Why I am very fortunate to be part of a business

There has been a lot of change at eskimosoup over the past few weeks. We have moved to larger premises, employed new people, won new contracts and taken on increased, albeit calculated, risks that mean we need step up to make the most of the opportunities we have.

As business owner I am very fortunate, and it is we who are stepping up.

I went self-employed in 2003 and started my first company in 2005. Looking back for several years the way we operated was by earning money through my skills as a practitioner supported by others that came and went. My being heavily involved in all sales and all projects meant that when I wasn’t there not much proactive happened and if I’m really honest the operation was more like a job than a proper business.

Reflecting on how eskimosoup is in 2019; the team I am blessed to work with, and support are very much the business. Everyday I’m impressed that the team create opportunities, interdependently solve problems, step outside of their comfort zone and repeatedly do a much better job for clients than we would it was down to me!

There’s a popular saying in business that you need to “let go to grow”. I agree with this in principle though I add to this that in preparation you need to “hold tight to get right”. Maybe I held tight to the way we worked to make sure things were effective for longer than was necessary, though this means that from a solid foundation of experience and systems we can let go. Today’s eskimosoup is empowered to try new things to push for better results, accepting that we’ll probably make mistakes along the way to coming up with even better solutions than we’d have done in the old days

Whilst I’m proud of many things I have done in my career; I take even greater satisfaction is seeing the eskimosoup team accomplish things on their own merit. Indeed, one of our values is that everyone has a voice, so whilst old man Gilbert can still pull a good idea out of the bag every now and again; I’m far from the font of all knowledge.

On days like today when I see personal achievements from our team complimented by colleagues pulling together to work on aligned goals, I find it easy to set aside my ego surrounding my abilities as a practitioner and feel very fortunate to be part of a business.

Thanks guys. What you do matters.