5 lessons, 5 challenges and 5 highlights from my 5 years in business

I can’t quite believe Mission10 is five years old already! I’m feeling very nostalgic, and don’t want this milestone to pass me by amidst the chaos of day-to-day life. I want to take time to reflect and reminisce on Mark Innes and I's journey so far, and if someone can take something positive from it, then it makes it even more worthwhile.

I’ve been writing lots of thoughts in my notes app over the past few weeks, and decided to categorise the most important into three lists (everyone that knows me knows how much I love a list!). So here it goes, my five lessons learned, five challenges I’m currently working on, and five highlights that bring a smile to my face, from the past five years of running our business, Mission10…

5 lessons learned from 5 years in business:

1. Genuinely caring about people is the most important thing

When you start a business, or get promoted into a senior position, the pressure to deliver grows exponentially. But staying grounded and not losing focus of the people you work with is something I am so passionate about.?

In our very early days of starting Mission10, I was told by someone “You can’t make it to the top without being a dick” and that always stuck with me - not because I believed it (I absolutely did not), but because I wanted to prove them wrong.?

Five years on, and I think our care for people is the number one reason why we’re doing well. We care so much about our team members, wanting to help them succeed as much as possible, and we genuinely care about every single client as well as the individuals we work with every day - and this is something that we get feedback on a lot.?

We spend so much of our lives at work, so being a nice person and genuinely considering the interests, goals, emotions and challenges other people have is absolutely essential to everyone living a happy, healthy life.?

2. Learn to ride the rollercoaster

I knew starting a business wouldn’t be super easy, but the perfectionist in me is always fighting to achieve the best results as quickly as possible. This is sometimes great, but it’s not always possible - and that’s okay.?

I see my business journey so far as a rollercoaster ride: it has ups and downs, but it is always moving forward. I feel very fortunate that we’ve had lots of “ups” and very few “downs”, but I’ve learned to ride any “downs” with a positive mindset, instead of overthinking or beating myself up if things feel more negative than normal. This is a natural part of the journey, and will usually provide a lesson to be learned in some way, which can deliver a lot of value to you in the long run.

3. Throw the rule book out the window and trust your gut

We said this in our early planning phase when Mission10 was just an idea on the side of our day jobs - starting our own business unlocks the opportunity to throw the traditional rule book out the window, and start again to create something even better.?

I don’t mean that everything we’d learned about business before that point was wrong, but we were aware that our brains had been conditioned to think certain things had to happen, or were fundamental to success, and this wasn’t necessarily true. We’ve really enjoyed questioning conventional thinking, taking a step back and testing something different that we felt could work.?

I think this has paid off, and allowed us to create a culture and system that matches our values and beliefs, and delivers a lot of value to our team and clients.?

4. Honesty really is the best policy?

A simple but important truth, especially in business. What are you going to achieve by not being honest about things? Whether something isn’t going right, we’re facing challenges, or we haven’t quite hit the results we were aiming for, being open and honest, in my opinion, is the best and only way forward.?

5. Having a dog is the best therapy

This is a bit of a tangent from the others, but honestly, my dog has been the best therapist, stress reliever and joy bringer that has helped me beyond belief throughout the past few years of running our company. No matter how stressed or burned out I’ve felt, this all melts away when I come home to Stanley’s happy face and wiggling butt when I walk through the front door. I’d recommend every business owner getting a dog!

5 challenges I’m still working on, following my 5 years in business:

1. Stepping onto the balcony

One of my favourite metaphors, that I think I first heard from our friend Dr Tharaka Gunarathne , is “'Moving from the dance floor to the balcony”. The dance floor is the busy, chaotic, day-to-day business, and stepping onto the balcony lets you look down at the bigger picture - to gain much needed perspective, inspiration and problem solving.?

However despite my love for this concept, and the value I gain from stepping onto the metaphorical balcony, I still struggle to get off the dance floor as much as I’d like. I’m not sure why this is, but it’s something I’m working on - so any tips are welcome.

2. Thinking bigger

I recently went on a work trip to London with our Account Managers Rebecca and Michelle Dargie , and as we sat in a rooftop bar on our first night, overlooking the twinkling city with a cocktail in hand, we felt so, so inspired. It was like our minds opened up and anything seemed possible. I wish I could bottle this feeling, as jumping straight back to the daily tasks upon our return to Aberdeen made it somewhat fade away. There’s a lesson to be learned here, that I’m sure will click into place soon - something around mindset, and challenging myself to continually think bigger, beyond the bubble we’re in, to enable us to achieve even more.

3. Imposter syndrome

Will imposter syndrome ever vanish, or will it forever creep up on me, no matter how well our business is doing? This is something that fascinates me and drives me crazy simultaneously, and I would love to hear other people’s experiences with imposter syndrome…

4. Emotions

This might not resonate with everyone, and I don’t want to get too deep, but as a naturally emotional and sensitive person, I think running a business can be extra tough. You’re hit with challenges so often, some that can cut deep because they’re so personal, and it’s hard to just brush them off and move on.?

Throughout my career I’ve been told I needed to get “thicker skin” (which is such a weird phrase when I see it written down), so that I didn’t get overly emotional at work. But is being emotional such a bad thing? I feel it can be a good quality, as it makes you more human, more relatable, and shows people that you care. But I guess there are times where emotions can get in the way, and hinder progress and growth. This is a conundrum I’m currently trying to figure out…

5. Balance

This word is constantly on my mind, and I’m sure so many people in all walks of life think about this continuously too. How can I live a balanced life, one that isn’t only consumed by work? When I’m working so much, is it too much? Am I neglecting other important areas of my life??

I love the idea of seeing your life like a pie chart - I think I first heard this concept on a Steven Bartlett podcast. What are all the segments of your day-to-day life, and how big would each segment be right now based on how much time you allocate? If you think about your ideal life, does the pie chart match or differ? I want to sit down and map this out, but for some reason I keep putting it off (with the excuse that I’m “too busy”!).?

I strive to have balance in my life, and this is something I feel is so important to me. So why do I feel off balance so much of the time? Hopefully I’ll have mastered the art of balance in the next five years…

5 highlights that make me smile, from my 5 years in business:

1. Growing the team and watching them excel

This is the number one thing I’m proud of, hands down. We have built a team of such talented, compassionate and hard working people, and watching them learn, grow and succeed is literally the most rewarding part of running a business. When I see our group photographs on social media, it feels so surreal that this is Mission10 now - as it’s such a contrast from Mark and I working from my dining table five years ago.?

I feel very blessed to work with our team every day - seeing friendships blossom, people support one another and all grow and achieve our goals, collectively.??

2. Working with passionate and interesting clients

I also feel lucky to work with so many interesting and inspiring clients. My background is content marketing, and I still love interviewing subject matter experts within our clients’ companies to delve deep into their field with them - as they’re always so passionate and excited, and we learn so much. You get such a buzz from working with passionate people, and it makes our jobs so enjoyable.?

We love working with new companies, as there’s so much to learn, but it’s also incredibly rewarding that many of our clients have been with us since the very beginning, and we truly feel like part of their teams.

3. The culture we’ve created, which continues to evolve

Having previously worked in what I would describe as a toxic environment, creating a positive, nurturing and inspiring culture was something we focused on from the day we hired our first team member, Chloe Watson . And even now with a team of 14, I believe we’ve retained that. We ultimately want to enjoy work, and ensure every team member feels supported and included, and this positive culture continues to evolve positively as our team grows, which is fantastic to watch.?

4. Taking our whole team to Edinburgh

To many, this might not seem a big deal as it’s only 2.5 hours down the road, but we have taken the full Mission10 team down to Edinburgh twice for Turing Fest for a few days of learning and development, networking and socialising. Each time this has felt incredible - a moment to be proud of.?

5. Winning our first award

Earlier this year we entered our first award with our client Kirkwood Homes - Marketing Magic at Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce 's Northern Star Business Awards. And we won!?

I’m often a bit of a pessimist, as I don’t want to look forward to something and then feel disappointed if it doesn’t work out, and I had convinced myself we wouldn’t win. So the moment they announced Mission10, I can’t explain how happy and excited I felt - and seeing the elated faces around our table all genuinely buzzing and beaming with pride made it all so worth it.?

This probably sounds so cheesy to people reading, who have won loads of awards, but this was definitely a “pinch me” moment for us. For me personally, I struggle to feel “proud” as we’re so focused on what goals we’re trying to hit next - but this has taught me that we have so much to be proud of at Mission10, no matter how big or small, and we should be celebrating these wins all the time.?

It’s been so nice to sit down and reflect on the past five years of Mission10, and if you read to the end, hopefully you got something from my ramblings! Now it’s time to look forward and plan our next chapter, to make sure the next five years are even better…