#prestartup

At the other end of risk is possibility. If we want to break barriers we have to see the possibility beyond the risk. There is risk in everything in life. We risk it when we cross the street.  We risk it when we take the lift. We risk it when we fly! But as Rare Birds this is what we do, we fly into the unknown. We can’t stand mediocrity, we abhor stagnancy and we refuse to accept average. So, we ascend, higher and higher beyond our wildest imagination. Into the depths of our deepest desires we immerse ourselves. We break barriers and lead a new way for ourselves and those around us. Birds break barriers and here’s why. 

You set a new standard

There is a standard and you choose to go above and beyond it. This standard may go against the grain. Opposite to what the community, friends, family and others may think is best for you. You make your own choices. You set your own trend. You’ve made up your own mind about what you want in this life. And now you’re going for it. As you set this new standard, others take note and they too decide they want to fly higher. It only takes one to break the mould for others to follow suit. 

You open doors for others

As Birds break barriers they open doors for others. When Birds set new standards others follow but they also open doors for new ideas to emerge. As these ideas emerge and more shifts are made, the possibilities are endless. When more women join in the better off we all are. We want to build and develop multiple Nests with many women aspiring, breaking down barriers and achieving new things. 

You create a new legacy 

What type of legacy will you create? This is a question our community focuses on often. Why? Because we aren’t simply making money. We are sustaining lives, developing futures and giving many people something to believe in. The legacies we leave behind with these ventures will have a lasting impact for many years to come. Creating a new legacy replaces outdated ways of working that were not beneficial to us.  

When building a business from scratch there are many things to consider. We would be remiss if we failed to recognise the importance of personality. In this instance we should look inward and assess our own personalities.  So, what of our personalities? What role do they play in business building? Your personality affects the bottom line. Here’s why!

Interactions with People

You will interact with many different stakeholders as you build your business. Customers, supporters, those indirectly in your supply chain, collaborators, partners, investors and many more.  As you foster and develop relationships you will begin to notice the various personalities and the different ways to manage them.  Conversely, “they” in turn will gain a better understanding of your personality.  That said, how will they manage your personality? Are you an intensely focussed and driven individual who micromanages right down to the minute detail? Or maybe you have a laid back approach? However you carry yourself and conduct your business are directly connected to your personality. The way you interact with everyone is a clear indicator of the type of personality you possess.  In summary, those interactions affect the bottom line. They affect the bottom line because your personality will also impact your business values. Your business values are embedded throughout all aspects of your business. With each interaction your business value either increases or decreases. Consider this: What is the correlation between how you interact with people and your sales revenue? The answer will be able to provide you with deeper insight. 

How You Run Your Business

How you run your business from day-to-day is a reflection of your personality. Think of companies, for example, where leaders micro-manage.  Micro-management is the result of a controlling personality.  Depending on your take, you may see this as a good or a bad thing. Generally speaking, however, controlling personalities don’t create an atmosphere that is good for business, at least not in the long run.  Looking to build a sustainable business? Check your personality.  A personality is developed early, but don’t discount flexibility. Once we are aware of the kind of personality we have, we are in a position to make adjustments.  

Some may argue that greed is a good thing and that as entrepreneurs it is required to feed ambition and drive success. If you believe entrepreneurship is driven by ruthless capitalism and motivated merely by profit, then this argument carries much weight for you. Entrepreneurship does involve wealth creation, as well as making a profit but that isn’t all of it. Social entrepreneurs for example, are interested in profit but also in solving problems. Greed isn’t just an entrepreneurial problem, it is a human problem, but strangely enough we seem to associate it more with business than any other profession or discipline. Greed is counterproductive to the entrepreneurial journey and in the long run will not work well in your favour. 

Greed like most things in life is driven by fear. Fear of losing, fear of not having enough, fear of not being accepted, fear, fear and more fear. Then there are the feelings of self-doubt and low self worth. All of the above are not a good combination for any entrepreneurial venture. If you are driven by fear you will build a business based on fear. As a result you will micromanage, be obsessed with controlling everything and everyone. In the end no one will like you and your business will struggle both financially and culturally. 

Greed often results in disaster. Corporations are a perfect example of this-Enron, Lehman Brothers and the subsequent 2008 financial crash-to name a few man-made greed driven disasters. Albeit, these occurrences have happened in the corporate space they have and continue to happen in entrepreneurial spaces as well and the impact is equally as high.  The entrepreneur wants to change the game, not participate in it.The entrepreneurs desire is to turn against the tide not ride the wave.  Participate in problem solving that has a positive impact on others lives.  Don’t create disasters that ruin the lives of those around you. You owe a responsibility to the people your serve, those you work with and those you employ. An abuse of power is a no-no! 

Greed is not a force for good. There are many articles on the web, which state greed has a bad reputation and that greed is a force for good.  Greed they say is what creates ambition.  Perhaps overly ambitious misdirected behaviour is correlated with greed. The overly ambitious don’t make good entrepreneurs because their ego underpins all that they do. Some would say, “ I know many ego-driven entrepreneurs that do well.” What do these people mean by doing well? If we take a look at the world’s most successful entrepreneurs they are driven by a strong purpose that has nothing to do with their egos. Greed has never been and will never be a force for good. All we have to do is study the history books for further confirmation of this. 

There are different types of intelligence required to survive the challenges of daily life. In addition to this, there are specific types of intelligence required for entrepreneurship.  A number of intellectual skills are needed to see a vision through from beginning to end. The ability to observe, listen and react quickly whilst at the same time not compromising integrity, is a skill. The ability to make decisions in earnest as well as to balance lateral and vertical thinking are equally important. One must be pragmatic yet innovative.   While the below are not exhaustive, they are essential to building a business from scratch.

Cultural Intelligence

We live in a global village, connected by the click of a button. We see into each others lives over social media. Our mobile phones make it easy for us to speak across borders and live stream information across the airwaves within seconds. We no longer build businesses locally, we build them globally. The thought of operating within the limitations of a confined space no longer exist. Therefore the female founder must be able to relate and work effectively across cultures.  She must be adept at understanding that what may be the norm in one culture, may be outrageous in another. She should be understanding of the nuances that culture bring to everyone that she does business with. 

Social Intelligence

The socially inclined tend to be very successful at business. Business is about relationships. There is no business if there are no relationships. Relationships are the foundation on which businesses thrive. Let’s ask ourselves the question: What is a business? A complex web?  A well designed system? A business is merely a vehicle to facilitate relationships. It is a space for the relationship(s) to blossom.  The capacity to initiate, develop and maintain relationships is a skill, which does not come naturally to everyone. The female founder is an effective navigator of social intelligence. 

Creative Intelligence

Creativity is required throughout all aspects of business.  From concept to implementation the idea must be infused with creativity.  Creative intelligence isn’t just about making something new, but it is also about re-purposing the old into something new. Using innovation and imagination to develop new ways of thinking. The creative process equips the female founder with the third eye needed to approach all aspects of business.  

Emotional Intelligence

Understanding our own emotions, knowing what triggers them and being able to identify these triggers are all important.  Being self aware and being aware of how our actions affect others is a necessary skill to have. There will be many bad situations and instances where you will feel like giving up. Harnessing these emotions and understanding that they are all a part of the natural flow of things is very important.  Emotional intelligence is particularly important when building a team. The female founder uses emotional intelligence to simply put, build a happy business.

The crow is said to be one of the most clever birds in the animal kingdom. They are exceptionally intelligent. They have a memory bank, that gives them the ability to remember the most minute of details. They have a special dialect that allows them to speak to each other. They forage for food and store for a “rainy day.” Crows are also observational learners. They learn by watching! Who are they watching? Humans. When it’s all said and done intelligence helps the Bird take flight. Use your intelligence to support your mission. 

Our motto: Share Your Secrets. Share Your Success.

Last week we discussed the importance of sharing secrets. This week we shift our focus to success. What is success? The answer to this question varies with each individual. For some it is the opposite of failure. For others it is the pinnacle of achievement, a position or thing obtained through hard work. Depending on one’s perspective success can also be a journey. In order to build community, we must share success. The sharing of success helps others achieve. Our stories act as a source of inspiration to others. Each story complete with its own special narrative, providing hope for those along the way. Entrepreneurship is about doing but as we know it is also about observing and listening. Storytelling is a powerful tool and here are a few reasons why we share our stories of success. 

It Brings People Together

Sharing success brings people together. Through our stories of experience we help others thrive. Sharing builds a community of awareness and empathy which creates an environment of understanding. And with understanding comes more tolerance.  A dynamic, inclusive community allows for different types of people to come together with a united vision. Sharing success helps to solidify the vision, whatever it may be. Instead of deliberately withholding successes’ for fear of coming across as arrogant, we share knowing that our community encourages success. Success on our own terms and standards. If we don’t share our success how do we expect others to learn and grow? Growth cannot be achieved through osmosis!  It is through lived experience of struggle that we are able to grow. We also include the lived experiences of others to further enhance our mission. 

It Influences Behaviour

Sharing influences behaviour.  Behaviours are learned. We tend to emulate what we see around us, particularly in our formative years.  As we become adults and hopefully raise our consciousness we also start to unlearn old behaviours and learn new ones. Learning and unlearning are recurring themes within entrepreneurial spaces. They are necessary for anyone who plans on developing a sustainable business.  As you develop your business there are behaviours which can also be gleaned from your peers. Our peers are some of our biggest influencers. Their positive behaviours should be identified and emulated simply because it has been tried and tested. You may want to give it your own personal twist, personalise it and make it your own. You may also decide to extract bits of behaviour from others which you believe will help you. We share our success to influence behaviour!

Where did this motto come from? No where special. It was devised in the spirit of sharing and represents the community which is being built. Share your secrets so that someone else can have a chance. Share your success so that someone else can be inspired to pursue their dreams. Secrets are complementary to success in that once a secret is disclosed it opens the gates for success to be achieved. Birds are sharers and so I encourage you to share, not because this community warrants it but because it is the right and necessary thing to do. 

The current Business Plan for Microwd is 10 pages long, 2,800 words and labelled V11. At it's largest, it was over 6,000 words. It has currently been viewed by 16 people directly, and probably more including those 16 people showing it to trusted colleagues/advisors.

But our business plan isn't for those people. It's for us, the founders.

Woah, Not So Fast There Cowboy!

Now I'm not an idiot, so I'll address the first thing that many people just shouted:

"A business plan is for investors!"

Okay well maybe. All investors will request to see the business plan.

But is a top class business plan going to attract investment if the founders have poor credibility, poor background skills, poor charisma, poor attitude? It certainly isn't.

In my experience so far, I've gone over every detail of the business plan when I've had followup meetings with investors. Why? Maybe they want to hear it from the funders in person, to check you understand it fully. Maybe because a spoken sentence communicates 100% more from than a written one.

The point is, the Microwd business plan has pretty much been delivered in it's entirety verbally to almost every investor I've spoken with. I've explained each section, in the same detail as the plan (and then some), over coffee/lunch.

So, was the business plan really for the investor, or was it for me, to organise those thoughts and messages and arguments, to incorporate improvements to the model, so that I could deliver them with increasing clarity with each coffee?

I'm finding this is the case for Microwd, and particularly the angel Investors I'm speaking with. 

Here's An Example...

After a recent conversation about activating the business model, one investor made some great points and showed how, with some clever timing, we could potentially half or avoid a future funding round we'd planned. He just put it on the table, and simply offered:

"Why don't you run the numbers, I'm curious what the plan would look like..."

So I did. and he was right. With some clever timing (and a lot of market research too to check the pricing) I could potentially squeeze out the need for a funding round that would have diluted everyones shareholding - including my majority.

Having the balance projections in their 8th version, and the business plan in the 11th, shows how iterative a business planning process can be. Just by seeking the investment, we're already learning so much more about making Microwd leaner, much leaner, and potentially much more profitable, maybe skipping the ramen profitability stages.

I'm happy that investors want to look over our plan. I love the feedback - it's basically free coaching for a £500/hr consultant.

But it's for us. Its ours. It's a map of our iterative (agile?) planning process. It has 16+ co-authors already, with combined turnovers across those co-authors into the tens/hundreds of millions. It's only 10 pages as an end result, but it's had tens of thousands of words put into it.

I've read a fair share of 'Maverick Entrepreneurs' who dismiss business plans, and say they weren't in any way a contributing factor to making their millions. But I don't buy it.

Try This For A Tester

Even if you write the business plan after you've started trading, speak to 16 different investors/entrepreneurs about it, and then try and tell me you don't learn anything or want to change something in that plan.