Working with three startup companies has been a new experience for me. It’s been a lot of work, stress, and fun – and we are only just getting started.
Commonly, startup businesses face a number of challenges.
Hiring Qualified Candidates, HR & Payroll, Competition, Lack of Clear Marketing Strategy, Capital and Minimal Budget, Lack of Structure, Poor Management, Communication, Time Management, Delegating Tasks, Focus – Choosing What Not To Do, Self Doubt, Business Growth, Choosing Pricing, Products, Services – and Thriving on Limited Resources
Whether it be my own little coaching company I started a year ago, the startup job matchmaking marketplace technology company, or the accessible wellness and telemedicine veterinary healthcare company – each of these challenges come up and rear their heads in different ways. Some more ferociously than others, and some are lurking out in the mists waiting to take a swipe at us.
Those entrepreneurs and startup leaders that I coach and those in my network speak of these issues often. It isn’t glamorous but it is the reality of moving from a vision to building or running the thing. Passion is not enough. Neither is knowledge or skillset. While these are very helpful – they do not usually equal success.
You have to make more good choices than bad with the resources you have. Mistakes will be made and that is fine, learn from it and move on. However, you have to build momentum and properly make use of the resources you have. This means having a realistic strategy in place that takes into account the resources you have at your disposal.
Time is compressed in startup land. Everything moves at lightening speed. You move and pivot, adjust and learn on an hour to hour, day to day basis. It is learning on steroids. And it is an incredible amount of fun.
For myself personally, this has been a great challenge. It has pushed me out of my comfort zone in a number of ways and challenged some assumptions about how I show up. The most important thing is that I work with some amazing people. They are passionate. Each of them are leaders in their own right. Visionaries. They each have a huge contribution to make. I see them growing each day and as a amazing that is one of my favorite things to see.
Right now, the biggest thing I’m concentrating on is adjusting for the avalanche of things that need to be done – and ensuring that I give myself the space to do the important work that needs to be done. Sounds simple.
I have this internal rub that are at constant war with one another. I want to get the most out of every minute, every hour of the day, and I start to fill up my calendar with urgent and important things. Then I start to not have the time to get to some important items. I over commit because I start to think ‘work harder’, you can get it all done.
And this is all in direct competition with the fact that I get more work done when I’m playing, when I have a more open schedule – I’m able to actually do a lot more.
As I write this it sounds ridiculous, yet I think it is important to be vulnerable and share this personal reality because I know I’m not alone. I have some mechanisms in place to help reduce this scenario from coming to full tilt. – Still, there is always this tension in my scheduling and my work.
I will continue to share my journey and I’d love to hear more from others which of these areas have reared their head in your world, and how you work to overcome them.
Let’s keep daring to fail and sharing what we learn.
Development Geek 