8 Takeaways From 12 Months As A Founder

After a full calendar year of being self-employed, and considering what 2024 might have in store, I wanted to capture what I have learnt. A previous manager suggested I do it at few yeas ago and I found it a useful, so here goes:

1.???? Seasonal Slumps

An appropriate one to start with as we approach the festive period. I have seen this before and been told it during sales meetings, but the world grinds to halt around Christmas, Easter, Coronations, and in fact any kind of public holiday.

However, this is amplified tenfold when you are doing all the driving and just desperately want to build momentum and grow.?

It is hard to change the world, but comparatively easy to change yourself and your behaviours. Plan for it, take note of the point below about realistic timeframes, and don’t rely on things just happening during these periods.

2.??? Be Realistic About Time

Anyone in sales will have heard that “time kills deals”. I don’t disagree but have found that some things just take time. A mentor/friend told me about how he spends his life driving deals, trying to get things done faster, but sometimes wonders whether it makes any difference and whether those things would just have happened anyway in about the same amount of time.

What I have learnt is to be very realistic about how long things will take. Whether a project, product release, or sales cycle, proper planning with realistic timescales is the benchmark. Only once that is down can you consider where you can start to optimise.

3.??? Trust in the plan

Following on from the previous point, big things take a bit of time. This means that when working on them day in, day out, it can feel like nothing is happening.

This is when you need to believe in the plan. Show up every day and nudge things forward a little bit. If you are not moving things forward, you have to change something.

4.??? Possible Impossibilities

Wrapping up the 2 previous points, I have been amazed at how quickly and easily you can overcome a problem that seemed almost impossible 12 months earlier. I believe this is just the result of continually pushing on and improving. Using the experience gained and applying it to future problems at the right time.

5.??? Competition

I had the opportunity to present to someone that had purchased a competitive solution. It was a Friday afternoon, and I was prepared to get a bit of a kicking. Hear all about where we were rubbish and they were great, thus justifying their purchase decision.

However, something very unexpected happened. Half the functionality the competitor listed didn’t work, and there were gaps in what they had. The prospect even agreed that our solution offered several benefits and would be beneficial in addition to what they had purchased. I came away absolutely pumped that we could stand up against this bigger more established player.

Be aware of your competition, but don't fixate on them. What they say they can do vs what they actually can are very different things.

6.??? Ruthlessly Minimise Friction

Whether you are building an app, or a customer onboarding process, you have to consider the customer experience obsessively.?

What may seem a minor inconvenience to you, or something that should be obvious to a customer, may very well be the thing that interrupts a sign up or turns them away.

Asking for advice and feedback is a great way to help with this, but it can be hard to take, especially when you are so personally invested.

I have learnt that it is far better for someone friendly to tell me something is rubbish, because a potential customer almost certainly will not. They will just walk right past.

7. There Will Always Be More To Do

This is the case for most jobs, and I would often joke that if you love your work enough, you should always save a little bit of it to do tomorrow.?

However, when you are wearing many hats as a founder, and you are the only one that can be held responsible for success, the tendency is to overwork.

I have learnt that fresh air and a bit of exercise helps clear your head and lets you come back refreshed. Often, I would be working on something and making no progress, so I decided to take a break (or often just go to bed), to come back later and solve the thing in a few minutes.

8.??? Range

The thing I have been most grateful for over this period is a range of experiences to draw from. This meant that when I needed to create some graphics for a website, fix a bug in some code, or run a sales process at C level, I could. I was also able to win contracts and earn some money when I needed to.

I have learnt to not only embrace this range of experiences and skills, but apply them better, and continue to add to them.