I recently had the chance to sit down with Mark Hayward on the Business Growth Talks podcast, and it got me thinking about some of the common myths that often trip up founders on the path to scale.
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It was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Picture this. I had just graduated from the University of Maryland magna cum laude with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. But instead of following the expected path of working at a big fancy engineering firm, I became employee #2 at a startup energy auditing company running out of the back room of a house in the suburbs.
I was living my entrepreneurship fantasy.
There was just one problem…
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Treating imperfection as an operating expense
In 2008, some college friends and I started the first stationless bike sharing program in the North America, a decade before bikes and scooters appeared on the streets of every major city.
And the first question everyone asked us was this...
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How many times have we all been told that it pays to be different?
What we weren’t told is just how difficult being different can actually be.
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The future of your business has never existed before.
Think about that.
That vision you have in your head about what you want your business to become has never existed before in the history of humanity.
And that begs a really important question.
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“When you have one foot in the past and the other in the future, you’re just pissing on the present.”
I can still picture our instructor Michelle standing with her legs spread wide as she imparted this lesson upon our cohort of the Possibilities Seminar, a personal development program focusing on emotional intelligence.
As life-changing as that workshop was for me (and I don’t say that lightly), this particular lesson didn’t really land for me at the time. Sure I got the point - don’t live in the past or the future. Be present.
But how do we move forward in life or in business with two feet firmly planted in the here and now?
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Brad Talks Shop on The Edges of Lean Podcast
I had a blast talking with Bella about some of the things I’m most passionate about, including answers to many of the questions people have asked me over the years.
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When I talk to people about what it is that I do, I often talk about that time in the growth trajectory of a business when everything that used to feel fun and simple becomes messy and complex.
But what if things get to a point where everything feels that way? When everything feels equally important and equally chaotic?
It's definitely time to systematize, right?
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The thing I like best about travelling is the new perspectives that it offers.
Sometimes those perspectives come from the differences of a place or culture. Sometimes they simply come from not being at home.
And having just gotten back from vacation, here's what I'm reflecting on.
Fulfillment comes from accepting that you can't have everything you want.
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How entrepreneurship gave me the confidence to be me
Nobody told me growing up that I needed to get straight A’s and a college degree.
Nobody told me that I needed to get a stable, well-paying job and climb the corporate ladder.
Nobody told me that I needed to find a nice girl, settle down, and start a family. (Ok maybe my Jewish grandmother did, but let’s roll with it).
But in upper-middle class suburbia where I grew up, when the dominant thing you see around you is one kind of path, you think that’s the path you’re supposed to follow too.
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Remember when you were young and life used to be simple and fun?
When your biggest worries were whether mom brought home the right flavor of cereal from the grocery store or if you'd be allowed to sleep over at your friend's house.
And then you grew up, and adulting happened…
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Think you want your business to grow?
You might want to think again...
I recently conducted a poll on LinkedIn where I asked people if they wanted their business to grow or to scale. Here were the results.
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How to improve your creation process so that you can actually attain your vision
“All things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things.” - Stephen Covey
Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has had a profound impact on me throughout my adult life. I always seem to be reminded of Covey’s wisdom and lessons at precisely the right times. And it’s particularly during this time of year that I’m reminded of one of those lessons - that all things are created twice.
I’m reminded of that lesson because it was during this time five years ago that I went through a pretty big turning point in my career. One that started with the sudden and devastating closure of my last business, but ultimately led to the creation of BE Lean.
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In 2011, the company I was working at was at the brink of bankruptcy. I didn’t know it at the time, but we were just one payroll away from having to close our doors.
A year later, we not only survived, but had earned over $5M and expanded our team by 5x.
As incredible as that turn of fate was, I’m not here to tell you about how we turned things around and went from near failure to unequivocal success. I’m here to tell you about what came next.
Just two years after our meteoric rise, our profits had vanished entirely, we were forced to lay off half of our staff, and we were on life support - again.
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Coming home from Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, I was in sheer bliss.
I had just fulfilled a lifelong dream of going to the roller coaster capital of the world.
As the towering masses of steel shrank into the flat horizon of the Ohio landscape, I could still feel the ups, downs, twists, and turns. I closed my eyes wanting to hang on to the feeling as long as I could.
That feeling.
The feeling you get after riding a roller coaster is why they’re so often compared to the journey of entrepreneurship. The highs and lows. The intensity of the ride.
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“How is the guy who is all about systems and data looking at this decision on the basis of whether it will be fun?”
I was recently chatting with a colleague when she asked me this question about a meeting we had with a fellow operations consultant. The three of us were batting around the idea of collaborating together on a podcast or some other way to jointly promote our services.
I let out a small chuckle. Her question caught me by surprise. For a moment, I too was surprised by the words that had come out of my mouth. Was I really assessing the potential of a new marketing strategy through a lens of enjoyment rather than some calculus of return on investment?
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It’s been so easy over these past nine months to fall into the monotony of everyday life. I once took for granted how the ability to meet someone for coffee or go to an event breaks up the work week and puts you in a different state of mind.
So when I had the opportunity earlier this week to be on a podcast, the experience refreshed me and gave me an energy that’s lasted all week. It’s what got me out of bed this morning excited to share it with you!
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At the beginning of this year, I set a goal for myself that I wanted to share the knowledge and methodology behind my work with more people. I’ve seen how Lean has transformed the businesses I’ve worked with, and I want others to be able to achieve the same. So over the past few months, I’ve been working to make that happen.
I’m thrilled to have recently released the BE Lean Assessment - a free tool to give business owners expert insight into whether they have the systems, structure, and culture in place to achieve sustainable growth.
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By revisiting the worst week of my career
It was 8pm on December 12, 2016. After three hours of tense back and forth discussion, we had just decided to fold our company. Just five days later, December 16th, was greeNEWit’s last day in business.
I’ve thought a lot about this moment in the time that’s passed since. The failure of greeNEWit after nine years in business is what motivated me to start my own company, BE Lean. I’ve been driven by the desire to prevent other businesses from ending with the same fate. To help others achieve what greeNEWit never could: a sustainable business model.
And while greeNEWit’s failure inspired me to start my company, it’s also held me back. If I’m brutally honest, since the moment I started BE Lean, I haven’t been able to shake the imposter syndrome whispering in my ear, “If you couldn’t make greeNEWit succeed, what makes you think you can help others succeed?”
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Two energy startups. One succeeded. One Failed. This is what I learned.
I recently got to know Zack Moore and Shannon Sentman of Sol Vista in their office around the block from me in the Silver Spring Innovation Center (SSIC). As they told me their story, I was struck by how uncannily similar it was to my last company, greeNEWit.
Both companies started with the same vision of unlocking the potential trapped inside of buildings in the form of energy costs. Both raised capital to develop software products. Both faced similar setbacks and market challenges.
Yet ten years later, Sol Vista is a market leader with a bright future while greeNEWit closed its doors days shy of its ninth year in business.
I couldn’t help but walk away from my time spent with the Sol Vista guys wondering, what could we have done differently…?
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