Lessons learnt in my first year of business.

Flagship has been in business for 1 year now. It has flown by and it has evolved beyond recognition of my original plans 12 short months ago. I have been pondering for the last couple of weeks, what or how to celebrate. However, I have felt unable to. I feel like Flagship hasn't earned the right yet. The risk in the early days of business, becoming another failure statistic is so high that it can feel suffocating. Whilst it isn't a focus of mine, when it comes to celebrating a milestone, it felt wrong. The goals I set for Flagship meant I had to adapt and grow with the business too.  I am still nowhere near the person I need to be, to run a more mature business. I think this is the beauty of business. You build and grow along with the business whilst you learn, adapt and improve. Here's 3 rules I have always lived by, before Flagship, before my wife and my children. I guess they were embedded in my brain as a child!

-Nothing is guaranteed

-Goalposts move

-Life is unfair

I don't know where I heard/read/saw them but they have been with me for years and part of my self-talk for years. They have served me well, all the way through my life. I would say they have given me an armoury to ensure basic self preservation. However over the last year I have developed my mindset through the experience of business and I thought my 1 year anniversary celebration would be to share them. They are character points I had more than a year ago, but I have felt the growing pains over the past year as I have embraced and understood them better.

 The first thing key thing I have discovered during year 1 is the need for resilience.

1. Resilience; the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. It sounds very cliché. Starting my business is and has been tough. I mean really tough, and that doesn't even describe, the heartbreak, misery and overwhelm! However I am determined not to become a statistic. A quick search on the internet gives several contradictory statistics on the life expectancies of new business ventures. 

I now fully understand why so few make it past the 2, 3 and 5 year mark.

Ultimately, what I realised was nobody really gives a f*#k.  I don't know who I was kidding, but I thought that my family, friends and other small businesses would want to help. I soon realised that people have enough trouble keeping their own s#*t together. The majority of people of course want to see you well, but are too occupied with rowing their own boat. Fair play to them too. There is also of course what I have learnt are the 'new business vultures'.  They attend networking events (or run them) and smell fresh blood. It's almost comedic how early on I fell for the meeting or 1:1 thinking that there was potentially something mutually beneficial. When in reality it was an opportunity to poor honey in my ear and leave with the contents of my wallet.  Once bitten twice shy I say. More fool me.

 Resilience has also been required when trying to build the brand and win sales. For a mutually beneficial financial exchange of goods and services to take place. Our customer must know, like and trust us, and/or our business.  It's exactly the same when networking. No one is going to refer business until they know you are not going to damage their reputation. No more safety of a global blue-chip brands. Now I pick up the phone, 'Hi, my names Pete and I'm from Flagship.' 'Who?'

2.There is no shortcut to success; I started out believing the hype and the nonsense spurted out of the 'sponsored' ads by 'gurus' on my Facebook, with the 'accelerate success' rubbish that prays on peoples (read, 'my') fear of missing out. It's total crap! Here are some facts, I have learnt. Generally speaking people only buy stuff they need, and 3 things, need to align for that to occur. 1) Timing - the time needs to be right for them. 2) Price/Offer - needs to be the right one for them to compel them to purchase from me. 3) They need to know, like and trust me or the person referring me.  I quickly realised, my sales process needs to be all about my customer, them not me. I need to work out what they want and how best I can offer that, at a time and price that suits them. Simple right? This is very simple business, but understanding this on a granular level needs to be experienced and really, very few businesses are achieving this. We already established people don't give a f#*k what you are doing, so until they are interested no matter how much you 'shout' about your escapades on social media, no one is paying attention until the time and offer is right for them.  

 I quickly realised another extremely important element of growing my business is to build my network. When I was employed, it was extremely difficult to grasp how this worked and why. So when I first started going networking I was like an over exuberant puppy (I probably still am). However networking is the same as building a customer base. I need to give first, once again, it's all about them, and give abundantly I must. Building a network is an investment, like planting trees at first, that then grow and mature over time with nurturing. Vitally building trust with people, attending regularly, being excellent in the presence of others. Hopefully it will eventually pay off. Back to my point about there being no shortcuts to success, no quick wins there either though. 

 When I decided to go into business I wanted to establish a business that would serve my customers for a long time, with quality products and services that really solved their problems. Overnight success may happen if you are selling tat for cheap money or ripping people off. Be mindful that success may be overnight but so will the ensuing downfall. With no one to catch you on the way down. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it FB 'gurus'. 

 'There are many things in life we can get faster and easier but somethings we can't. They've got to be earned, and that comes with application, experience and sacrifice.' Unknown

 3.Sacrifice; did I say it's been hard? I have had to sacrifice a fair deal. 

 Financially, all our savings are now invested in the business. It has cost so much more than I anticipated. I plan to the minute details, but there are so many unexpected costs. I have also been burned by the buy cheap buy twice errors too! I have sacrificed a wonderful job and benefits too. In the belief that I can build something greater for our family. It is not about money, it is about freedom to make our own decisions. Live by our own rules.

Personal life; I have spent many evenings and many long days and weekends to work on the business. I don't regret a single one of them. But I quickly realised, this is no 9-5. It's a way of life.

Relationships; I found it was so important to spend time with people who question, support and challenge me to be better, think differently, work smarter. People with skills I don't have. I have had to move away from negativity, the self talk is hard enough without people reinforcing that too. Some people I have had to spend less time with, unintentionally due to time commitments. However there has had to be a conscious decision to move away from people who have a negative impact. I have learnt and believe, and this may only apply to me, however I become more like the people I spend the most time. Similar to the belief of you are the 5 people you spend the most time with. I think there is some truth in this. Therefore I have ensured that I spend the time with people who are ahead of the me in the game. People I can learn from and push me to be better.

Time with Family; one of my biggest challenges is the sacrifice of my time and being with my young family. Finding balance to ensure my most important role of Dad is fulfilled. Being present when you do find time is a huge challenge. The phone constantly vies for attention with a constant barrage of notifications. The temptation, so often over takes my common sense. I find that once that happens as well, I lose time in the depths of the screen. It's terrible. I have to manage that better in year 2!

 I hope you have enjoyed my brief race through a few things I have learnt in the last year. I know that it probably doesn't sound too original. Resilience, No shortcuts and Sacrifice. However these are genuinely all things that will mean something different to you than they mean to me, or the next person. I could never have truly learnt the depths of these without the experiences and actions I have taken over the last year. The exhilaration I have felt of being stood on the precipice , knowing all I ever wanted was just a small step away. Also knowing that the biggest failure and catastrophe could be hidden in the same place.

Courage;

1. the ability to control your fear in a dangerous or difficult situation: 2. to be brave and confident enough to do what you believe in.

 Here's to many more years, hold tight for the next instalment, in 12 months. PR