation, measurement of results, and execution. In the book, he explains why this process is critical to realizing the American small business dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to learn about the three key pieces of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-makes-a-business-successful\/\">successful business<\/a> growth plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Elements of an Effective Business Growth Plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you have your business organized and on track, development becomes an ongoing process that involves three activities: innovation, measurement of results, and execution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1: Innovation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The first activity of a successful business growth plan is innovation. Most business owners think innovation means coming up with new products to increase sales. In contrast, <strong>the franchise movement increases sales by applying innovation to the <em>process<\/em> \u2014 how a business does (or sells) things \u2014 rather than to what it produces.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, innovating or changing the way your business interacts with customers can improve your results. The innovation can be as simple as changing your greeting from \u201cHow may I help you\u201d to \u201cHello, have you been here before?\u201d The changed greeting allows you to pursue a conversation about what you have to offer. By contrast, when a salesperson simply asks how he or she can help, the customer usually replies, \u201cI\u2019m just looking,\u201d and moves on. A small change like this can increase sales.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Changing the color of your employees\u2019 suits or uniforms can increase sales as well. For instance, one business found that salesmen sold more while wearing blue suits than while wearing black suits.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Innovations should be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Simple to implement rather than making things more complicated.<\/li><li>Meaningful to customers.<\/li><li>Based on accurate knowledge of what your customer wants and expects.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Innovations in the way you do business differentiate your business from competitors, and the process of continuous improvement generates energy among employees.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#2: Measurement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The second activity of a successful business growth plan is measurement. Measuring the results and quantifying everything you do are the only ways to know what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not. However, many businesses don\u2019t do it \u2014 for example, most can\u2019t tell you how many selling opportunities they had the day before, an omission that\u2019s costing them money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You need numbers for everything in order to know where you are and where you\u2019re headed. For example, to learn the impact of changing your customer greeting, you need to determine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>How many customers visited before the change<\/li><li>How many people bought something and the dollar value before the change<\/li><li>How many customers visited after the change<\/li><li>How many of them bought something and the dollar value after the change<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You also need to be certain that any change in sales or revenue was in fact a result of the new greeting, rather than due to some other factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Begin your business growth plan by <strong>attaching numbers to everything related to your business practices<\/strong>, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>How many customers you have each day, in the morning versus afternoon<\/li><li>How many calls you get daily and when<\/li><li>How many items and of what type you sell each day and when<\/li><li>Which days and times are your busiest<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#3: <strong>Execution<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The third activity of a successful business growth plan is execution. Once you innovate (find better ways to do things) and measure how you\u2019re doing, you need to <strong>execute changes systematically<\/strong> so that people know what to do and how, rather than acting on their own discretion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve found that something works, do it consistently so customers can depend on it and your business retains the identity you created. Of course, if you find that something isn\u2019t working, figure out what will work better and do that instead. Your business growth plan should be ongoing \u2014 you need to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/keep-innovating\/\">keep innovating<\/a>, measuring, and executing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Entrepreneur&#8217;s Dream<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In your small business, which is a reflection of you, you have created a practical space in which to learn and grow. It\u2019s similar to a dojo or practice hall, as described by Joe Hyams in <em>Zen in the Martial Arts<\/em>. It\u2019s a space for immersive learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your small business is a manageable world that responds to your actions instantly. You can test your ideas and assumptions about the business and yourself. You\u2019re forced to be specific rather than make generalizations, and you have to think strategically as well as operationally. You have ideals, but you still must be practical and maintain rules and order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Creating your own world, which is the entrepreneur\u2019s dream after all, teaches you your limitations and strengths and helps you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-understand-yourself\/\">understand yourself<\/a> and the larger world. Innovation, measurement, and execution are your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/your-belief-system\/\">belief system<\/a> and way of functioning. You have the opportunity to develop all three facets of yourself \u2014 entrepreneur, manager, and technician \u2014 so that you and your business are whole and balanced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Implementing a business growth plan changes both you and your business. You\u2019re separate but working harmoniously. You realize the American small business dream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is your business up and running, but you wonder how to keep it going strong? Are you ready for a business growth plan to take your company to the next level? In The E-Myth Revisited, Michael E. Gerber shares three elements of an effective business growth plan for ongoing success. It involves three activities: innovation, measurement of results, and execution. In the book, he explains why this process is critical to realizing the American small business dream. Keep reading to learn about the three key pieces of a successful business growth plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":42185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,79,14],"tags":[421],"class_list":["post-42178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-entrepreneurship","category-management","tag-the-e-myth-revisited","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Business Growth Plan: 3 Keys to Next-Level Success - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An effective business growth plan involves innovation, measurement, and execution. This process is key to realizing the entrepreneur&#039;s dream.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Business Growth Plan: 3 Keys to Next-Level Success\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An effective business growth plan involves innovation, measurement, and execution. This process is key to realizing the entrepreneur&#039;s dream.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-19T09:01:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-20T04:02:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/business-growth-plan.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"358\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"A Business Growth Plan: 3 Keys to Next-Level Success\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-19T09:01:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-20T04:02:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/\"},\"wordCount\":882,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/business-growth-plan.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The E-Myth Revisited\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Entrepreneurship\",\"Management\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/\",\"name\":\"A Business Growth Plan: 3 Keys to Next-Level Success - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/business-growth-plan.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-19T09:01:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-20T04:02:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"An effective business growth plan involves innovation, measurement, and execution. This process is key to realizing the entrepreneur's dream.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/business-growth-plan.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/business-growth-plan.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":358},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Business Growth Plan: 3 Keys to Next-Level Success\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Business Growth Plan: 3 Keys to Next-Level Success - Shortform Books","description":"An effective business growth plan involves innovation, measurement, and execution. This process is key to realizing the entrepreneur's dream.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Business Growth Plan: 3 Keys to Next-Level Success","og_description":"An effective business growth plan involves innovation, measurement, and execution. This process is key to realizing the entrepreneur's dream.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-07-19T09:01:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-20T04:02:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":358,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/business-growth-plan.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"A Business Growth Plan: 3 Keys to Next-Level Success","datePublished":"2021-07-19T09:01:27+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-20T04:02:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/"},"wordCount":882,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/business-growth-plan.jpg","keywords":["The E-Myth Revisited"],"articleSection":["Business","Entrepreneurship","Management"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/","name":"A Business Growth Plan: 3 Keys to Next-Level Success - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/business-growth-plan.jpg","datePublished":"2021-07-19T09:01:27+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-20T04:02:16+00:00","description":"An effective business growth plan involves innovation, measurement, and execution. This process is key to realizing the entrepreneur's dream.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/business-growth-plan.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/business-growth-plan.jpg","width":750,"height":358},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth-plan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Business Growth Plan: 3 Keys to Next-Level Success"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/business-growth-plan.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42178"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42565,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42178\/revisions\/42565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}