5 Lessons for 5 Years

In honour of Collaboration Junkie turning 5, I wrote a post showing all the wonderful and awesome things that have happened over the past five years. You can see that here if you want.

In that post though, I also hinted at the amount of mistakes I’d made, and said that was a post for another time. Well, now is that time. 

Whilst there are many (many) more than five, I thought I’d stick to that for symmetry’s sake, right? So, here they are:

1. Focus

I don’t have ducks in a row, I have squirrels at a rave. And whilst I love a good rave I couldn’t even pick a dancefloor at first. Anyhow, here's where my lack of focus really didn't help a great deal.

• Two brands. Just before COVID, I came up with Collaboration Junkie. When COVID hit, it wiped out my existing customer success / lead generation agency (which was a six figure business).
  
  What I should have done was go all in on Collaboration Junkies. Especially as I was miserable running the other business. I didn’t. Instead, sunk cost fallacy and commitment to others kept me trying to rescue the old brand while building the new one. A year of time and effort wasted there, when I should have gone with my gut.
  
  

• Too broad on products. I started with a long-term vision of where I wanted to get to, but spread myself across too many channels. I was building the long term vision product whilst also trying to spin up the consulting offering and all sorts of other ideas. Long story short - that didn’t work. Newsflash: there’s no such thing as passive income. It’s a fuck-load of hard work, and way easier once you’ve got solid foundations. The minute I focused more on consulting, revenues went up, things got more enjoyable.
  
  

• Ideal client. I resisted specialising for far too long, despite advising clients to.  I thought my service was so specialist that I didn't need a sector specialism as well. But the moment I doubled down on agencies, I could demonstrate my specialism properly. Having a focus made a real difference - bandwidth, activities, referrals, partners, everything.
  
  Do I still work outside of that space? Yep, lots. Because of speaking, networking and referrals, and I love it, but having my proactive efforts being focussed on one area has been so much easier.

2. Be a proper magnet

Having a service and sector specialism is great, but even within that you’ve got size and type of businesses.

For too long I tried to be a one-way magnet. The “great guy who gives great info” and has endless exciting conversations. I mean, who doesn’t want more partnerships and referrals?

Trouble is, not everyone actually wants to do the work, and accept the responsibility that comes with this strategy.

Which means the conversations and proposals with these people were never going to go anywhere. Which can get demoralising when you know you have a great product that delivers great results and thought you were onto something.  

A magnet should repel as many people as it attracts. 

So the minute I got bolder in my messaging - focusing on human-centred businesses who wanted to build and leverage deep relationships - it’s not that I was less liked, it’s just that the follow on conversations became slightly fewer but much more meaningful. And that lets me put my effort where it matters.

3. Sales focus

There’s always an excuse to do the fun marketing thing and chase the next shiny opportunity. SOS (Shiny Object Syndrome) is 110% a thing for me. And whilst I constantly preach that the fortune’s in the follow-up I wasn’t always great at it myself in terms of sales conversations.

Unless you dedicate time to proper sales, you’re just building a brand, not a business. This is still a work in progress for me, but I’m much, much, much better. And both my business and bank account are thankful for it.

P.S. For me, sales isn’t cold calls (I don’t think I’ve ever made one for Collaboration Junkie). It’s about following up from all the leads I’ve generated through speaking, networking, referrals, partnerships instead of just feeding the top of the funnel constantly - which is exhausting. 

4. Say ‘no’ more

As a recovering people-pleaser, this one can still get me. But every time you say yes to something, you’re saying no to something else. And then end up overstretching yourself, letting people down, feeling guilty about it, procrastinating and overthinking, that whole lovely spiral. I’ve been there.

Yes, be opportunistic. But ask: does this serve my ultimate goal? If not, fine - doesn’t mean you have to say no, but I now try to make it a conscious choice. Some things we do purely for enjoyment, and that matters too. We’ve got to feed the soul as well as the bank balance.

5. Be more kind to myself

Sometimes I need to give myself a kick up the arse, because the only barrier to me growing is me. I am my brand. But comparison is the thief of joy.

Yes, someone else may have had insane growth in their first five years. But I’ve watched three kids grow up and had real quality time with them. You can’t put a price on that.

So sure, I’ll be harsher on myself when I’ve been procrastinating and dicking about. But even then, there are usually reasons, and I’m learning to be kinder to myself and dig into those reasons, not just beat myself up.

Closing thoughts

So, there we have it. Hopefully something useful, or at least something you resonate with.

This isn’t my first rodeo with business, but it is my first solo one. Part of that journey was figuring out whether I was building another agency. I didn’t even know for sure until I had an employee, then realised I definately wasn’t. Not sure I’d call that a mistake; more a lesson I had to work through. Maybe I could’ve trusted my gut sooner, but that’s what experience teaches you anyway.

So, there we have it (again).

P.S. I’ve noticed a theme here… anyone else struggle with focus?