For the point of this post, the term Growth can mean any kind of long-term goals, personal or professional.
Sometime ago I saw a video on YouTube where a guy was shown driving his Ferrari while having flashbacks of the road that lead him to a point to afford a Ferrari. All of his failures, struggles, and hard times were points in his path to progression that got him to where he is now. The point being that no one ever sees the behind the scenes, but only your success. It was an inspiring video because at the time of discovering the video I was nearing two months behind on my rent. I felt starting my business was a terrible idea, that I was slowly failing. After watching the video, I thought of my current situation as a time that I would look back on as struggle that would eventually be a stepping-stone to better times. Nearly a year later, those times are certainly behind me, but not nearly as far as I had envisioned them.
As I write this, my business is in a better place now than it was 6 months ago and just a little bit better than it was when I standing over a court filing to for a petition of non-payment on rent. I’ve made changes in my personal life that has taken a large expense off the company and allowed for improvements with cash flow. During the past 11 months I’ve even achieved milestones with the business that have already begun to accelerate growth. Milestones that when I filed the LLC and sent out my first contract seemed so far away that I would be lucky to have ever reached them.
Since taking some time to get out of NYC and travel some I’ve gained a new perspective on how my peers, professional and personal, view my decision to start my own business. Many are now viewing me as a huge success with a “deep bank account”. Neither of which are remotely close to how I would describe my business or myself. Getting messages through my social media accounts from acquaintances from long ago congratulating me while I’m locked in a tight race for an accounts payable due date and a past due client’s invoice serves as proof that I/we mostly only project the wins of daily lives and not necessarily the struggles. At times I wonder if this is a misleading practice, but then I remember a post I would have described as honest and sober from December 2017. After posting I got outreach from all kinds of people making sure I was okay. Having crossed that line of social media I realized a good social media account does have some element of entertainment and lacks sober moments. I feel this is important to note because it justifies my idea that outside perception of my business and I is not what I would call realistic.
How does this relate to how growth works into the equation? For me, growth hasn’t been at a noticeable rate. A lot like the analogy of the frog in the pot of water. The analogy being; if you put a frog in a pot of water and slowly increase the temperature he’ll stay there until it boils, adversely, if you throw a frog in a hot pot of water it will immediately jump out. Growth for a business, or personally, is similar. Three months ago the business was using a line of credit to bridge the gap between accounts receivable and accounts payable. Now we have a cash reserve large enough to float half of our accounts receivable. Our product offering has tripled more than doubling our projected revenue for 2018 versus actual revenue for 2017. However, on a week-by-week basis these points are overlooked because a top client is having major issues that begin to threaten an entire book of business.
To look at the two different perspectives, my own versus others; my view is one of I’ve accomplished milestones I’m very proud of. The business brings in more revenue now than it did 6 months ago and subsequently it’s more stable. However, we still go through an occasional crisis that scares me. Others form the opinions from either what I choose to share on social media, what they hear from others subjected to some degree of distortion, or just plain gossip. When I speak to people directly I always make it point to not overstate anything. When asked how work is going, I usually respond with “its going okay” or “steady” with a calculated lack of context or flavor. I never mean it as being arrogant but more of I want to convey the fact; I still struggle, I still take the occasional ass kicking, I still loose sleep from time to time and I’ve got prospects that will not return an email or phone call. Although the data points that make up the reality is the same for all parties, there are two different perspectives. Obviously it’s easy to understand why but I think the two viewpoints are important in reconciling how we understand our progress.
Applying this realization to my everyday I think there are two different “going forward” points to take away from this post. The first one is simple; when forming an opinion of someone we need to realize it’s very possible they don’t feel the same way as you do. Just because they are driving the Ferrari like the guy in the inspirational video, doesn’t mean they’re not on the brink of disaster. For all we know, they could be driving the Ferrari to a Pawn Shop! Like a duck on water, calm and collected by appearance but just below the surface they’re kicking hard to move forward.
The second point is the one I wrote this post for. Before making an internal judgment call on where you stand make sure you look at where you started and what you wanted to accomplish. It’s easy to get caught up in your current struggles and remain optimistic. A best practice of mine is to find easily traceable KPI’s so you have a standard for measurement. For me, I use new contracts versus existing accounts. I now make time after every new contract to take an afternoon in the middle of the week to myself. Treating myself to a nice steak dinner and few strong cocktails is my usual go to. I do this because it allows me time to celebrate my win before getting back to the grind of finding the next one.