On Saturday Quantum celebrated its 8th anniversary. Here are 8 things (and a bonus one for – as we say in Hebrew – next year 😊) I’ve learnt building a business from the ground up in the last eight years:
1. Connections, money, educational background – you can have it all but if you don’t have self discipline, it’s not going to work. Building a business is hard and (can get) ugly, you have to show up every day, even when it’s hard. Especially then.
2. Many managers say it but don’t really mean it – care about your employees. They are waking up every morning and helping you achieve your goals, that’s the bare minimum you can do for them. Oh and faking it? Not gonna work, they know when it’s not real.
3. There’s no middle ground on this one – you must take full accountability and responsibility for what’s happening in your business. A mistake happened (regardless of who made it)? Yours. The quality of work is lower? Yours. A key employee leaves? Yours. You can’t take ownership only on the good stuff, it’s a whole package.
4. When starting out, you’re the only sales rep. Make sure you understand sales processes and how people make decisions. Sales work is challenging and it’s not because you built it, they will come. The great news is that when you believe in what you do, it’s easier to become good at selling it.
5. Don’t work with clients you don’t share similar values with. I know this one sounds challenging to execute (and it is) but really – either way it won’t work in the long run.
6. Find a partner that not only complements your skills and shares the same values with you but also you like working with (see #8).
7. Don’t trash talk about your competitors. There are so many reasons why not but here are two – one, you don’t really know what happened in the interaction between the person you’re talking to now and your competitor. It could be that this person is a total jerk. Humility is a better choice here (and generally in life 😊). Second, you don’t really need it to get a client, if you’re good at what you do, you’ll get it anyways.
8. Have fun. Being a manager is lonely, however building a business is one of the most fulfilling things you’ll ever do in your life, perhaps second only to having children, so enjoy it to the fullest.
Last but not least, execution is everything. There are millions of good ideas out there and more millions of people who talk about doing instead of actually doing. Join the doers, not the talkers.
Cheers to a fulfilling, exciting and fun 2023 🎉