Reflections on growing a 2 year old...

“Nothing - I’d change nothing.... because if we didn’t go on the journey, we wouldn’t be where we are today”. 

It’s a big day for Spiique as we celebrate our 2nd birthday.  

2 years since Stew, Hewish and I sat in a meeting room, with a whiteboard, a business plan and a brand name ready to go and create something special. 

My little brother asked me this morning - “what would you do differently if you pressed rewind and had your first two years again?“  And my response was “Nothing - I’d change nothing.... because if we didn’t go on the journey, we wouldn’t be where we are today”.  

Are there mistakes we’ve made? Absolutely! We have a long list of failures, screw ups, Shitty First Drafts and things we wish we’d done quicker/faster/better. 

But one of our founding philosophies is that the answers are on the inside.

So if we believe that to be true for our clients, then it’s absolutely true for us as well.  We have trusted the journey of being entrepreneurs leading a start up that we will find the answers to our toughest challenges by looking inside - through self-reflection, having tough conversations, talking about the elephants in the room, checking in and challenging each other.  And of course, having the right people around us to support, challenge, cheer, mentor, guide and coach us.

I often reflect on the experience of starting a business as like having your first child.... sounds exciting, you expect you will love it, but you have no idea what you’re stepping into until you’re actually in the midst of it all!  There are sleepless nights, questioning what you’re doing, fear of failure and screwing it up, reduced/ zero income for periods of time, and a real sense of vulnerability. But like raising a child, the highs are brilliant and the lows I accept as part of the deal and bounce back because I know I’m privileged to be able to have a crack at something like this. 

I can't imagine doing this solo (hats off to all the solo founders and solo parents!) so huge thank you to my two cofounders, Stew and Hewish. Born in different decades, with different life experiences, but with a bond and aligned vision and values grafted through being in the trenches with each other on challenging turnarounds. We’ve been through the ringer navigating professional and personal challenges and I know that these guys have my back every single day. Thank you guys - I‘m forever grateful that we all found a common love of gin & tonics so that we could hatch plans for how to support leadership teams who want to survive, strive or thrive. 

What’s my proudest moment in the past 2 years about Spiique? It’s all about the people. 

• Our incredible in-house team - thank you for buckling up with us on the roller coaster Steph and Steve.
• The Spiique Leaders who have invested their time, network and spirit that have built the community of values aligned leaders who jump in and provide leadership at those critical moment for our clients and help drive change in the business community. I am constantly in awe by the calibre of leaders who have joined our community, who I have worked alongside and who speak about Spiique with as much passion as I do.
• The CEOs, Boards and Leadership Teams who have trusted Spiique to be by their side during their most critical moments - tough conversations, difficult challenges, live or die moments, transactions on the line, must not fail situations.
• The individual leaders who have invested the time and courage to dig deep into brave and courageous leadership through our leadership programs, coaching and SpiiqueUp series.
• And of course, my support crew - at home, on speed dial and there when I need it most.

So no, I'd change nothing... not even on the days where the bank balance doesn't look as flash as I'd like or the pipeline as deep as I'd like. You can read all the books, plan as much as you can and try to prepare for the ups and downs, but it's not until you start (growing the business/growing the child/standing in the arena doing your brave thing!) do you really find out what you're in for and what you're made of.

Just trust that the answers are on the inside.

ps. And yes Steph, I think the Terrible Two's are going to be a blast!