Machiine
It is no secret that keeping ones focus in business is challenging. I’ve found this especially true in a startup. That uncertain phase after you’ve got a few early adopters and now are going after the early majority. It can be tough crossing that chasm. Customers went from liking your product because it was new, to now being a bit skeptical and reluctant because… it’s new. V973KE5R5TCC
Have you ever experienced creative block? You need a good idea and you can’t seem to think of one? I used to run a small clothing company out of my house. I was doing everything from designing t-shirts to manning events and following up with sales. Then my creative juices stopped. I was having a really tough time coming up with new creative designs. My friend Jaron is chatting to me one day and says, “Why don’t you go out find clothing styles you like, and then ask yourself, ‘How can I make this even better?'”
Without practical business experience, going to conferences and reading books on starting and running a tech business can give people the wrong impression. Starting a new venture appears to be really easy. Have an idea, go through a tough grind, come out the other end prosperous and successful. Best case scenario, you start a new idea get bought by Google or Facebook and don’t even need to go through the grind. Listening to the self-promoters, I mean teachers, can leave someone with this impression. I mean they got me.
I was browsing through books on business and leadership at Chapters and was alarmed at the number of authors who weren’t in business themselves. They were journalists for news agencies like the Wall Street Journal or professors at highly esteemed academic institutions. Wanting to get better at business myself I was looking to read about other entrepreneurs that had experienced similar hurdles to the ones I was facing. I wanted to know the hard learned strategies these entrepreneurs used, not a chapter about the value of discipline and what I ought to do to become a better leader.
You’ve heard the expression, “If you build it they will come”? It’s a myth and it’s a dangerous one at that. Too many startups and blogs are created believing (or hoping) it to be true. And some would say it is the reason most new startups fail.
It’s funny how things tend to take a shape over time. Like this blog, I can see that it is becoming a kind-of anecdotal story of where we are going with our business and some of the lessons I have learned. That’s not what I had intended with it, but at the same time I don’t mind the direction it is going. I find that the direction of a company tends to take a shape overtime too. But you need to be careful, because if you aren’t the one defining the shape as the company grows, it may take a shape very different from what you would like it to take.
A hero of mine is Steve Jobs. He built two amazing companies, Apple and Pixar, and brought them both back from the brink of destruction. Sure he had lots of flaws. But also lots of wisdom. Here are some of his quotes I’ve collected over the years. (feel free to add anymore to the comments)
Every tech startup I know is trying to design their website to look and feel like Apple. Okay, okay, not every startup, I’m exaggerating to make a point. But Apple’s super successful, right? Every product they make people are buying, why not do exactly what they are doing? Here’s the problem, not every startup is communicating to the same audience as Apple.
Are you relevant? Is your product or service relevant? If you are trying to increase sales of a product you might have asked yourself these (or similar) questions. While relevance is in the top 5 most overused words of the last 5 years, it still applies to our businesses today. If your product or service is relevant to people they will buy it. It’s just another way of saying your product or service is of value to people. But words like value, relevance, proposition, niche, etc often get lost in the rubble of disassociation.
And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years
Abraham Lincoln
You work hard and want to see your business grow. Are you doing the simple things that can mean the difference between sustaining your businesses growth or drying up and dying? How many of you set milestones? I do. I was taught that when we set goals and write them down we are more likely to achieve them (there’s probably a really good statistic that could go here, but I don’t know it). I took that lesson to heart and now scribble new goals and pin them to my fridge whenever I can. Setting goals at the office is a near daily affair. We have to break our projects down into feasible milestones to work hard towards, and then go on to the next one. I’ve found setting milestones to be great. They help to channel all our energy into a focused goal.
Not that long ago I burned out. It was a pretty unexpected, and even though I was tired I didn’t see it coming. My experience had always been that when I became tired I would keep working and eventually I wouldn’t feel tired anymore. You know, the whole “push through it” mentality. It worked well enough for a long time until it didn’t work at all.
I have a good amount of respect for my friend who is a solid businessman in my city. One day after chatting with him he asked, “Do you set milestones?” I replied, “Of course we do.” Almost surprised by his question. They he responded, “Do you take time off when you achieve them?” I had nothing to say. The thought of taking time off to celebrate an accomplished milestone seemed wrong and counter productive. I grew up thinking that celebrating milestones was foolish. Maybe it was my thinking that was wrong?
Why is it important to celebrate milestones, when we’ve been told that it is a waste of time? If you are an entrepreneur starting your businesses the only thing keeping you moving is you. When you get a little bigger, it’s you and your team. But ultimately, if you go down so does the ship. What I’ve quickly come to learn is that when we celebrate milestones we recharge. Celebrations make the accomplishment real and reinforces the feeling of satisfaction from achieving our goals. It boosts our energy and our entire teams’ moral. However, when we immediately begin working toward our next milestone without taking time to appreciate the accomplishment of the first, the opportunity to recharge our energy can be lost. That’s fine at first, but not forever.
Sometimes we need to break from old school business mentality and create a fresh way of doing business. As Abraham Lincoln stated, “…It’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.” So with that in mind today I am excited to announce the one year date of this Blog. Milestone reached! A year ago, to this day I published this article Life lesson #1: What do you need to do to succeed in business? You need to be inspired. Thanks for your support visiting this site. I appreciate all the comments and feedback I have received. Let me know what you think!