Start Small and Snail
For quite a while now, I have been talking about social media and how all businesses need to incorporate a social media strategy into their day-to-day operations. I always added a couple of words of caution to my presentation with one of the main recommendations being that each company needed to “start small and scale” its efforts as its management determined (through relentless trial, error and measurement) what actions were really working (driving engagement, conversion and sales – not keeping the CEO’s 22-year old son-in-law/company intern busy for the summer) and which were not. This measured and iterative approach still makes a lot of sense to me when you’re talking about adopting new additive tools and technologies for your company. But it’s not a life philosophy that makes sense for every business or every entrepreneur who wants to start a business.
Unfortunately, for a lot of entrepreneurs, the phrase “start small and scale” has taken on a life of its own and it’s become a business mantra that can lead them astray or – worse yet – create unrealistic and/or inappropriate expectations and pressures on people who just (for a variety of their own good reasons) want to start a new business and create new jobs and opportunities, but who don’t necessarily plan - this week at least - on changing the world. Not everything or every business has to be gigantic. Not everything has to happen at light speed. There’s actually more to life than just increasing its speed. And, not every product has to cure cancer, taste like chocolate and cost a dollar. Hence, my new suggestion for some of you: it’s perfectly O.K. to “start small and snail”.
We all have to take a moment to understand that it’s completely acceptable for some people (regardless of their skills and talents) to want to do something with their lives that is smaller, simpler and, at least in some ways, less taxing on them and their families and that – even if they only add a few new jobs to the economy and make a few folks happier, healthier, better-trained or educated, etc. – that this is totally cool and their choices don’t make them bad or lazy people or disappointments to their parents or to those of us who are so presumptuous that we would have picked a different path for them. We should all stick to picking our own paths – it’s tough enough and actually that’s my real point.
There are a lot of different ways for someone to be an entrepreneur and as you start down the path, I think that it is very important for you to take the time to decide where you (and the company you want to build) will fit on the spectrum. For your convenience and consideration, I’ve divided the universe into a few different categories to get you started on the analysis and I’ve included a few short thoughts and formulations that should help flesh out the categories. Take your time and be brutally honest with yourself (and maybe even consult any other interested parties – family members, significant others, prospective business partners, etc.) – proper alignment now will save much angst and agony later in the process for all concerned.
In addition, you’ll find that, once you have made up your mind and picked a path, it’s a lot easier to explain your strategy to other people and to avoid that gnawing and nagging feeling that maybe your plans aren’t grand or special enough. It’s often harder to tell your friends and employees that changes are necessary than to deal with your clients and competitors. Remember you’re in this for you (and yours) and not to please other people or have them live vicariously through you. If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never truly be fulfilled. All of this stuff looks easy to the people who don’t have to live through it every day and make it happen.
So here’s how I see it:
1. Happy Camper – Like My Life – Enough is Enough – Work for Myself
It’s Not What You Do, But How You Do It.
To Be Happy, Set Yourself a Goal that Commands Your Thoughts, Liberates Your Energy and Inspires Your Hopes.
If Your Happiness Depends on Money, You Will Never Be Happy with Yourself.
2. Trade Offs – Concerned about Work/Life Balance – Family Matters
Making a Life Consists of More than Making a Living.
3. Measured Growth – Careful about What You Grow into – Size Matters
I Want to See How Big We Can Get Before We Get Bad.
4. Run Away Train – Didn’t Plan It – Trying to Hang On – Get Some Help
Speed is Useful Only if You’re Running in the Right Direction.
All Movement is not Progress and All Change isn’t for the Better.
You Can’t Control the Winds, but You Can Adjust the Sails.
5. Speed Demon – Disrupting Existing Markets– Leading the Way Forward
If Your Team Looks like a Bunch of Ferrets Pumped Up with Double Espressos, You Need to Take a Break.
There’s a Point in the Process When the Thrill of the Speed Overcomes the Fear of Failure, but It’s not a Happy Point.
It’s the Reason that There are Rarely Skid Marks When Start-ups Fail…They Hit the Wall Head First and Full On.
6. Ruler of the Universe – Changing the World – Nothing Else Matters
People Who Change the World Have an Original and Obsessive Vision. It’s More Likely to be Based in their Dreams and Aspirations than in their Experiences, but It’s Just as Real.
Too Much is Not Enough for Rulers of the Universe.
It’s your choice and it’s pretty much within your control as long as you think about it. If you don’t control your destiny, you can bet someone else will. Even if it’s a long, hard road, it helps to have a vision of where you’d like to be; how you’d like to live; and an idea of how you’ll get there. Otherwise, you’ll soon learn the wisdom of that old cliché: life is what happens to us while we’re making other plans.
PP: “You Get What You Work for, Not What You Wish for”
