Success and failure
I am looking forward to speaking at the LSE on Thursday on the subject “Success and Failure as an Entrepreneur are essential for Long-Term Career Success”.
In the US this is an accepted wisdom. Unfortunately here in the UK, failure is still a taboo subject.
Yet while success breeds conviction and belief, It is failure that really generates insight.
Great entrepreneurs need both
Less is more
I am sitting in front of mydesk this wet Sunday, wishing it was hot and I was at Queens watching the finals of the Aegon!
In fact I am busily trying to manage 3 start-ups at once and preparing a speech for my Alma Mater, Eton, in a couple of weeks.
As I sat and cogitated about words of wisdom for 17 year old potential entrepreneurs from Eton, I reflected on that critical piece of wisdom that i often find hard to observe. Namely that “less is more”.
Everywhere around us there are examples of people, businesses and governments trying to do too many things at the same time. So I guess that I am in good company!
I mean why does this UK coalition government think that theycan make these fundamental changes to the NHS without being realistic and practical about the challenges of implementation. Andrew Lansley, Stephen Dorrell, David Cameron and NickClegg and their labour predecessors all live in a fantasy land. They haven’t thought through execution at all and are trying to do too much too fast.
If this was a big business making that level of change it would build a 5 year+ plan, like Reuters or Unilever did. It would expect not to show results for at least 1-2 years and it would build proper programme management to make it all happen. But no that never happens in government.
And the key reminder for any entrepreneur is that it’s easy to have dreams and visions without decent execution. But that success only happens with a clear focus and rigorous attention to doing one or two things well.
So I am going back to try to take some more of my own medicine on this fine day and hope that I am brutal with myself!
10 things you should know about your business partner before you get into bed together!
People often ask me how you know if you’ve picked the right business partners. Of course the obvious answer is that you have no bloody idea, and even when you think you do, you can still get derailed by the most unexpected things! But there are certain questions that you should ask yourself. Then at least you have a damn good chance of not screwing it up. These are emotive questions. After all this will be a bumpy ride and chock full of emotions!
So here’s my summary of what you need to know. It’s gleaned from watching a lot of start-ups and from doing a fair few myself. These won’t be what you read in a business text book, but they work. You need to be able to answer “YES” to at least 8 out of 10 if you want to get it right.
- Will they pull an all-nighter for you if you need it? And will they do it more than once without you having to beg and plead with them?
- Do they think about what’s right for you and not just for themselves?
- Will they keep going when things get rough? Do they have the Cojones for the ride?
- Does their loved one think it’s a good idea, whether this is their husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend? Will he or she vouch for you? (And don’t say you haven’t met them or I’ll scream!)
- Do you know about their weaknesses and have you talked openly about these and how you’re going to manage them? (And I would expect them to do the same with you and your weaknesses!)
- Are you clear about why they value you and does it make sense?
- Do the people you trust – either at home or at work – think they’re a good fit with you? (you need independent verification)
- Do you like having a beer together? Do you enjoy working together and being in each other’s company? (If the answer is you can’t stand being in the same room together, then please start again.)
- Do they have different skills to you and together do you make a complimentary team?
- Do they treat people junior to them or with less experience to them, well, or are you ashamed by how they behave with business colleagues?
Time is on my side
I have been meaning to write for days, but I have just been crushed by too many “To-do’s”.
I am damned good at multi-tasking , but shit, I really hate the feeling that time is roaring by and I am not getting enough done. It is a constant bloody worry.
But I am not alone. Most entrepreneurs’ worry incessantly about this.
The truth is that every entrepreneur worries too much about this. It’s not as mission critical as one thinks. Most competitors are moving at least as slowly as you, if not more slowly. In most cases 1st mover advantage is over-rated. It’s more about focus and making sure you are doing the right thing most of the time.
Learning to chill about this issue is a valuable weapon.
I am on a skype call now at 10.30 on a Sunday night discussing a product. Who would have believed it? When it’s done, I am going to crash and dream about my next holiday. Who cares about those other To-do’s. No-one will be counting whether I have got them all done today or indeed tomorrow!
As the Rolling Stones say, I must just remember - Time is on my side, yes it is
Entrepreneurial Excitement
The excitement of seeing your new product or service fly is immense. It’s a powerful feeling. It’s the hit that every entrepreneur waits for.
Well I have just had that same feeling seeing my book make it to No 22 in the WHSmith. It seems to be hitting a nerve and expressing things that many entrepreneurs feel. Let’s hope it keeps going!
My first Book launch
I enjoyed my first Book Launch. It’s a novel experience and I don’t mean that as a joke. It’s genuinely a very unusual event. There you are signing copies of your beloved manuscript as if you’re some literary genius.
I had mine on the 10th Floor of the offices of my publisher, Pearson, on the Strand. It was a wonderful sunny Autumnal evening with light streaming into the room and the view from the balconies east and west down the Thames were amazing. Many friends and family were there, some over indulging and others just dropping by to give a vote of confidence. Nice.
It’s incredibly difficult to dream up 70 dedications on the spot for people. If you ask them what they want, mostly they have no idea either, and you feel obliged to craft some witty comment or reflection. Still most people seemed content with my scribbles.
I reflected on the recent discussion about the Book Launch, triggered by an article by Sebastian Shakespeare, “Bring on a new chapter for the Book launch“, in the Evening Standard. He argues that the days of Book launches are over because they serve no commercial purpose and just take up time and effort which no-one really wants to bother with. Having just done my first, which I mostly roorganised but with some help from Pearson, I think they do have role to play. It’s not commercial. They help spread the word and generate a bit of PR but fundamentally the book sales barely cover the cost of libations for the troops. No, it’s wonderful milestone for the Author. It’s a recognition of a success, a book delivered to the market.
And celebrating milestones is as important for the Author as it is for the Entrepreneur. In both cases it can be easy to forget all the time and energy spent on a new project. But if you don’t celebrate a success then how unrewarding is that. You never have a chance to pat yourself on the back for what you have done. No it’s great to do that. There doesn’t have to be a business case for everything. Sometimes it can just be a case of enjoying the moment.
The Power of Feedback
God, I love getting to the testing phase. All that planning, all those assumptions, the interpretation of customer needs, and then finally, it starts to come together. Finally a prospective customer tells you what they actually think and feel about what you have done.
It’s no longer some hypothesis, however well researched. It’s an executable, a product or service that adds value to someone.
Of course it’s never perfect at this first stage. In fact it’s only half right, but it’s always progress. It feels great just to be getting closer to launch.
So last week, 6 people tested out our new legal broker service. They really found it easy to use and intuitive, in spite of the bugs. It feels like a real winner this one. We’re testing again next week with people calling in as well as doing it online. I just can’t wait, because the better it gets before it goes public, the more it will fly. Hell, you can never enough feedback.
We’re also going be testing our online market research product, The Distilleries. It’s not as well advanced as the legal service, but again it will be cool to see the product being put through its paces. This is going to happen every few weeks for several months now as we accelerate the development.
In fact it’s been a frenzy of customer feedback recently because I was also presenting the results of some in depth interviews that I did with 10 boat owners for a Corporate. It never ceases to amaze me what you can learn from simply talking to target customers. If you ask the right questions and listen well, people love to talk about subjects they are interested in or feel strongly about. It can make an amazing difference to what you end up doing. Yet curiously so many entrepreneurs neglect to do it enough.
In the start up phase before you are making money from your new babies, this customer feedback is incredibly useful, not only because it ensures that you are going in the right direction, but also because it connects you to lots of other people. It’s life affirming. It shows you that you haven’t gone mad when you sacrificed your job or lifestyle to pursue your dream. After all, you’re going to provide these people with something better, something that they couldn’t get in the same way before you turned up. Oh, I do just love feedback, even if it tells me I haven’t got it right yet! So make sure your getting your regular feedback fix. You’ll feel much better for it!
A little communication goes a long way
Twice in the last week I have been waiting for a business partner to do something and confirm that they will do it before the deadline. Twice they have failed to respond or communicate what they were planning to do until the very last moment. This is so bloody aggravating! In each case they have actually delivered but only after considerable amount of wasted emotional energy on my part trying to find out what was happening. It causes so much angst.
It may seem trivial, but in any entrepreneurial activity you need to depend on your business partners. After all it is not as though you have the resources of a FTSE100 company. If one of you doesn’t do it then no-one else will. You are doing too many things at the same time and good communication between partners is critical to success. In fact so much of what you do is dependent on trust. You need to be 100% confident that all sides will do what they say they say they are going to do without a moment’s hesitation. Everybody needs to rely on the other person.
I notice this increasingly in business – people are becoming really poor at managing expectations. The one thing a training in Advertising gives you is to think through scenarios in advance and in particular how to manage your client’s expectations. I learnt this at DMB&B time after time. What does your client want and when and what will you do if you can’t deliver to them on time because the creative work isn’t right yet? Similarly this is a very valuable skill as an entrepreneur. You need to manage the expectations of your business partners. You need to deliver what you say you are going to do or tell them a long time in advance. You need to put yourself in their shoes and think about their perspective.
And when this type of situation happens, you have to take time to explain to your business partner why it matters and why they have to manage you better. You can’t just let it go and sweep it under the carpet. You haven’t got time for it to happen again.
And this small incident illustrates two critical points for making it work with your business partners:
- Talk all the time. Make sure that you over communicate. Make sure that you praise when it is needed and criticise constructively when it is also required. Never stop talking.
- Know and understand how your business partners operate. Learn to recognise how they will behave in particular situations and then manage accordingly. It will save you a lot of time and energy. As John Bates, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, London Business School and entrepreneur says; “Practice is the most important part of making it work with your fellow entrepreneurs. You have to know how they operate. It is not like an employment relationship. It is based on trust. It is much more intuitive.”
So it’s worth remembering the saying that a little communication goes a long way, especially when you are an entrepreneur!
Have a little patience
This blog is all about surviving the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur. I won’t replicate any of the material from my book – Confessions of an Entrepreneur – instead I’ll just pick up other new topics that I encounter along the way. I am going to write it as I feel it. I am going to try to cover everyday emotional issues that I think other entrepreneurs will recognise. I’ll throw my tuppence at it and hope that I can give you some insights into how to roll with the journey. Please drop your comments my way.
Sometimes being an entrepreneur feels like Waiting for godot, you know you’ll get there, but you have to keep prodding yourself to stay optimistic and enthusiastic. It’s just too damn slow. It’s so frustrating. You tell your mates that you’re working on this new business and it’s really exciting. They’re excited for you but in the pub the next time when you say you’re still working on it and it hasn’t launched yet, their eyes start to glaze over. People expect things to happen at warp speed these days and the touble is when you’re an entrepreneur you often don’t have the resources of the Starship Enterprise let alone a phaser!
I am experiencing this again now. I have two services in development. We raised funding for one just before Easter and that’s seems like an eternity ago and I am working like a dog, but the bloody thing isn’t in the market yet. In fact it still isn’t in trial. The problem is you just have too little resource and too little time. It always takes five times as long to do because like all entrepreneurs one assumes that one can do it faster than you can.
I am like every other entrepreneur. I am impatient. I can see what it could be like. I can see what it will be like. But the MS project plan to launch is as long as your arm.
Actually I think the legal service we are planning is genius. It has tested incredibly well. It really does add value and it’s free. But we just can’t get all the ducks in a row as fast as I would like. And obviously I can’t talk too much about it until we are ready to go live. And that’s another thing that drives the entrepreneur mad. After all the oxygen of the entrepreneur is people talking about their new baby,so if they haven’t started talking yet, then you can get a little claustrophobic.
The truth is that the good entrepreneur combines genuine resilience with an ability to enjoy the moment. The good entrepreneur learns to have a little patience. It’s exciting. It may be taking too long, but this is something worth waiting for. I am not sure I have acquired this art yet. I spend too long anxiously waiting for launch, waiting for godot. But I am working at it and increasingly I can stop and enjoy the moment, confident in the future and in my entrepreneurial baby.