First Anniversary

I realized I have been slacking and that it has been awhile since I last posted or written something. So hopefully this fits the bill and it won’t be another long sabbatical before the next.
So I am sitting here in my office with my black croc sandals on, wearing too many hats, with too much to do in one given day, and having too many thoughts compiling in my brain bursting at the seams and screaming to get out. So I have to start writing to get at least one of these random thoughts off my plate (so to speak) and out of my head so I can have enough room for the next random thought or idea to get comfortable and set up shop. As I do this, I realize its June and this time last year is when I officially opened Mc3 Media Studios for business. So happy first anniversary! What is that you ask. Has it been exciting? Yes. Has it been fun? Yes? Have the day-to-day tasks been daunting? Yes? Has it been frustrating? Yes. Nerve wracking? Absofreakinglutely!
I have spoken with other start-up business owners and 3-4 year term business owners, and those business owners who have been around for 5 plus years, and it appears that the general consensus seems to be, starting your own company is tough. It’s one of the toughest things to do. It’s constant sweat and sweat equity, with very little resources and/or capital, and the rewards in the beginning are very few. I will relate it to basketball. Now it feels like playing one-on-one basketball against Shaquille O’Neil (Shaq of early Magic and Championship Lakers, not the overweight commentator Shaq of now). Shaq is a behemoth on the court and especially in the low post. Shaq stands at (probably) 7’0″ 300lbs, and its a bit discouraging, because you may be 5’11 165lbs soaking wet. But you have the skills, the talent, the experience and the desire to play the game, but you somehow are unable to make a shot or score very much. You may air ball, fall down, hit the side of the backboard or get swatted multiple times. If you do score, it may be lucky or very random, but definitely not very consistent. Most of the time, you’re getting the ball swatted back to half court by Shaq’s massive hands or you have trouble being able to see the basket from Shaq’s ginormous head, and you constantly get backed down by the giant mass only to be dunked on again, and again, and again. It’s like having a MACK Truck roll over you. (I’ve only watched and heard, no personal experience with Shaq). Then why do we do it? Why do we put up with hit? Why don’t we just quit? Because we learn.
Even though Shaq is a giant daunting wall of trouble, we do score a few points here and there. Our confidence slowly builds, and we think, hey I did it once, maybe I can do it again. The more we play the game, the more we understand about our opponent the more we learn from our mistakes, the more we can understand our weaknesses and strengths, the more we’ll learn and the better prepared we’ll be as we continue to play the game. We’re smaller than Shaq so we may be quicker. We take the ball outside of the key and work on our long range jumper. If Shaq is too far out from the key we can drive to the hoop and hopefully score. But this all takes time. It all takes a lot patience, and it takes continued and unfettered desire. Something I have to continue to remember
Now, here’s the thing. I believe I have a good skill set. I have experience. I have the talent, and I definitely have the desire. But I also realize playing one-on-one is not nearly as good as playing with a great team and coach/mentor. Now I look back at the year I’ve had with starting up my business and it’s been rough. I look back at what I’ve done and haven’t done, the mistakes I’ve made, the should haves and the shouldn’t haves and I shake my head and think penitently, if I only I had done…I wish I would have done…Oh why didn’t I meet this person sooner… But these are the things you learn in business, it is tough, but I need to be tough right back. I believe it’s setting your goals, executing your business model, and getting help from mentors and building your team. I will try not to take on the whole world at one time, but maybe one task at a time. There’s no foolproof system in place to being successful. There’s no such thing as an overnight success. One of the best illustrations of success I found is below this writing. I love it, because it totally rings true.
Now hopefully I will have learned from these mistakes and not repeat them, thus making year two better and more successful.