The eternal ‘they’ say that a business will need to run for three to five years before becoming stable. I’ve heard that, and SAID it 1000 times if I’ve said it once. Why is that? I’ve recently had some experiences with other countries and learned some interesting things. A good friend of mine from Argentina that was visiting over the last little while tells me that if a business doesn’t take off in under two years there that you consider it a failure and put it aside. What’s also interesting is that their small businesses work a lot different. A company isn’t considered a real ‘company’ for the first few years. You pay no taxes, and have no liabilities to the government except for a fixed rate nominal fee you pay so they know you have a business. After you’ve been running a while then you have to start paying normal fees. Imagine if we could do that here? Imagine what a difference it would make if we weren’t jumping through hoops all the time and could actually concentrate on our businesses?

So how do we do it here? We follow the rules when we have to and we build ourselves to a point where there are fewer calls being made asking people to hire us. After a while the phone just…rings. Amazing to us, it’s a customer, THEY have called US, and they want to give us money! Are we dreaming?

The question is, how does this happen? at what point does our reputation start to take hold and do we find that we are in demand? Apparently here it’s 3 to 5 years. The question is.. if that has to happen in under 2 years in other places… are we stuck to some sort of growth rule or statistic? Or is it just some kind of societal stigma instead? Tech companies start here and inside a couple of years can be making tens of millions. Some of that has to be the fact that when you’ve got more money to start with, it’s a little easier to get the word out.

How do those of us with little more than an iron will and a dream do it? Should it take longer? I think not. Of course, what i think SHOULD be the case isn’t always real anyway… I think that a positive attitude and the willingness to put everything you’ve got into your dream makes a big difference. Sometimes other things can slow that up, but strong support from the ones you love and a persistence that only an entrepreneur could have will get you going. After you have kept that up and you continue to give everything you’ve got to every job, you’ll notice that at some point you reach a tipping point. You’ll never need to stop looking for work, not if you want to grow, but you will notice that the blood sweat and tears you’ve put in up front start to pay off.

Don’t forget, no matter what business you choose to start, that this is a commitment of a long time. and remember corny lines from old movies, even if a few people think you’re a little nuts along the way..

If you build it, they will come.

How many of you believe that the media is a reactive element? By reactive, I mean that they report on what they see so we’re all aware of it.

My next question is: How many of your believe the media reports on things and then we, as a consumer base, react to it and create the situation they talk about. Think about it… last summer they said fuel prices would go up to over $1.40 per litre. What happened? Everyone ran out to buy fuel, drove up demand and guess what?! Fuel went up to over $1.40 per litre. It happens all the time. Right now the media says we are in a recession, or ‘economic downturn’. It’s interesting, considering we’re so busy I’m hiring. I have a long list of people I deal with daily that say they’ve never been so busy. Real estate is still good, income is good and though unemployment is a bit higher than recent past, it’s still way below where it has been in the last few years.

So what happens when you hear all this talk about ‘economic downturn’? You get worried, you stop buying, you save more, spend less. And suddenly the market goes stale and voila! economic hardship, delivered on a platter to you because you created it. I’m not saying go out and spend like a maniac, but I believe it’s important to think about things rather than just believe some report on the radio or news. It’s true there are places that are suffering, but we do nobody any service by stopping our purchases or stopping our living. If Anything, we make the situation worse. We are lucky to live in an area that is a little insulated from some of the more hard hit areas. Why not use that to our advantage and help stimulate the economy. Others may not be able to right now but we can.

Think for yourself and support a business in your community today.

I can’t say for sure how many times I’ve told myself “get in there and write a blog post!” since my last one… which, rather embarrassingly, was 3 and a half months ago. We’ve had some big things happening here at the agency. It’s been busier than ever before, we’ve added a range of new services and I’ve had the chance to meet some fantastic new people.

Somewhere in there though, I think I got a little TOO wrapped up in work. It’s March and I have yet to move the snowboard from the wall. What I’ve learned this time is that it’s really easy to find reasons to work a little harder, stay a little longer and to tell yourself that it’s ‘just this once’.

Be really aware of your time. When you have a business, you need to keep track of hours spent on jobs, track staff to be sure they are efficient and particularly now when there’s a little uncertainty in the market, it’s important to be aware. The thing is, if you can do that for your business, shouldn’t you be able to do it for yourself too?

We often drag our family and friends into our passions, and thankfully, most are supportive. Without them, we would be in poor shape I think. Just remember to set aside a little time, on a regular basis, to see friends, sit with a loved one or scratch a pet’s ear. You might be surprised to learn how much it does not just for them, but for yourself too.

It came as a surprise to me to be honest..

I’ve been running this business for over 3 years now, and for those of you who also own a business, you know that means countless days that were longer than 8 hours. It’s just a fact of doing what we do. Long days, little pay and sometimes wondering what the heck we’re doing. The funny thing is that we get up each day, and we keep at it. We smile, we dream and we know that we’re doing what we love. Family and friends have looked at us in concern, and the brave ones have even suggested we work too hard and that we should take a break. Little do they know that for most of us, we work like this because it’s a passion, a need to do something for ourselves and to make a difference; either for us, our families or the people we serve.

So when I took my first real vacation just a couple of weeks ago, it was a complete surprise to me how quickly I forgot what day it was, what jobs we were working on and who was most in need of some attention. I can’t remember the last time that I didn’t have a fairly accurate inventory in my head of what needed to be done when, how much time was left, and who owed me money.

I found myself walking the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I was confident in knowing that when I came back, my office would still be there, things would still be getting done, and that life would move on. Of course I knew that when I got back, there would be some catch up, but I allowed to moment to overcome me and to just experience what was happening around me.

This is where I learned a secret about life. I’ve always tried to get that work/life balance thing under control and I haven’t been THAT bad at it either, but there’s a difference between taking a bit of time off for your body and taking a bit of time for your mind. I’m not saying you need to travel halfway around the world, but I highly recommend that you find a place, a way, a something or other that lets your mind drift away to a place that isn’t work, no matter how much you love what you do. Even if you don’t come back relaxed or refreshed, you will come back with a change in perspective and that will lead to good things.

Find time for yourself, it’s the best way to help others.

I’ll be turning 32 in a few weeks, and sometimes I still suffer from the teen age ‘know it all syndrome’. I’ve gotten past the point of being defensive if someone tries to teach me something and I’ve long since learnt the value of listening to those that have skills beyond my own or in different areas of specialization, but every once in a while I still get blind sided by someone telling me something that seems SO simple right after I’ve heard it.

This of course leaving me wondering “well, why didn’t I think of that??” The answer is simple enough really. Nobody really has the same perspective on things as someone else. Everyone has had a life that’s a little different and hence different people can think different things about the same topic. So where’s the real lesson in this? Is it in knowing that some people are just smarter? or is it in realizing that though you can be smart yourself, the smartest thing you can do is be willing to listen to someone elses words? It’s really not that tough, though as small business owners we often find ourselves thinking we can always do it easier and cheaper ourselves.

Why is this the case? We’ve all done it.. and at the very beginning it’s simply because we don’t have the money or the contacts to have someone else do it. What we need to watch for is when we reach the point where our time is worth more doing what we are good at than floundering away at something we aren’t. When was the last time you took a bit of a look at the different things that make your business run and see if maybe you could actually SAVE money by having someone else do something you either don’t do very well or something you realy don’t like. Maybe it’s time you should.

So the decision to create a blog actually came from a few places. We’ve had clients ask us to keep them a bit more up to date on some of the new things we’ve been doing and had some new people ask if there was a way they could learn about some tips and ideas… We also thought having our blog would finally make us cool so we said why not? You’ll be able to come in here and see posts from different members of our team, and we invite you to browse through them and hopefully you’ll be entertained or maybe even learn something!

Welcome aboard! Come on in! please keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all times as it’s gonna be a fun ride!

~ Tony