As You Seek Success in the Long Game, Gain Confidence from the Small Signs of Progress

When Greg Alexander asked me to be one of many irregular bloggers for the Collective 54 community, I embraced my role as the entrepreneur in a smaller company. Most notably, that is where I believe I fit within our community – one of the CEOs with fewer than 20 employees, knowing that the transition from CEO to Founder is necessary but not quite as easy as it seems for other C54 quarterbacks with broader and deeper benches behind them.

In fact, my most recent blog on budgeting your Collective 54 time may have actually been my way of screaming “Enough! When can I take a timeout from absorbing content and actually discover whether I am solving the Founder Bottleneck?”  On more than a few days, I have wondered if progress was not just elusive, but actually a mirage.

In mid-September, I stumbled upon an answer. Looking at my firm’s August financials, it showed all the signs of a really good year. So, I took out the calculator (no, AI won’t replace everything) to learn how much our 8-month revenue had grown in the four years since I joined Collective 54. 

Answer: 95.3%.

Wow – pretty close to doubling revenue in just four years. I admit I enjoyed a late night bourbon just a little more that evening than normal. But not long after, I started to ask myself why I was so surprised. I knew we were growing because I do pay attention to the financials, but I was troubled that my doubts about scaling often overwhelmed me when progress clearly  continued.

I sat back one morning and started to make a list of the signs – the small signs of change that had not been receiving the attention they deserved.

1. Emails. My spam filter still needs some work, as unwanted and unnecessary solicitations come pouring in. Fortunately, of the more relevant emails, those involving working on the business now outnumber those that involve working in the business. Of course, I am still available and connected with clients in many ways, including emails. But my in-box has changed drastically in four years, because my team drives implementation of contracts.
2. My to-do list. GoodNotes on my iPad has always been my home for virtual post-its and scrap paper. Black e-ink is client work, blue is firm- and staff-focused, green is firm growth and marketing.  The color scheme has evolved from black-dominant to a medley of blue and green over four years, a sign of a healthy transition.
3. The files on my computer. Growth plans, spreadsheets with financial planning and research that informs areas of firm growth remain open and available for quick reference at any time.
4. Revenue diversification. Our work with our top client is growing, yet it’s share of annual revenue has shrunk. We have built a broader revenue base, emphasizing relationships that are strategic and built on what we do best.
5. On-boarding time. How I am looking at new staff has completely changed. We have gone from months of ramp up time to weeks. If new team members start driving business outcomes more quickly, we strengthen the talent pool and open ourselves up to new opportunities much more rapidly.
6. How I advise staff. The language has changed. “You’ve got this” and “Bring me in if you get stuck” have replaced “Do it this way” as we begin new client projects and engagements.
7. The start of my day. This is something as simple as what I think about when driving to work. I feel a hunger to create better systems and expand opportunities, rather than click through the calendar and knock off tactical to-dos. Incidentally, that has changed our senior team meetings – we focus on the items that drive overall business success, and let the staff teams own the accountability for our client success.

The tasks that fill my day and capture attention have changed. Is that really changing our outcomes and putting me on the road to an exit?  As I review my calendar for the days leading up to this year’s reunion, here’s what I see:

• Meetings to discuss and accelerate AI implementation, a project led by a talented and organized account leader but with accountability reporting directly to me.
• I completed negotiations with a fractional CMO to build out the marketing muscle among the senior team, a strategy that complements the investment we made in a Fractional Controller for several years.
• I have completed interviews for another senior staff member, with four finalists who I did not know previously, coming from backgrounds far different than mine. I am hoping this defines what the future of the firm look like, rather than duplicate what we have or replicate the past.
• I received the first in-depth inquiry from a possible buyer, to discuss a strategic acquisition. It is far too early for optimism, but it is certainly a box worth checking on the path to an exit.

I am not at the finish line and I can’t lose sight of the endgame. My firm is still too dependent on me for new business. We need services that are more scalable. Our EOY revenue is traditionally weaker, which is evidence of too much dependence on seasonal projects.

Look, the point of this blog is not to pat myself on the back, although we all should allow ourselves an occasional victory lap. Instead, it is about a hidden less I learned: some of the signs of your success may be unnoticed, and could emerge slowly and quietly, until you realize that your company and your leadership have really changed.

Enjoy and embrace them the small signs, as they can signal that you are breaking through the bottleneck.