|
When I started my first business, I did things as best I could at that time. I look back on that time and smile because what I did then is a far cry from what I do now. It’s not that it was ever bad, it’s just that as my business grew, as my resources grew, as I grew, my standards and execution grew and improved with me.
You can only ever work with what you have. And when you are first starting a business you are most likely going to be resource-scarce, time-pressed, and ability-short. This isn’t a condemnation, it’s a description. Of course when you are bootstrapping you can’t be extravagant. Of course when you are the founder, CEO, CMO, CFO, COO, secretary, admin assistant, and caterer all in one you don’t have time for nice-to-haves. Of course when you are just starting out you don’t know what you don’t know and you get better only through trial and error and hard-won experience. Of course! You can only work with what you have, and do the best you can with what you have at any given time. And then, when you have a little bit more, you can do a little bit more. When you’ve learned a little bit more, you can improve a little bit more. It is that simple. It is so easy to get stuck in the mindset of I want it all right now or It worked well before so I’m not going to change. But even if you don’t change, your world will change around you. The market will change, your competitors will change, your customer’s expectations will change, best practices will change, industry benchmarks will change… It will all change, change, change and change some more. So why let yourself or your business stagnate? You don’t have to blindly follow what changes around you, but you do need to have the strength to admit when there might be a better way and always try – at least try – to improve. Your business is not a finished product. It is not something that you birth and then leave alone. It is not something that is created perfectly-formed. There is almost always room for improvement, room for updating, room for more (or less), or room, simply, for better. So whether it’s your services or your product, your outlook on life or your abilities, your mindset or your physical health – or all of the above – why not commit to improving what you can when you can? Why not commit to trying as much as you can to be the best you can? Why not? It won’t always be possible, or perfect, or smooth, and we all have bad days (or weeks, or months… or maybe even years), but at least put improvement on your radar. At least reflect on what might need improving. At least think about when it might be possible to get even just 1% better. At least try. It won't always be easy, but it can be that simple. Whether we admit it or not, we all have standards, and expectations, and preferences for the way we want things to be done. It doesn't matter if someone else thinks it's stupid or over the top or irrelevant because no one else can tell us what we care about. And that's why it's so important, in life and in business, to ask for what you want.
At various times as my own boss, I've asked assistants to use certain fonts in the presentations they put together for me or provide information in bullet points instead of block text. In other situations I've asked my partner to cook a particular recipe for dinner or make our bed a certain way. Does this make me a diva or just decisive? Because the thing is, I would rather be the type of leader and partner who is clear about my expectations instead of a passive-aggressive one who pretends not to care but then fumes and burns inside. I care. And if something is important enough for me to care about, then I will make a point to communicate what I want. This is just an easier way to live. We wouldn't go to a coffee shop and expect the barista to know what we wanted without telling her (well, unless you're a regular and always order the same thing...), so why do we do that with our partners, our clients, our suppliers, or our colleagues? Why not just communicate what we want, exactly how we want it, and take the guesswork out of it? Why not be specific about when certain instructions are must-haves and when others can be executed within general parameters? It doesn't mean we'll always get what we want, but at least it leaves no room for mis-interpretation. And then any results that are other than what you've asked for are failures of execution, not failures of communication. This isn't to put blame on others or take responsibility away from us as leaders and people. Quite the opposite: when we communicate what we want and are specific about it, it frees other people from the stress of not knowing and makes is easier for them to succeed. Good instructions set the recipient up to succeed, not fail (I wish someone would tell the instruction-makers at Ikea that!). If you care about something, if you want something, if you have a certain way of doing things, a certain standard you want to adhere to, don't be embarrassed or act as if it's not there. Own up to who you are, own up to what you want and ASK FOR IT. If you want your co-founder to do more of the tedium that has ended up on your desk, ask them to help. If you want your partner to help out at home more so you have time to build your business, ask them to help. If you want your bookkeeper to send you your P&L statements each month so you can review them, ask them to do it. If you want something but aren't sure whether it exists, ask Google if it does. Ask, ask, ask, and ask again. And be specific about what you want. The more you ask, the more you'll get and the more you'll see that being a good leader or CEO or partner isn't about testing other people to read your mind, it's about giving them the tools and instructions to succeed without having to do so. Ask, and let yourself receive. "Well, of course I expect things to be done affordably, quickly, AND perfectly... Duh!"
If we were playing a game called "Spot the Rookie", the phrase above would be a dead giveaway. I know that phrase well because I was once that naive. I was the one who expected the world but didn't want to pay for it. The one who was a maximalist with a minimalist budget. The one who lived in a dream where limited resources still got you limitless results. And you know what else? I was always the one who was disappointed when things took time (oh, SO much time...) or when the cost was greater than I was ready to pay or when the quality was below what I wanted. I wasn't being unreasonable, I thought, I just wanted it all. How silly! I can almost hear you saying to your screen. Any three-year-old understands that you can't have all the things. But it wasn't until I was introduced to the Trinity that I found that out for myself. Now anyone who has had some experience with Project Management will recognize the Trinity. It is that secular force of nature, that powerful triumverite, that all-knowing three-some called Time, Cost, and Quality. And the law of the Trinity dictates that we can only ever optimise or maximise two out of the three on any given task, project, or business. Want your bookkeeper to provide low-cost services and superior quality, then expect a longer turnaround time. Want to have your next product be developed flawlessly and quickly, then expect to pay a premium for it. Want to spend pennies on your marketing campaign and get it done quickly, then expect the quality to be less-than-stellar. Now, I know some of you might still be thinking the way I did. Some of you might think it defeatist to accept the reality of how the Trinity works. Some of you might even think you're the exception and you are going to prove me and the Trinity wrong. But accepting the Trinity is far from accepting defeat. It is graduating out of our three-year-old mindset that lives in a fantasy world and becoming business adults who live in the real world. Some things are just true. Some things aren't worth debating (water is necessary for life, gravity exists, the tax man cometh...) and trying to pretend those things ARE debatable is a foolish waste of time. The law of the Trinity is just another one of those truths. Humans haven't tried to find a way to live without water; we have harnessed it and consume it regularly. The Wright Brothers didn't ignore gravity when they designed their planes; they worked with it to make flight possible. Good accountants don't ignore the existence of tax regulations; they strategize about how best to benefit their clients within those parameters. The law of the Trinity is just another thing we have to accept and work with. When I started accepting the Trinity, it made a huge difference. I made a conscious choice that Quality and Cost would always be the two I optimised and accepted that Time would be the aspect I had to be flexible on as a result. This not only reduced my stress levels (no more screaming down the phone demanding things be done yesterday!) it also made my flow projections realistic instead of hopeful (businesses don't operate well on hope). So let the Trinity be your reality check on how you plan and execute your business. Work with the Trinity, not against it. Say goodbye to unrealistic expectations that don't serve you or your business. Accept the Trinity and use it to your advantage. Amen to that. "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse... Idiots!" -Henry Ford
Now I took some liberties with this quote. I am pretty sure Henry Ford didn't call his potential customers idiots (but I'm guessing he was probably thinking it). I love this quote. I love the fact that it says in eighteen words what I'm about to spend a few hundred elaborating on. I love that Henry Ford, inventor and industrial revolutionary, was like "Hey, you know what customers? Forget you! I'm building something great here, and what you think you want is irrelevant. So get back in your slow-a$$ carriages and scram!" How ballsy, how totally against the grain of our nice-nice society, how incredibly brave to say to a customer you're NOT always right. A few weeks ago, I wrote to about the importance of saying no and how it is not just an important part of your life and business but an essential one. And you know what else? It is really, really, really hard. Sometimes even harder than that! I am a self-proclaimed people pleaser, so it sometimes pains me physically to say no or to not oblige or to ignore a request. Especially when the person asking is a customer or client. My instinct is to always say yes and make it work however I can. Even if the request is silly or extravagant or will derail me from my plans. Saying yes feels sooooooo good. But you know what else feels good? Saying no and being focused. Our customers can sometimes be our worst enemies. They will ask and ask and ask and the trouble is, sometimes what they want is something you can't or shouldn't give (kind of like having kids... you have to be the one to have the filter for both of you!). And sometimes even when you DO give your customer what they want, they change their mind and decide they don't want it anymore and then you've wasted all that time and effort and money for nothing. How frustrating! Just a few short weeks ago, on the heels of an over-subscribed event I had just run, I polled potential clients to see if they'd like me to do the event again. I got almost two dozen thumbs-ups so got busy putting a deposit down on the venue, executing the marketing campaign, setting up the ticket site, ordering more workbooks, clearing my weekend, and after all that, guess what? Guess how many customers bought what they asked for once I had it ready for them? If you're good at spotting patterns, then you'll know the answer is: not a lot. And in this case, exactly zero. "But I did what you asked!" I wanted to scream at the registration page. "Where did you all go?" I wanted to shout into the wind. It took me a while to refocus after this mini-blow, but when I did, I realised that my customers had done me a big favor. They RE-taught me that I don't always have to listen and I don't always have to oblige. My customers aren't always right. And neither are yours. We can only offer what we can offer. And sometimes a customer doesn't know what they want until you show it to them (like the Model T). And sometimes what they want is not part of YOUR plan for your business, so you have to just ignore it. I'm not saying we should ignore all customer feedback or pretend like all requests are irrelevant. What I AM saying is that we should work hard to make our service or product as good as possible, hold ourselves to really high standards in how we deliver them, commit to always improving, listen to feedback and requests, and then filter the feedback and requests. Some ideas might be worth considering, others might not. A request is not an order. Feedback is not a command. Take on board what your customers say and then use your best judgement to filter and decide what is worth implementing and what is worth forgetting about. Your relationship with your customer is exactly that: a relationship. And like in all relationships, one side isn't always right or more important. Your relationship is a conversation, an exchange, and sometimes you will have to agree to disagree. If Henry Ford hadn't disagreed, how far behind would automotive technology and car culture be now? If you don't sometimes disagree, how far behind will you be in growing your business according to your vision? You don't always have to listen to your customer. And sometimes when they ask for a horse, you have to focus on building your Model T instead. I am the first to admit that in this era of information overload, it can be a good idea to limit how much information we consume. It can even feel like a small act of protest against the tidal wave of data hitting us day after day. And who doesn't like being a rebel?
But if you are going to rebel, be a rebel WITH a cause. That means being selective about the information you let in, and choosing to consume only the information that will help you and your business grow, NOT ignoring everything. Some of what you need to know and learn will be engaging and enlightening (like these articles!), and some of it will be tedious and boring. That's just the way it is. But if you want to build a business and thrive, you have to be a smart consumer of information and a committed life-long learner about your industry. Again, that's just the way it is. So, how can you keep learning? Here are some easy tips:
So what are you going to learn? What magazine or podcast will you subscribe to? What action will you take to make sure you never stop learning? "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself..." Ahhh, the Perfectionist's Creed. I love these words because I can predict with almost 100%-accuracy how many business owners and entrepreneurs and high-achievers have them playing in a loop in their heads pretty much all day long. (I know I would need to call on some high-order math if I wanted to count the number of times I've said or thought that.) No one can close a sale as effectively as I can. No one can negotiate with a supplier as well as I can. No one can write a job listing as brilliantly as I can. And you know what else? No one can order printer paper as well as I can. No one can make coffee as well as I can. No one can tidy up my desk as well as I can. And no one can take out the rubbish as well as I can, either! Isn't it amazing that I can do so many varied tasks better than any other of the 8-billion-plus humans who live on this planet or the few hundred thousand who live in my immediate vicinity or the tens of thousands who specialise in each one of these discreet tasks? Gosh, I really must be amazing! Right?  Now hopefully you see what I'm doing here. Hopefully you've had a little chuckle while reading the preceding lines not just because of how ridiculous they are when you see them written down but because you potentially recognize some of that silliness in your own way of thinking.
I get it. We love to be in control. We love to get things done. We love having things done our way. And we are really, really, really good at some things, maybe even a lot of things. But perfect at all things? Is that even possible? The more I think about it, the more I hear it from my clients, and the more I try to train myself out of it, the more I see self-proclaimed perfectionism as something quite different: laziness and anxiety in disguise. Let me explain. First of all, I think we can agree that doing anything "perfectly" is basically impossible because "perfect" is subjective. What I think is perfect, others might think sucks, and what they think is perfect, I might find seriously flawed. Perfect is a standard that we define and our definition will inevitably be different to someone else's. Secondly, perfectionism is often used as an excuse for not doing something - "Oh, that website, will never be as perfect as I want it to be, so I may as well not build it"; "My business will never be as big as I want it to be, so I'm not going to start it"; "This marketing campaign will never capture everything I want to convey, so why bother planning it" - OR perfectionism is used as an excuse to keep doing everything yourself because you can't be bothered to TRY to delegate to someone else or TRY to find someone who might, just might, be able to do it at least as well as (or maybe even better... gasp!), as you can or TRY to have a difficult conversation with a colleague or a partner about how they can contribute more or improve. Perfectionism maintains the status quo - you either don't do something or you keep doing everything - and the status quo is, well, lazy. And perfectionism keeps you from addressing your (often baseless) anxieties. "It has to be perfect or people will never buy it"; "No one will execute my vision as perfectly as I can"; "If I don't do it, it won't ever get done"; etc, etc, etc. Do you see how these perfectionist anxieties can hold you and your business back? Do you think Richard Branson comes up with new business verticals AND does the marketing plan AND does the pricing AND chooses the words for each ad AND makes the coffee? No! Do you think Sara Blakely turned Spanx into a billion-dollar business by sewing each item herself AND building her website AND shipping her products AND ordering the paper clips for the office? Hell no! So why do we? Why do we think we can grow a business AND do everything else? Why do we hold ourselves back by deluding ourselves that we are the exception to every rule of success (delegate, leverage, focus on what you're good at, test and iterate...)? Are we really perfectionists? Or are we being lazy? Are we really perfectionists? Or are we just anxious? Done is better than perfect. Trying is better than worrying. An imperfect business is better than one that stays in your head. Get something out there and improve, iterate, and - dare I say it! - perfect it later. Be honest about what your "perfectionism" is costing you and your business, and then try, at least try, to hide behind the Perfectionist's Creed a little less often. I have a confession to make: I am a people pleaser. I always have been. I was that kid in school who always got gold stars and straight-As. I was that annoying smarty-pants who would jump up and down in my chair with my hand thrust into the air to answer any question. I loved being the "teacher's pet" (and I was really good at it!), and that chronic-pleaser-syndrome has never gone away. (I think women suffer from people-pleasing more than men do, as we are socially and culturally encouraged to be accommodating and obliging - and sometimes called horrible names when we aren't -- but that's a topic for another day!).
Years ago when I was starting a business of my own, it felt like I never had enough hours in a day for myself, my health, my business, or my loved ones but somehow I still kept saying yes to requests and asks from other people, often total strangers. What was going on? I can't pinpoint exactly when it was, but I remember there finally coming a time when I read somewhere (I think it was Heather McGregor who writes the Mrs Moneypenny column in the FT) that it wasn't just okay to say no, it was essential. And that if something didn't directly support my personal or professional goals, then I should say no to it. It was like an epiphany. I suddenly felt the burden of my savior-syndrome start to lift. Of course I couldn't help everyone. No one can. We all have real constraints on our time and energy and need to be careful about how we invest that time and energy. The big and small things we say yes and no to have a very measurable impact on our lives and our success. Subtraction is often more important than addition. Saying no wasn't easy at first (and I still struggle with it now sometimes). Saying no to people who asked for help made me feel like a jerk. But as one of my favorite business writers Denise Duffield-Thomas says, we can give how, and however often, makes sense for us AND our businesses and create boundaries around that giving. I love that. Saying no isn't being mean or selfish, it's being realistic about the limits to how much I can and should give, and defining my "no's" and my giving clearly. So I've built generous giving into my business model: I do lots of free articles, You Tube videos, podcasts, webinars, and speaking engagements so I can help lots of people at the same time, and I do a set number of pro-bono hours to help a few budding entrepreneurs each year. And then, the rest of my time is devoted to private clients and our Members who I can help in a very targeted and tailored way. After years of giving indiscriminately, I designed boundaries into my business. I had to think hard about how I could say no but still help as many people as possible (there's that chronic-helper-syndrome again!) and help in a way that felt sustainable and generous instead of leaving me feeling vulnerable and exploited. But it took time, and thought, and some uncomfortable conversations for me to get (a little more) comfortable saying no, and now I am having a far greater impact on a far greater number of people. So in reality, saying no has allowed me to help more people and be more focused. Win-win. So what can you say no to? What boundaries can you establish so you can say no to some things and yes to others? What amount of no-saying is right for you AND your business? Warren Buffet didn't become hugely successful by investing in every business brought to him. He says no as a rule, and sparingly uses his yes's. (A great illustration of this is his "20-Punchcard Rule"... you can decide what your 20 punches will be in your business, in your personal life, in your health, etc, and say no to everything else.) Now I can't promise that by saying no you'll become the next Warren Buffet, but I CAN guarantee that when you get better at setting boundaries and saying no, you and your business will become more focused and disciplined, and focus and discipline are two of the key ingredients of success. So the next time you feel yourself tempted to say yes to something, take a minute and ask yourself if you should just say no instead. “Sorry, I can’t do tomorrow. I'm having my AGM.”
When I was starting my first business, any time I would say something like that to a friend or family member, I’d get a raised eyebrow. “Really?” they’d ask incredulously. I could see them wondering if I was trying to make my business sound more important than it was. “Really,” I’d respond matter-of-factly. “I do one every year.” Now it doesn’t matter if you call it an AGM, or a Board Meeting, or a Strategy Day, or a Brainstorming Session, the point here is that there can be no substitute for setting aside at least a few days each year to plan, think about, and course-correct your business. Especially in the beginning. The foundations you put in place now will be what you carry with you – or waste time fixing! – forever. From the very beginning I have done an AGM in January where I review the previous year, note key lessons learned, consider how to avoid repeating any mistakes, and plot my targets and strategy for the year ahead. Then, every quarter, I do a Quarterly Review where I review the previous three months, measure progress against my targets, and make any course corrections needed to get back on track. I also take time to reflect on why things are, or are not, going as planned and analyse whether it’s my targets or my tactics that need adjusting. I book my AGM and quarterly reviews into the calendar in advance, allocate a FULL day to each, and commit to being distraction-free (that means NO email or phone checking until scheduled breaks). I also leave my office so I don’t get sucked into anything literally or figuratively lying on my desks. I choose nice venues with decent food and drink options so I have no excuse to break the flow of the session. I make an agenda, take notes, and that’s it. Just like in any other business. None of this is complicated, but as happens so often, essential things like review meetings are really easy to do and really easy not to do… especially when you’re your own boss. But the truth is, if you really want to be “bossing it” then you have to do some boss-like things and call a meeting! (And no excuses if you’re a one-wo/man band. You should still allocate a few days a year to high-level business planning, target-setting, lesson-learning, and year-reviewing on your own.) It's important to treat your business as a business from the beginning. So put these meetings into your annual calendar (and then actually holding the meetings!), and you will be amazed at how much more focus and growth you and your business experience. You just have to start, so why not start now? |
Business Mentor
Virgin Startup |
|
Entrepreneur in Residence
London Business School |
© COPYRIGHT Rupal Y Patel 2025. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.