A friend of mine who works with entrepreneurs talks about “meeting people where they are”. By that he means that each company or person is different. They each have a different experience, different needs, different wants - and they are all at different points in the development of their ventures. One size doesn’t fit all.
I thought about that this weekend after a coaching session with a new entrepreneur. After the session, when we discussed how it worked for him, he said he loved that although the session had a clear purpose, our discussion was not structured. By that he meant that our talk was personal and natural - it didn’t follow some static path. As he said, “You didn’t pull out some PowerPoint and start to talk about some set curriculum.”
We’ve all seen entrepreneurial advice that would have us follow some cookie cutter approach to “success”. If you are following some strict and narrow path to success, I want you to stop right now, find a quiet space, close your eyes, and ask yourself one question.
“Where am I on this entrepreneurial journey, and what should I do next to move forward?”
You can’t eat the elephant in one bite.
You don’t have to solve everything this morning.
Working on systems to handle huge volumes of orders when you don’t have that volume yet is a waste of effort.
Filling out some template because some guru says you should is a waste of effort.
Not knowing where you are and what you need to do next can cause you to run down rabbit holes that obscure that one thing you really need to do next.
You know your clear purpose. You want to grow your business. Now take some time to ponder and understand where you are.
Do you deeply understand customer needs?
Have you validated your business concept with prospective customers?
Does your sales and promotional messaging reflect the language customers use?
Even if you understand customer needs, does your product solve those needs in the way customers want?
Do you need to add a team member to shore up your or your venture’s skills?
Is your pricing providing you the margin you need or want?
Are your ads converting?
I could go on and on. These are just a few examples. What does your gut and heart say about where you are and what should be next?
Another friend has a technique he uses with brand new pre-revenue startups. He just asks them to find the one thing that is holding them back today. No matter what stage your venture is in, that is good advice!
When you close your eyes and think about your venture’s situation - and be honest with yourself - it (i.e. “where you are and what should be next”) will come to you.