Summer is Over (yay?!)
There’s a line in Batman: The Dark Knight, where Heath Ledger’s Joker says “I’m like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it.”
My friend Zeke likes to mention this line to me for a variety of reasons: one) he loves the Joker but mostly, two) I’m rarely one for planning, I jump in, and jump in hard and three) he loves a good plan.
As I wrote earlier, ArcSense has been in my head for a while, but that doesn’t mean there’s been a master plan on what the business should do at every inflection point. I thought we’d grow a little bit more modestly, and I’d have waves of steady work that would allow me to scale, grow a bit, scale a bit more, …repeat.
Instead I’ve quickly landed amazing, fun PR and communication clients in NYC, Arizona, Philadelphia, Charlotte, and of course, here at home in Raleigh, NC. Those waves of steady work, lapping peacefully at the shore I was hoping for? More like barrel waves meant for serious surfers and I only have my boogie board (much of my summer spent here).
So, what have I learned?
Invest in Yourself: I’ve been too hesitant to invest in my business. I even told myself to not be this way a month ago when I was hemming/hawing on when to join my local chamber. We signed a great new client the first event I went to…why hadn’t I done this sooner?!
Invest in Automation: Okay, we’ve established my mindset in #1 above and now I’m paying for this even more in spending too much time doing manual processes. Creating invoices, processing payment, … are all things I should have paid a service to do for me automatically. What else can I take care of in a similar manner? ***Contracts enters the chat***
Invest in Your Strengths: I’m the most productive for ArcSense when I’m working for clients, meeting new clients, or working on my own marketing and communications. Identifying my core strengths (as they apply to the business) has really enabled me to prioritize my time and enabled me to have a better grasp of what I need that will help me in other areas.
Net of this story? Identify what you’re the most productive at, find partners that will help with the other stuff, and pay them! While not a plan per se, the approach is helping me make decisions quicker, dodge a few cars along the way, and hopefully begin building a framework for something I can scale.
