The tension in the first stage of business development

Before the article, I need to take the time to say that today, this anniversary of the birth of the United States, that my country is in grave danger, that democracy is in grave danger. Grave harm is being done to people, without due process of law, and more is coming.

I shared it here, in a Facebook post.

I encourage all people of heart to speak out, to show up at rallies, to make your voice heard. And if you’re in the US, to get involved in helping people vote.

Part of the gift of having your own business is the freedom: no one will fire you for speaking up, and you have more control over your time, so you can contribute to the good with your effort, making phone calls, showing up, acting.

As my friend Desiree Adaway says, “Let’s all get free together.”

Now, on with helping your business be stable so you can do what’s in your heart:

In our training, the Four Stages of Business Development, I mention a creative tension that comes up in Creation, the first stage. The tension is caused by two things that are true at the same time.

The first is that the business is brand new, not generating much money, if anything, and you as the business owner may be at your most scared or anxious to get it going.

The second truth is that a business in creation is a bit of an unknown. No matter how much clarity you think you have, there is a lot of development and clarity coming. So, this means that everything you do needs to be held lightly.

The focus that is needed in this first stage is play and experimentation.

So how do you do that? How do you bring play and experimentation when you may be facing money stress?

Here’s three thoughts, although the first one may be useless at this point.

1. Don’t dive off cliffs.

What I mean is don’t quit your job, abandoning any source of consistent financial support, and expect a brand-new business to swoop in and save you in a reasonable amount of time. It’s just not realistic.

I wrote this article: “3 Things Before You Quit Your Part-time Job,” which covers what I’m saying here.

It may be too late, because you may already have quit, but if you haven’t, read that article first. And if you have, maybe start looking for a part-time job?

The ease of having some financial support can allow you to bring so much more fun and creativity to the early stages of business development, which is exactly what’s needed.

2. Play the long game.

Working your business expecting each new idea to be “the one” that is going to “change everything” puts WAY too much pressure on each idea to perform. 

Instead, if you hold the truth that your business will succeed, and it will take a 2-3 years to get there, and that each time you try something new, there’ll be a lesson worth learning, and some steps forward you take in developing the business.

3. Ignore complex, sophisticated strategies.

The super-fancy, expensive web site? You don’t need it yet. Perfect, gorgeous logo design? Wait. 14-step complex Facebook ad-webinar-email-funnel? Nope, not now.

Why? Because projects like that take a LOT of time to put together, and often a lot of money. It can be weeks and weeks, if not months, before you know if what you’ve done is going to be effective.

I created this PDF which speaks to this: Five Inexpensive Must-Do’s When You’re Just Starting (and four more expensive must-do’s for later).

And yes, please share that PDF with whomever you think needs to see it.

Instead, you want to do simple things that can be thrown together easily, to see if they work. Let your inner perfectionist take a nap, and realize this is a time for the young child within to play with finger paints and just see what happens.

There you go.

Don’t cliff-dive. Play the long game. Ignore complex strategies. That will help bring a LOT more compassion, ease, play and experimentation to your newer business, which is exactly what it needs.

What’s your experience with the early stage of business? Do you have access to play and experimentation?

With love,

Mark Silver, M.Div.

Heart of Business, Inc.

Every act of business can be an act of love.