douglasmkelly's posterous

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Failure is Not an Option

I recently read a blog post by a local acquaintance and fellow small business owner. She mused about the slow climb of her business and at times not focusing on the positive successes. She also wondered if it was all worth it. I've had the same issue at times. She, like me, started her business about a decade ago. That was a rough time to start a company. The internet bubble had just burst. My business, as you may know, provides internet business solutions. Lisa creates awesome jewelry that she sells locally and online.

So after reading her article, I reflected a little on my successes and failures. There are lots of them. Negative: Went broke. Positive: was able to keep the house. Positive: Still going and growing. Negative: Not where I want it to be. There are many more pros and cons, and they pretty much counteract each other when one lays them out on paper. Evolve's doing better than last year and other past years, but I'm still hungry. Some would say that to be hungry means your clients are taken care of and you are always looking for the next one. I guess I would agree. During the fat-cat years I didn't chase new work. New work fell in my lap. I wasn't hungry. Overall, in the history of Evolve Solutions, there have been up and down years - some really bad - some REALLY good. And when I was making good money, would bitch about the taxes. So I guess I too, need to also focus on the successes I've had.

There have been plenty of sleepless nights - plenty of worry - lots of introspection - loads of prayer - grey hair. I've had to change directions and add products to stay relevant. Partnerships have come and gone. But you know what? I'm good at what I do. I love being a solopreneur. I love working with awesome people. I love finding new potential clients. I love solving their needs. I love closing the deal. I love delivering great products and service. I think it's great that I develop friendships with my clients. I love working from my couch. I love going for a bike ride at 9 am, with my daughter. Those things definitely counteract, and leave in the dust, the getting up at 5am and going to bed at 1am, to get a quote out or finish a project. All those loves belie the fact that I've taken a vacation once in 10 years. But I don't mind so much. If you don't get something often - you don't miss it. I look for the little things - the small vacations. We go camping, kayaking, bike riding... and I coach the kids in soccer - That's 7-9 hours per week. That's like a whole day off for most people.

If I'm going to be able to take care of what I hold dearest (my kids) I'm going to need to keep going. Failure is not an option. I will continue to focus on the positive, otherwise I'll go insane.

What about you, Dear Reader? Have you ever started a business? Did it succeed? What kept you going? Would you do it again?

Yes that's a play on words. A few of us in West Michigan have noted that there seem to be more startups in Grand Rapids than in some other areas of the country. Now I don't know if that's actually true or just a perception. Some modest research shows Michigan near the bottom middle of states with per-capita allotted startup capital, so I could be wrong. I don't know if that stat includes angel investors or not, either. What is exciting is that we have some local entrepreneurs that are putting up some funds to help local startups - like the 5X5 Night and the Momentum Lean Startup Project.

This last month aimWest also touched on Startups, covered by M-Live, with young and old startups alike on the panel. Zipments' Founder, Garrick Pohl, in response to a question about "Where did you raise your Start Up Capital Capital?", said that 100% came from West Michigan! The others had various answers, but all said that a large portion came from donors, angels and resources in Michigan. So why not start a business here? We do have millionaires and billionaires here. I started Evolve Solutions with some investment money back in 2002 during the height of the Dot Com Bubble Bust. I don't think I would have done the "Pay For It With Your Own Money" route like some do, even though it's the smartest route (in my opinion and in retrospect).  

One take away that I liked from Roger Jansen, PhD (@Kidtelligent), Co-Founder of Kidtelligent, was that all companies must assign as much budget to Marketing as any other major portion of their business. Of course, what I liked about the statement was that I help companies with internet business marketing, from SEO to Social Media.

For any of you considering starting a business the Small Business Association has some great information including how to write a business plan. Check out their site - There's info on everything from writing a business plan and obtaining licenses to finding a mentor. I recommend doing all of these things. And revisiting your business plan after a couple years and every few years after that to revise and update.

So I'm hoping for a bit of a discussion here:

1. Are you a small (or medium) business in Michigan? 
2. Where did you get your start up capital and was it the smartest move to go that route? If you're not but want to comment, I'll take all comers. 
3. What about your marketing budget, and do you outsource or have you hired someone that has been forced to learn all this new Social Media and Search Engine Optimization and Search Marketing stuff? 
4. Is West Michigan a start-up capitol?

... and one last plug for aimWest: we're having the Momentum Lean Startup companies out to the downtown GR campus of WMU for their pitch night... come check it out.