How often in life and business do you strive hard in a project or area of interest, taking strange turns, having to do double-triple-bendbacks to get a result and get the project to where you envisioned, and then after slaying a zillion monsters and valiantly fighting off the enemy, you find that all that you’d planned and worked for is actually working out?I know many of you will say that you gave up somewhere along the way when one too many dragons presented and you just couldn’t summon up the energy to drive on through, and so you simply gave up. Now I’ll have a whole post in coming weeks that is just for you and it’s how to make yourself go that little bit extra, find that last vestige of spirit and energy when you’re most depleted, so that you stay long enough in the game to see all your hard work come together profitably. Too many folk give up just as they’re about to get to the finish line (well one of the first finish lines in the journey). But today’s post is for those entrepreneurs who’ve got to that first safe haven where all has actually come together, the business model works, growth is evident and your strategies (refined many times as they will have been) seem right for the current time. This is a time that it’s most likely you’re going to do something that you really shouldn’t and over-reach.
Why do I say this? Well when things are going well, when our hard work has paid off with a business that does as you’ve designed it to do, the easiest thing in the world is to let the success here go to your head a little and start believing that you can take on everything else out there in the big, bad world. A friend of ours who has been very, very financially successful in the internet startup space, calls this the time when you are at risk of ‘believing your own bullshit’.
No more dragons to slay? Maybe it's time to adjust to the next phase of your startup.
And it’s not just your own thoughts and hubris that will torment you thus – David and I actually found with Arts Hub on that first ‘safe plateau’ moment, that many people we met in business situations couldn’t wait to tell us our success would not last, the model only appeared to be working now, it wouldn’t survive in the long term and that we would be doomed if we didn’t diversify and add more strings to our bow. That we needed to take on their product, hire them, do what they were telling us to do!
And this is where it gets interesting. Once you’ve got your model right, the best thing you can do for the next little while is to continue with what you’re doing in the way you’ve perfected it, instead of looking for the excitement of a new challenge or distraction outside of what you’re doing. Business, done well, can actually be quite boring – and for the founder of a company, it can be a real challenge to continue to focus on the nuts and bolts of the business, to work on growth and relationships, to stay the course and ride the first big wave of business success.
It’s at this time a rather strange paradox asserts itself – that as a founder who started off wanting to be successful and living the dream lifestyle, you find that you’re actually more in your element when you’re fixing problems, creating new options, convincing the world to come to your door and generally moving the universe to sit up and take notice of you and your business. The success phase when it’s all working can actually be quite dull! No more dragons, the enemies have been tamed, all is good and it is dull, dull, dull!
You’ve probably lived through the start-up phase with extremely restricted cashflow, played the credit card bingo game to pay staff payroll on regular occasions, and lived on three minute noodles for quite some time. So when the cash starts to flow and you can afford to live better and enjoy your business more, what happens? You get miserable, that’s what!
It’s at this stage I’d like to suggest that you do a couple of things to help you go the distance with the next part of the business cycle and to stop you from over-reaching and compromising the actual business value you’ve created so far.
When your start-up business is now working it is time to -
1) Pay your self back for the long hours and sacrifices – start to give yourself time to do other things – if you’ve given up excercise and not looked after your health, now is the time to remedy that. You can’t be a happy billionaire if you’re an unhealthy billionaire.
2) Increase your networking and develop wider relationships for your business and self – this is a really good time to let the business run itself and apply your energy in advocating your business/product and your self as founder. As with David and my experience, do be aware that when you’re out and about telling your story that you will meet some knockers who will try distract you to some issue or problem they reckon you should solve. Resist the temptation here. You’re in a run-up with your startup, you’re not out yet, so your role now is more advocacy and championing of the great business you’ve created with all that hard work.
3) Clean up any bad habits – if you’ve smoked too much, drunk too much, eaten too many take-aways or imbibed in substances that aren’t good for you simply to get through the start-up phase, then now’s the time to accept the phase is past and to clean up your habits. They’ve probably served you well and allowed you to get through some extreme times and events, however they’re no longer necessary to help you get through. Get rid of them – and replace with some healthy luxuries and therapies that you know are good for you – massage, regular exercise, a really well-balanced diet, meditation, more time spent with partners/children/friends.
4) Take a holiday – nothing in my view helps you transition from one phase to another, like going on a really good holiday. It can help you close off the last phase and to retune yourself and your expectations for the next phase of your life and business. And let go willingly!
5) Get strategic – if you’ve done the above things you’re probably now well past ‘believing your own bullshit ‘ and are ready to think about the next phase of your business once the run-up has run out of steam. Spend some time identifying any skills deficiencies the management team has and look around and find a mentor or guide to help fill the gaps. And then start doing some long-range planning. What will this business look like in 5/10 years? What steps do we need to take to get there? How long does the original team want to hang around for? Where are the potential exits? Have we got the right systems/structures in place to allow for the original founders and shareholders to exit and a new set of owners to take over without shaking the business’s foundations?
I think the above suggestions should keep you well on the path of continued success and stop the erstwhile and intrepid entrepreneur from getting distracted and tracking sideways right at the very moment things are on a roll and working well.
If you think your business is approaching that happy, organic growth phase without needing you so much, have a think about what you can do for yourself now and don’t fall for that temptation to go change the rest of the world – stay within range of what you know is possible because you’ve proven it and try not be tempted to over-reach.
Photo: Flickr austinevan
Fiona Boyd and David Eedle write about several times where they over-reached during the Arts Hub journey only to find the business tracking sideways while the distraction played out its course. You can find out more about their experiences over-reaching in their book, Niche Content Millionaire.
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