Six Months. Six Lessons.
Cosmic Charging is six months old. So what have we learned, what errors have we made and how are we turning our focus to the next six months?
Lesson 1: Admin is empowering
Eh!?
Starting a business comes with a huge amount of administrative actions. New bank accounts, statements of compliance, shareholder agreements, accountancy tools, quotation templates, social media accounts... the list is endless.
So why is it empowering?
Each action presents progress and creates iterative chunks of momentum. On the days when customers are non-responsive or when timelines are out of your control you can always turn to a lovely bit of admin to keep moving the business forwards.
As we get busier and busier we hope to move out of the administrative minefield that is starting a business and into the minefield of relying on experts to support us with it!
Lesson 2: Most people want people to succeed
We've been overwhelmed by the supportive words, the 'likes and follows', the introductions and understanding of our early customers.
It's been reassuring that well intended, progressive and proactive ideas are more often than not met with corresponding kindness and support. We're yet to make a big faux pas but the attitude of those around us is building our confidence to allow us to fail, iterate and go again.
In the coming months we'll look for opportunities to pay forward this kindness to others around us that are starting businesses or nurturing big ideas.
Lesson 3: Bad ideas have good value
Ok; So if it's a really bad idea it probably has zero value.
But if it's a half decent idea that trips up on timing, budget or execution then it's probably worth the time you spent deliberating it, executing it badly and wasting money on it.
Starting a business is surely about learning fast and perfecting the proposition? Without these mistakes then you haven't got a hope in hell of getting to the right answer. You'll probably just end up in an echo chamber.
So where have we wasted money?
Advertising campaigns that produced nothing and then started to produce time draining sales calls with the wrong customer groups. Travelling to meetings and prospective project locations where we hadn't truly understood the customer need before we got there. The glorious British Rail System is an unforgiving mistress...
We plan to keep making mistakes. Just better and better ones...
Lesson 4: Ask
If you don't know the answer then just ask.
Our Co-Founder Rob was once known as 'Questions Rob' and conveniently sat next to a lovely bloke called 'Answers Allan'. Suffice to say he's trigger happy when it comes to questions...
Not pretending we know it all has really come good for us in recent months. We've narrowly avoided some expensive estimating mistakes, we've deepened our sales pitch with insights we otherwise wouldn't have had and we had direct feedback from customers who felt reassured that we wanted to really understand their needs.
We'll be continuing to ask the stupid question. It's our super power.
Lesson 5: Speed is what our economy needs. Inaction is expensive.
Speed is not always possible and it's not always wise.
That said, where we've had customers that can move at pace we've been able to invest more time and resource, and with more confidence, in order to find them a solution.
Where we sense customers, suppliers or partners are unable or unwilling to accelerate into a collaboration or a solution there is no greater a 'turn off' for a start up.
As the phrase 'start up' eludes to. We really need to get going, keep going and make pretty much all our graphs move up and to the right (apart from cost clearly...). We need to see interest growing, partnerships deepening, sales developing, customers getting excited and so on.
"We'll come back to you" mostly means "we won't come back to you" (or at least not in good time).
If you work for a big business (or local authority etc) and want to help small businesses then act with intention and speed. Even if it's a "no". Thanks :)
Lesson 6: Don't crave a conclusive outcome
Nearly everything we've achieved in the past 6 months will need revisiting.
Who we use for our banking, which suppliers we partner with, our website host, our legal agreements, perhaps even our brand.
The speed at which we are working creates action but it also creates imperfections and generates learning. If we don't take that learning and circle back to the start then we'd be foolish.
We've had to learn that ticking the 'to do list' rarely eliminates the action. It just reshuffles the pack. Ho hum. No one ever said this would be easy, fast or sleep filled.
