Five Years in Business: Reflections on the Advice that Got Us Started
As I sat down to write my post for this month, I took a look back at my previous posts with the hope that something I wrote would spark an idea or inspire a thought. During my trip down memory lane, I came across the first article I ever wrote.
Knowing that our decisions could be temporary solutions made it much easier to make the decisions we needed to during our first few months without becoming paralyzed by the idea of permanency.
It took me back to the days when Amy Walzer McFeely and I were coming off a tough layoff, questioning whether we were capable enough to start our own business, and figuring out all the ins and outs of the small business world. It also made me think of and be so grateful for all the people who have helped us along the way and the invaluable advice and support they’ve provided. So I decided to dedicate this post to them and that advice.
Be comfortable with temporary solutions. On one of our last days at ConAgra Foods, Amy and I sat in an auditorium listening to John Vyhlidal provide guidance and advice for coping during times of change. His mantra for the session was to be comfortable with temporary solutions. I can remember hearing his words and feeling like a weight was being lifted from my shoulders. The worry and pressure that comes along with finding a perfect and permanent solution subsided. John’s mantra ended up becoming our mantra during the first several months of C1C. Starting a business requires making a ton of decisions in rapid succession. What will we name the company? What will our MVP (mission, vision, purpose) be? How do we brand ourselves? What should our primary services be? Knowing that our decisions could be temporary solutions made it much easier to make the decisions we needed to during our first few months without becoming paralyzed by the idea of permanency. Some of our decisions stuck. We are still Category One Consulting and have the same MVP. However, we simplified our services and revamped our brand about a year in. John likely doesn’t even know how much of an impact his advice had on us and C1C, but we definitely appreciate it!
Always have a plan. While researching how to start a business, one recommendation that seemed to pop up everywhere we looked was to have a business plan. Not being too familiar with business plans, we sought out support from the Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC) where we learned all about the importance of business plans and obtained some tools for building our first one. We spent many hours over the next several weeks creating our first business plan which helped us determine and document many of the core elements of our business including our structure, differentiators, goals, services, target markets, and marketing strategy. Following the advice of NBDC, we continue to update our business plan every year. The plan provides us with a foundation from which to operate, helps us assess whether adjustments are needed, enables alignment across our team, and sets goals that we collaboratively strive toward. We’ve also embedded the “always have a plan” advice into our daily operations by creating project plans at the beginning of every project and helping our clients build out their own plans whether it be related to strategy, onboarding, measurement, and other organizational effectiveness matters. We continue to be grateful to NBDC for showing us the importance and process of always having a plan when running a small business.
Be intentionally ethical. While building out our business plan, we learned about an entrepreneur workshop sponsored by SCORE Omaha. We quickly signed up for the class which provided a crash course on how to start a small business. Over the course of two evenings, we learned about business structures, contracts, insurance, taxes, accounting, marketing, and ethics. We learned a lot those two evenings but one thing that sticks out in my mind was the discussion on ethics. The facilitator had each attendee make a commitment that night to be an ethical or unethical business owner and stated that this commitment should guide every decision we make moving forward. We made a decision that night to be an ethical business and have held true to that commitment to this day whether it relates to the integrity of our work, the agreements with our clients, or the operations among our team. We were also told that going into business with another person is like entering into a loveless marriage, so you better be sure you pick the right person. Five years later we’re both still so happy to be doing this work together.
Learn to go with the flow. I attended a training sponsored by the Minnesota Evaluation Studies Institute during our first year of business. While at that training, I had the opportunity to attend a lunch with Laura Pejsa and Emily Goff. During our lunch discussion, they offered a piece of advice that I think about often. They said that running a small business can be a bit like a roller coaster with busy times and not so busy times. Rather than stressing about too much work during the busy times only to turn around and stress about not enough work during the not so busy times, try and appreciate each situation for what it offers. Be grateful for the busier times because they are a sign that your services are valued, but also appreciate the slower times and use them as an opportunity to rest. At C1C, we call these peaks and valleys and have realized that there’s really no way to completely eliminate them with the type of work we do. However, we have learned to appreciate both the highs and the lows over the past five years.
Believe in yourself. The last, but definitely not least, piece of advice I want to mention came from BC Clark. Amy and I met BC through a SCORE Omaha mentorship opportunity very early in our C1C journey. She provided us with mentorship, invited us to Metro Omaha Women’s Business Center events, encouraged us to apply for a start-up assistant grant, sponsored us for the Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and even conducted an interview with us for The Business Connection on KPAO. Through her support, we were able to expand our networks and even ended up being awarded the start-up assistance grant and entrepreneur of the year award. We also learned some invaluable lessons about running a business including how to market ourselves in a way that felt natural and comfortable to us. With BC’s guidance and often introductions to people at events, we learned how to tell people about C1C in a way that highlighted our services and experience without coming off as sale-sy. I think BC believed in us before we even believed in ourselves and for that we will be forever grateful.
I hope this post can provide some support to others looking to launch or run a small business. If you find yourself in need of support with operating a small business or any organizational effectiveness matters, feel free to reach out!