Building and Running a Business is Like Graduating from High School
2008 marks two significant milestones for myself and my family: my daughter graduated from High School just last week, and my consulting firm, BLUE SAGE, enters its 11th year. What better way to celebrate than to start blogging on my newly designed website?
It seems to me that building and running a business has a lot in common with going through and graduating from High School:
It’s a team effort
When you think about the number of teachers, administrators and coaches that are involved in getting our children through their elementary and secondary education, it really is a team effort. I compare it to the team that I work with year in and year out – the “professionals” – my accountant, financial planner, attorney, and the “support group” – mentors, colleagues and peers. Each of them have a role in getting me to think, challenge and create a better business than the year before. And my business wouldn’t be where it is today, without them.
Strive for perfection, and accept excellence
My daughter has reinforced my theory that being excellent is a good thing, and being perfect is overrated. She strives for excellence academically, in sports (lacrosse and soccer), and with her personal relationships, and does the absolute best that she can do. In my business, I have learned that there are many ways to do a project “well”. I’ve also learned that some clients are a better fit for my business than others. Some difficult decisions to balance “perfection” vs. “excellence” have led to some good business lessons that I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else.
The journey is the reward
With a diploma on the mantle and a college acceptance letter in hand, it would be easy to forget that the steps along the way have been the true reward. BLUE SAGE started in 1997 and has grown over the years, just like my child. Each step in her academic, athletic and social development has brought new learning, entertainment and experiences. Every client that I work with brings different challenges and a chance to “do something new”.
The best is yet to come
These days, many businesses profess that “it’s slow out there”, and point to the doom and gloom articles in business and popular press. I believe that the best is yet to come. I look at my daughter and remember (strangely, in a vivid way) what I felt like when I graduated high school and prepared for “the rest of my life”. I remember thinking that there was nothing I couldn’t do. Thirty years later, I guess I still think that there is nothing that I can’t do. Now, though, it’s in the context of a business, and a family. For her, though, the world is her oyster.