The Myth of Calling the Shots

One of the reasons I initially got into entrepreneurship was that I wanted to “call the shots.”  This is one of the most common reasons people cite for getting into entrepreneurship.  Being the boss.  Calling the shots.  Making the decisions.  It’s compelling.  And it’s almost completely false.  It’s one of the great myths of entrepreneurship (one of the others is ’setting your own schedule’ – but that’s for another time).

Here’s why it’s a myth: you don’t call the shots – the market calls the shots.  While you get to make decisions, those decisions can’t be made in a vacuum.  Well they can be, but then you’re in business NFL – Not For Long.  I come across so many entrepreneurs who see entrepreneurship as one giant path of constant self-aggrandizement.  They see success as following their instinct and trusting in their singular vision. And that’s just plain stupid.  Your business needs to serve a need – its needs to connect with what the client wants.  And if you make it all about what you want – and your need to make decisions – you’re putting yourself first.  It’s not about you – it’s about the client.

Here’s another reason it’s a myth: you should surround yourself with smart people.  Better yet smarter people.  If you insist on making all the decisions – you’re closing yourself off from the advice and support of these people.  Or you’ve surrounded yourself with yes men and/or idiots.

When you think you’ll call the shots you’re subscribing to the view of entrepreneurs being brilliant geniuses ensconced in their ivory towers handing down brilliance from on-high.  If you look at really successful entrepreneurs, they are connectors. They form partnerships, they bring resources together, and they listen to clients.  What they don’t do is engage in the relentless arrogance of thinking it’s about calling the shots.

In my own experience, discovering this myth was one of the more painful realizations of running my own business.  It stinks to realize that it’s not about you and your brilliant ideas.  It’s about putting yourself out of the picture and focusing on the client.

Any other myths you’ve seen busted?

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I wrote the following tips for my current batch of entrepreneurs, but thought they might have more general application here.  Email is like a hammer: it’s a great tool when used effectively, and f*ing painful when it isn’t.  Enjoy!

Email.  We use it every day.  But are we using it as effectively as we can?  Probably not, if we’re not doing the following:

1. Use Reply All: Before I came to Bizdom, I hated Reply All.  I thought all it did was clutter up my inbox.  Now? I realize it’s the reason my inbox isn’t cluttered – it’s informative.  If I’m cc’ed on an email, I want to know how the conversation is going and whether the issue’s been resolved.  When I cc someone on an email, I want them to be part of the conversation.  Maniacal use of ‘Reply All’ helps this immensely.  Do it as a matter of common practice.
2. Informative Subject Lines: There’s a reason newspapers, blogs, and various other forms of media use headlines – it lets the intended recipient know what the communication is about.  It allows them to skim the headline and prioritize.  When you recycle an old email for convenience sake, you’ve made the subject line useless.  And ultimately put your own convenience over that of the recipient, which leads me to my next point:
3. Put yourself in the shoes of the recipient: You want something from them, make it easy for them to give it to you.  You want them to read the email? Make sure the subject matches the content.  You want them to do something after they read the email? Ask.  An email with a document attached could mean “I need you to review this immediately” or “I just wanted you to have a copy of this” or “Hey look at me! I can use attachments!”  Without a direct call to action, you’re making it difficult to get the recipient to take any action, much less the action you want them to take.
4. Use a signature block: If someone wants to follow up on your email, make it easy for them to contact you.  Give them your email address, phone number, address, HAM radio call sign, whatever it takes. Signature blocks automatically added to your email achieve this in a no muss, no fuss manner.

When I was improvising, one of the big moments of self discovery I had was when I realized that everything we do onstage looks like a choice, so we should be conscious of that choice and make it a choice.  When it comes to something as mundane as sending an email, this same principle applies.  Ask yourself – what result am I trying to obtain with this action, and have I done everything to make that result obtainable. Have I given it 100%?

Some of you do this consistently and regularly, and clearly get what I’m talking about.  To you, I offer nothing but praise and encouragement.  Your efforts matter and you will be effective.

Some of you will think I’m an email maniac who’s obsessing about some minor points.   To you, I ask – faced with the choice of communicating effectively and communicating ineffectively, what would possibly justify choosing the ineffective route? Effective people take effective action – that’s what makes them effective.

In the comments, please share your email pet peeves or opportunities for excellence.

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We had the pleasure of taking the current team of Bizdom entrepreneurs (whom I am calling Team Hammer Pants, since they can’t come up with a team name of their own) to Big Communications, to meet with Lisa Stern, the Founder.

Lisa gave a great overview of the founding story of Big, as well as a description of their culture.  I could easily write a dozen entries on Lisa and Big (hell, I could write one just on how great their offices are – they are absolutely beautiful), but I want to focus on 3 Big takeaways from their story and culture.

3 Big Ideas from Big Communications

1. The business you find success in may not be the one you start in.

Big originally started purely doing video production.  Now they handle communications for health care companies.  This isn’t to say your initial idea is unimportant and therefore unworthy of proper research.  Rather, the lesson here is that you’ve got to follow the natural wave of your business and fish where the fish are – build on the success you earn, rather than the success you wish you had.

2. Passion means emotional investment in what you do.

This was a point I tried to emphasize at my TEDx presentation.  It’s not about doing what you love, but rather loving what you do.  I’ve heard lots of people talk about ‘passion’ and seen people confuse obstinacy and unfounded pride with passion. Having passion doesn’t mean that you can magically will something to happen.  Instead, it means bringing an emotional investment to what you do – finding the love in what you do.  When I asked Lisa what she’s currently passionate about she said “I’m really passionate about how we staff projects.”  Trust me, no one says “When I grow up, I want to staff projects!”  But she’s found the interest and passion in that task, and that’s a beautiful thing.

3. Vision is about having a goal you’re moving towards

Another great insight into an oft-cited entrepreneurial trait: vision.  Vision isn’t about having a grandiose vision about what success will look like (yachts or being on Oprah), but rather about having a very specific goal you’re moving towards.

Bonus idea: Not really a bonus idea, but rather a combination of the final two, and it’s this – any old passion or vision won’t do.  You’ve got to have a specific type of passion and vision to be a successful entrepreneur.  I meet a lot of people who are very emotional (what they think is ‘passionate’) and have a well defined vision for themselves (usually of them on a yacht with Oprah), who think as a result they’re entrepreneurs.  I can give you a well defined vision of what I’d do if I won the lottery (it wouldn’t be Oprah or a yacht), but that doesn’t mean I’m going to win it.  I’m extremely passionate about fantasy football, but that doesn’t mean I should make a career out of it.

What do you think? Will any old vision or passion do? Or do you need something more?

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Easy quick no brainers to be better than everybody else*

1. Have a kick ass email signature.

Make it easy for people to contact you.  So automatically put your email address, phone, twitter, website, etc. in your email signature.  That way, someone wants to contact you after reading your email, all the info they need is right there.  A discreet quote is fine, but not necessary.

2. Apologize for interrupting people.

Time’s short, so you may need to cut someone off and get to the chase, but do apologize and give them a chance to continue.

3. Say thanks, and please.

Extremely effective in business communications.  Someone does you a solid, thank ‘em.  Need something from someone? Be courteous enough to ask nicely.

4. Bonus Tip: Know how to end conversations.

It’s classy and clean to make it clear that the communication is over, whether that’s phone, face to face or email.

*better at everyone else at communicating, which is the key to everything. While these may seem like simple random tips, these will put you ahead of a ridiculous number of people.

What other simple things can you do that put you over the top?

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I’ve often struggled with the notion of what should and shouldn’t be mandatory when training entrepreneurs.  I’ve decided that nothing should be mandatory.  If you have to make someone do something, they’re not really ready to be their own boss and run their own enterprise.  Why? Because in business, when you’re the entrepreneur, no one is going to stand over your shoulder and make you do things.  If a person can’t motivate themselves, they’re not ready.

Being an entrepreneur is like running a marathon.  It is a challenging endeavor which requires commitment, focus and motivation.  And yet, like a marathon, it’s a totally voluntary endeavor. No one can make you run a marathon – no one can make you become an entrepreneur.  If you asked a marathon runner if their training regimen were ‘mandatory’, they’d likely look at you like you were a fool. ‘Mandatory? No.  100% necessary – absolutely.’ There’s nothing mandatory about a proper marathon training regime.  You could easily show up for a marathon one hundred pounds overweight, never having run a day in your life, and wearing high heels.  It’s your choice.  But one choice will lead to success (completing the marathon) and the other failure (being forever known as the guy who had a heart attack while wearing high heels at the marathon).

When training would-be entrepreneurs, design your program with this notion in mind.  Self-motivation is crucial.  It’s a hard thing to train and coach people on.  It’s certainly not impossible, but the first time someone asks if something is mandatory, give them the marathon speech; the second time they ask show them where the door is and wish them well somewhere else.

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Have ideas.  They’re more important than opinions.  With an idea, you’re open to suggestions.  With an opinion, you’re trying to be right.

It’s more important to think than to be smart.  This is why successful people are always asking questions.  They may not be smart, but they never stop thinking.

Do that; victory will follow.

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This week I was a Curbside Consultant at the Launch of FastTrac to the Future, an entrepreneur development collaboration between TechTown, The Kauffman Foundation and the New Economy Initiative.  Bizdom has received grants from the New Economy Initiative and Kauffman, so we’re tangentially part of this.

The final event of the day was  a panel on ‘Entrepreneurial War Stories’.  It featured the inimitable Patrick McInnis (CEO of FatHead), Jane Sydlowski (AMI Strategies)and Randal Charlton (former CEO of Asterand).  The stories were great, as were the lessons.  At the end, the moderator asked each of the three for a couple of tips for entrepreneurs to survive and succeed as entrepreneurs.

Pat McInnis

• Control your control freak
  • relinquish control
  • don’t relinquish accountability
• Culture matters
  • you create a motivated workforce when you focus on people and help them achieve their dreams

Randal Charlton

• Money will be tight
  
  • but get going on the least amount of money you can
    
• Leverage existing resources
  
  • there’s much more in place around you than you realize

Jane Sydlowski

• Consider ‘No’ a ‘Yes’
  
  • you’ll experience more ‘no’s’ than you know
  • don’t accept ‘no’
    
• Show up for yourself
  
  • network
  • share your story with pride

Great tips one and all.

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Culture fundamentally is about how you treat your clients and how you treat each other.  In the early days of a startup, when things are extremely tense (money’s tight or non-existent, you don’t really have any business yet) there are a couple of crucial components.

1.      Lines of communication must be kept open. Talk every day.  When I was involved with my startups, I talked to my team everyday.  We talked early in the morning and at the end of the day.  It helped us discuss what we needed to get done in the day and also know what the other people were up to.  It also gave us a chance to address any issues that were coming up. Most importantly, it gave us a chance to start to get to know one another.  Don’t overlook the fact that you’re dealing with other human beings, not just work robots.

2.      We are the they. In a small startup, there are no bosses, no executives, no one is ‘assisting’ anyone else.  It’s a team.  Work as a team.  Even if one of you is drawing a salary and the other one isn’t.  Even if one of you is making 3 times as much as the other one.  You want a fully empowered team that’s operating at their best capabilities.  Eliminating the sense that one person is another’s superior goes a long way towards making this happen.  Nobody’s working for anybody, we’re all working for the team, and for each other. You create ownership of purpose that way.

3.      Set a reasonable work schedule for yourself and for everyone else. There’s always more stuff to do.  You want to avoid a culture built on face time (who can show up the earliest, who can stay at work the latest).  Do you value people getting stuff done, or do you value people looking busy?  It’s really easy in those early days to work yourself into exhaustion and then set that as the standard.  You want to have a constant workflow, not a workflow that’s intense up to the point where it breaks down and then needs to build back up.  Everyone worked really hard in the organizations I’ve started, but at the end of the day, we make sure to wrap it up so that we’re able to come back in tomorrow and do it again.

4.      Ignore the noise. The early days are fraught with noise.  It’s not working.  We’re stupid to do this.  We’re going to be out of business by the end of next week.  Put your head down, focus on execution, and ignore the noise.

5.      Every client, every time. Clients are hard to come by early on.  Make sure you’re returning their phone calls and emails promptly.  Blow them away with the speed and clarity of your response.  Grab any opportunity to serve a client, and serve the hell out of them.

Focus on these things and you’ll make it through the rough early days with a culture founded in reason and execution, rather than irrationality and panic.

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