Lesson 4: Kick-off
You will be successful
Things are going to go wrong. Half your invitees to your launch event didn't show up and the half that did weren't too interested in your plans. Nobody has called. The people you called were all out. There's a spelling mistake in the company name on your hand-out. Your best friend thinks the company name you chose sucks. Your sister told you your logo is boring. Your computer system caught a virus the first day and the colours on your business card and letterhead don't match. You feel like a failure and you want to close shop.
There are going to be days and even weeks when nothing seems to go according to plan; more days and weeks like that at the beginning and then fewer as you become established. Since you've probably started up as a one-person operation, there's just you to deal with these disappointments and you have to have a strategy to survive.
That strategy is to remember that you've got a plan and three tremendous assets:
- you have work which you enjoy and do well;
- you have target groups which are accessible and interested;
- you have a properly set up business where everything is consistent and works.
You only need to do one thing to be successful - keep working at your plan. Keep contacting members of your target groups. Keep adjusting your product presentation until it fits the target groups. Keep implementing the process you started and you'll keep making progress despite set-backs.
Perhaps the launch event was a waste of time and money. Perhaps that one group really shouldn't be a target group. Perhaps the logo needs to be made more interesting and we'll change the company name. That's bad thinking and the start of a bad attitude.
Instead, the launch event was not as successful as you hoped but it gave you the opportunity to try out your ideas on potential customers. One of the target groups is difficult and you'll target them later, after taking care of the easier groups. The logo and company name are done - that's what you have and, unless something really important comes up, that's what you stick with.
Our recommended resource, Turn Your Passion into Profits, has a chapter, "Growing, Learning, Making Mistakes" which deals with some of the same topics from a different viewpoint.
If you're going to run a small business, you will have to find the positives in disappointing events and results. There will be major screw-ups and some will even be your fault. When something goes wrong, you have to get over it quickly, fix things as best you can and move on. As long as you remember that, with your plan and your three assets, you will succeed if you keep working at it, you will in fact succeed.
