This past week I talked with two founders. Both of them have wildly successful companies that are still growing. But they told me they’re reducing head count. For most companies, the customer landscape has changed—but for these companies, not so much. They’re still growing at a healthy clip (just not as fast as they were). Even so, I wasn’t surprised. Their need to get leaner is rooted in decisions made during a period of rapid expansion.

Both founders have hired aggressively over the last few years as they’ve grown rapidly. In that scenario, roles can be created without anyone knowing whether they’re needed. I’ve seen companies hire someone to do manual tasks that custom software could handle. The person responsible for the department doesn’t have time to delve into what each person is doing or how they’re doing it. They just know their team is maxed out because of the company’s growth, so they go to HR and ask to add more people. And even if they knew that software could help them, it probably wouldn’t get built. Engineering teams are focused on customer-facing work to increase revenue—new product features, bug-fixing, etc. They don’t have time to consider projects that would make internal teams’ lives easier.

Quality can slip, too. Instead of hiring an A player in a two-month recruiting process, you add a B player because you have just thirty days to fill the role. Over time, the quality of your team falls, which has all kinds of ramifications down the road.

One day you look up and see people who aren’t fully utilized . . . employees without a clearly defined role . . . team members who aren’t carrying their weight.

Both of these entrepreneurs see staff reductions as a way to address these issues. In my opinion, they’re able to consider layoffs because their focus has changed. They know it’s easier to keep a customer than find a new one (especially in this environment). They want to better serve their current customers in order to reduce churn. At this moment, efficiency, not growth, is the goal.

Business is cyclical, and I suspect that despite the pandemic, what’s happening with these companies is part of the normal business cycle.

Today marked the end of my fourteenth week of working from home. Here are my takeaways from week fourteen:

• Relationships – I learned how past relationships and associations are relevant today. I’m thankful and appreciative. I’m actively looking to give back to the organizations that gave me the opportunity to build those relationships. Excited about paying it forward!
• Why – Clearly understanding why I do the things I do is extremely helpful. That self-knowledge helped me successfully navigate a few important conversations. I want to continue using my why as my compass.
• New work normal – I watched the uptick in COVID-19 cases and decided to work from home. I’ll monitor the numbers this coming week and reassess.
• Screen fatigue – My eyes are tired after long Zoom sessions. They actually hurt sometimes. I started taking breaks and going for walks when I feel my eyes tiring.

Week fourteen was a good one. It confirmed that doing things for the right reasons is important. I’m glad my why drives me.

I’ll continue to learn from this unique situation, adjust as necessary, and share my experience.

Today I attended a training session with other seasoned entrepreneurs. The topic was storytelling. Storytelling is conveying information in a way that resonates with people emotionally. Here’s a quote that sums it up well:

A story is a vehicle that allows you to put the facts in an emotional context.

~ Peter Guber

This topic interests me a lot. Why? Because I think I’m pretty bad at storytelling. I hope learning more about it will help me improve. After today’s session, I clearly understand where I’m lacking.

Here’s my big takeaway. Persuasive stories require the following:

• Ethos – Credibility and trustworthiness open people up. People listen to you if you have sound character. It’s tough to persuade if you’re perceived as shady.
• Logos – Logic, facts, and sound reasoning are convincing. If what you’re saying makes sense, people listen.
• Pathos – Talking about hopes and dreams, fears and worries, beliefs and ideals appeals to your audience on an emotional level.

We learned a lot of other great things too, like how to structure a story.

I see what my problem is. I’m a very logical person. Naturally, my stories tend to be heavy on logos. I try not to speak about things outside my experience, so ethos isn’t an issue. But my arguments lack pathos. They don’t have emotional appeal. I shy away from revealing how I feel or how something affects me personally. If my facts and logic make sense, people will be persuaded, right? Wrong! Now I know that most people will be swayed only by a story that balances all three elements.

I wish I had known this earlier. Storytelling is hugely important. It helps people buy into your vision—no small thing. It has implications for recruiting, team moral, sales, partnerships . . . Tell good stories and you will paint a clear picture of where you’re headed and convince your team to help you get there.

To every aspiring and current entrepreneur: are you a skillful storyteller? If not, figure out where you fall short and fill that gap. Telling a better story can do great things for your entrepreneurial journey!

Today I attended a webinar for early entrepreneurs about creating a minimum viable product (MVP). I know the presenter and wanted to support him. I also wanted to hear the latest and greatest on this concept. An MVP is a bare-bones version of a product. It’s designed to address your issues just enough to enable you to get feedback from customers. The feedback shapes what you build going forward.

Listening to the session today, a few things stood out. Speed was one. Getting something in the hands of customers quickly is key. Setting a launch deadline and meeting it, no matter what, is a great strategy—even if some features don’t make the cut. I can attest to that because I did the exact opposite at CCAW. Coming from corporate America, I was used to perfectly worded emails and lots of conversation before any action was taken. I kept working that way, wasting tons of time on things that didn’t matter at such an early stage. Perfection was the enemy of progress. It took me a while to learn that lesson, but I did. An email wasn’t perfect . . . oh well. We pushed the product out by the deadline but it was only 80% finished . . . no biggie. Progress was what mattered, and for that we needed feedback.

Another important thing the presenter said is how simple an MVP can be. It doesn’t have to be something that requires coding or other technical skills. You just need something that allows you to test and get feedback. The presenter once used spreadsheets (Google Sheets) as an MVP. Talk about simple and quick! He mentioned no code-platforms like Webflow as a possibility. His message: don’t overcomplicate it. You may end up scrapping it based on customer feedback anyway.

If you’re considering entrepreneurship, make sure you understand the MVP concept and how to apply it. Getting something in the hands of customers quickly can help you find a product–market fit much sooner—and succeed sooner. Wouldn’t that be great?

Accomplishing anything significant usually requires a team. Sure, one person may be able to do it, but it will be many times harder and take much longer. The thing that makes teams so special is their synergy. Teams comprising members whose strengths and weaknesses are complementary in important areas are strong and may make the difference between the business succeeding or failing.

Not embracing this fact—or, for that matter, even knowing it—hindered me at various points in CCAW’s journey. You’d think I would have learned my lesson, but I didn’t. I didn’t know any better and didn’t have people pointing out this oversight until late in the journey. It was a huge knowledge gap.

Early on I had an idea, but I didn’t know if it would work. I focused on testing and figuring everything out myself. The end result was good: I got a product/market fit. But it took much longer than it should have. Like, years longer. I missed out on first-mover advantage in our space. We played catch-up while key vendors benchmarked us against a competitor.

Years later, we were at around $7 or $8 million in annual revenue. We had developed a reputation for being well run and fair to customers and vendors. We reached a point where a comprehensive go-to-market strategy was needed to get to my $100 million goal. How should we market to customers and installers? How could we most effectively partner with suppliers and manufacturers? How could we acquire customers cost-efficiently and predictably? All extremely important questions! I didn’t have experience in these areas, nor did anyone on the team. I tried to find people to bring on board, but I didn’t make it a top priority. So, we had a huge weakness in a critical area because I didn’t add the right people. We never hit the $100 million goal.

Creating a vision for CCAW was important. Honestly, It took me years to figure it out—much longer than it should have. Operating in our space was difficult because it was constantly shifting. My big mistake was in not thinking deeply about the skills required to achieve my vision and making it a priority to add people who had them to our team.

If you’re thinking of accomplishing something significant (personal or professional), consider what skills are needed to make your vision reality. Then figure out who has the skills you lack. Answering these questions could put you on the path to greatness with a great team.  

I’ve thought about what hindered and helped me as an entrepreneur. The list is long . . . really long. One realization: my more-than-a-decade-long journey was segmented. Each segment demanded something different from me. First came ideation. I tested until I found a viable model, persuaded customers and vendors to work with me, and figured out how to finance everything. Later, at $5 million in revenue, came the scaling segment. I needed to expand the team, build scalable systems and processes, and share my vision. There were other segments too. These are just two examples.

In hindsight, not knowing what to expect hindered me. I hadn’t seen the movie. I didn’t understand there would be segments. In fact, I didn’t understand a lot of things. I spent a ton of time figuring out where I was, what was going on, and what I needed to do to progress. Sound like a lot? It was. Doing it all at once slowed me down. Luckily, eventually I was able to surround myself with credible entrepreneurs who illuminated the journey by telling me about their experiences. Then I knew where I was and what I needed to do, and I just had to execute. Of course, I’m oversimplifying, but you get the idea.

Understanding what segment I was in, knowing what skills were important in that segment, and walking it with folks who’d done it successfully were game changers.

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to accelerate your progress, consider learning what the whole journey will look like, identifying what segment you’re in, and learning from people who’ve already navigated it.

‍

Today marked the end of my thirteenth week of working exclusively from home. Here are my takeaways from week thirteen:

• Reflection – Taking time to reflect and record my thoughts was beneficial. Putting ideas on paper helps me clarify them. And that makes me more comfortable sharing them in conversation.
• Breakthrough – Two people who read one of my posts pointed out a breakthrough I’d made. It hadn’t occurred to me. I realized they were right when I thought about it. Sharing thoughts and being open to feedback can be powerful.
• Focus – The nation is still troubled, but this week was better for me. Not back to normal. Just better. I was able to focus on work. The issues still bother me, but not to the point of paralysis.
• New work normal – Haven’t completely figured this out yet. I did test working from a small private office for a few hours. Mentally, what a huge change! I could concentrate and be more productive. The building was empty and I was alone, so I felt safe. I’d like to do this more often.

Week thirteen was much better than last week. My big takeaway: continue sharing my thoughts and asking for feedback.

I’ll continue to learn from this unique situation, adjust as necessary, and share my experience.

Achieving entrepreneurial success can take many years. Many things make the journey difficult, but I believe gaps play an outsize role. Big relationship, knowledge, or capital gaps can break an entrepreneur. Maybe you don’t know anyone to introduce you to a decision maker in your industry. Or you’re unsure how to recruit the right team members. Or you don’t have the money to fund your growth plans—and don’t know how to go about acquiring it. I want to be clear: all entrepreneurs have gaps—extra-large ones are what I’m referring to.

To succeed, you have to figure things out as you go along. You must find the ideal path to your destination. If your gaps are yawning abysses, you’re looking for a path that’s in pitch-black darkness. But if they’re minimal, the path is lined with bricks and LED lights. You still have to find it and walk down it, and there will be obstacles along the way, but it will be far less difficult and time consuming to traverse.

My gaps were huge when I founded CCAW. I didn’t realize they were, though, until I surrounded myself with others through organizations like EO. I was able to start filling those gaps with their help. It’s still a work in progress, but plugging my gaps gave me a much better chance to succeed.

I’m a strong believer that Atlanta’s entrepreneurial ecosystem can reach the next level. The city has a lot going for it. Let’s help rising entrepreneurs who have big gaps gain the knowledge, build the relationships, and acquire the capital they need. Together, we can help Atlanta reach its full potential!

What motivates an entrepreneur is important. The journey is tough and full of emotional highs and lows, and it usually takes many years. The right motivations help you make it to the finish line. Yesterday I wrote about my why, which is one of my motivators as an entrepreneur.

I’ve noticed a few things about my motivations over the years. I can have more than one at a time. But one—my why—always dwarfs the others. It’s usually the only one that I have strong convictions about. Historically, I’ve been happier with decisions based on it. I call it my one-to-one rule, and it simplifies my decision-making and how I move forward. When I’ve made decisions to satisfy more than one motivation, it just hasn’t turned out as well.

My motivations change over time. I originally was passionate about helping automotive consumers because I was a car enthusiast (still am). Now, it’s helping entrepreneurs (small and medium-sized businesses). Why? Material things matter less as I mature. I still love cars, but not as much as I love people. These days, I’m motivated to help people I can relate to.

Motivations are important. They helped me stay the course during my entrepreneurial journey. Do you know what motivates you?

Today marks my ninetieth consecutive day of sharing my thoughts in posts. (I previously described how this started.) I recently spoke with a peer about my experience. He’s considering doing it too and wanted to ask me a few questions. By the time we finished chatting, I had had an epiphany: I understand things better when I share my thoughts widely.

I tend to think deeply about things. I try to understand by identifying connections that aren’t obvious. I used to ruminate and perhaps talk with one or two people very close to me. That approach was flawed. It didn’t help me achieve my ultimate goal: understanding.

It was a mistake to not share my thoughts or to do so only with a few like-minded people. I avoided opening up to others with different perspectives who would test my thinking or point out my blind spots (we all have them). I wasn’t really trying to understand, because I wasn’t talking to people who would be likelier to disagree with me. Naturally, I saw things only through the lens of my life experiences. My reality. I would come to understand an issue, or think I did, but since I looked at it only from my own narrow angle, I ended up missing things.

Sharing my thoughts broadly invites feedback. It sparks great conversations—opportunities for me to listen. I get glimpses of other people’s realities. I see things from their angle! I’ve learned that truly understanding something means getting as close as possible to a 360-degree view of it. The more people I talk to who are different from me, the closer I get to that goal.

Sharing my thoughts daily has illuminated all of this. Sometimes my initial thinking is wrong. (Whose isn’t?) When I share my thoughts with the world, I’m inviting others to help me acquire true understanding. Each person bridges a gap in that 360-degree circle.

I didn’t envision understanding things better as a benefit of sharing when I began posting every day, but it is, and I’m thankful for it.

I encourage everyone to share their thoughts more widely. It doesn’t have to be through writing; do it in a way that works for you. When you get feedback, listen. You’ll understand things much better.