Leap of Faith
Recently, I spent a little time reviewing everything New Leaders has accomplished in the last 18 months. From the creation of Electric Checkbook, Signalfire, our website, hundreds of articles, and many estimates to even more completed customer projects. Compared to internal projects, customer projects were dominant, requiring 90% of our time. It really is an immense amount of work in a very short period of time. What startled me is how our early customers provided much of the investment for us to get to the position we are now, all the while taking a major leap of faith on us.
For example, when we started we only had a nicely designed PDF file and a single landing page website for nearly a year. We had some examples of different projects we’d completed, but not even a full website illustrating our capabilities. Certainly we had a few prior contacts and our individual reputations which we used to secure clientele, but we provided very little information on what we could do for customers. While we still maintain relationships with some of our earliest customers, others have moved on. These early adopters that trusted us to deliver, provided us the platform required to create all of the assets we have today, and to them I will always be grateful. Without their business we couldn’t have made it as far as we have, nor as quickly. This is the very reason why I stress the importance of your business’ early adopters. While not all projects can be perfect, it is crucial to meet and exceed customer expectations whenever possible, especially those that trust far earlier than most people. These customers will create the backbone of your new business. If you treat these people poorly or things don’t go as planned, it is much harder to earn an authentic positive reputation that will create new opportunities.
Our first year was really hard and we made many mistakes. We believed in our hearts that with enough time, support, and opportunity, we would make it. When I think back to the very beginning of our business, I am saddened because we weren’t as operationally strong as we are now. If I could only go back and make things right with some of my customers, I most certainly would. But no one can change the past. What we can do is work hard when the opportunity comes to help those customers again, and do our very best to exceed their expectations. In the beginning, I expected new business to always roll in. While we’ve never had a shortage of work to do, I later realized that our early customers had a big leap of faith to endure, and that is why it was so much harder to find new opportunities than it is today. In the beginning, the idea of New Leaders was real but it took time to assemble the right team, put systems into place, and create a process that really works.
I think this lesson can be broken into a simple three part principle:
1.) You only have a few chances to get your business right. If you don’t succeed within a certain amount of time, it is lights out. Early customers are faithful, but only have limited patience to give. Early adopters are absolutely crucial to your future success; you’ll work twice as hard for half as much with your first customers.
2.) Now is the right time to find customers. We had a PDF and a single page website, and we built our business on top of that. It is never the right time to start selling your product or service — do it anyway. Things will never be perfect, and it is better to learn the lessons of selling your product or service as early as possible. It is never too soon to start making money, even if you just break even.
3.) You can’t avoid making mistakes, but you’ll need to work hard to minimize them. When you make a mistake you’ll realize what doesn’t work and find ways to improve that part of your process. You’ll learn from your mistakes and grow because of them. It is all part of the process.
I really hope these early lessons are helpful when launching your business, and realizing that starting is the hardest part. Too often, people believe that everything has to be perfect right out of the gate. The truth is that your product must be good and fairly priced for people to want to try it. Greatness and perfection can be acquired over time.
Posted on Jan 23, 2009 by Kevin Milden
Post Your Thoughts