Yesterday, I met with a group of incredibly smart, motivated and value-driven entrepreneurs to tackle a question that all of us face at some point in our self-employment life – at what point do you quit? One of the questions we all discussed was:
Do you have specific metrics that you use to figure out when it’s time to stop charging forward and just hunker down?
At Bramble Berry, I don’t go by my gut very much any more without having specific, measurable numbers to back it up. We have a monthly management meeting (click here to see exactly what we cover) and at this meeting, we go through our budget line by line. Any number that is more than .05% off is color coded so we can see at a glance what needs improvement and discuss corrective action. I use my gut when it comes to hiring and firing decisions, new product lines and decisions about marketing strategy but it is only a tool. If the numbers don’t back me up, my gut won’t win the argument for long.
Another question we discussed was: Do your other responsibilities make you more conservative or less conservative?
This was an easy one for me to answer. I feel like my decision making gets more conservative the more employees Bramble Berry has. I feel a responsibility to make the ‘right’ decisions so that there is a job for future generations of Brambleberrians. The drawback to this is that it makes Bramble Berry less nimble and able to react to trends because I review decisions more carefully. For example, we didn’t ever add much in the way of diffuser ingredients because by the time our rigorous testing process was done … the trend had peaked and was not a growing market segment for us to pursue.
At what point is your business not fun? If you’re not fulfilling the dreams you had for the business when do you cut back/pull the plug?
This was the zinger of the questions for me because part of what I love about being self employed is the opportunity. I love being able to dream up my best future and then have the freedom to pursue those plans with delight and vigor. And, since I’ve done every job at Bramble Berry (pulling, packing, pouring, customer service, accounting, budgeting, marketing, you name it), I’m always game to jump in and help whenever I’m needed (and the sad truth is that the team at Bramble Berry can pack, pull and pour way better than I ever could so I’m really not much help). If my ‘dream’ isn’t being fulfilled, then it’s time to rework the vision and the dream.
Right now, we have a powerful motivation – our vision of changing lives, creating opportunities, delivery high value and encouraging creative expression through the five senses. Any time the going gets even a little tough, I just need to look at our overall vision to help sustain me through rough patches. (Wondering how you can make a vision? Here’s a starter post on how to write up a vision).
Takeaways:
- Always back up gut decisions with numbers
- Being nimble is a market advantage. Fight to stay there.
- Define your vision. Make your roadmap and stick to the plan faithfully.
- Entrepreneurs are the eternal optimists. It’s hard to get us down!
