Isn’t it funny how we sometimes have those “wake up and smell the roses” moments in our life? You know, the ones where we see the side of someone we haven’t before.
Well that happened in a project meeting yesterday and it quite threw me: there is a difference between trying to motivate someone and pushing their buttons to the extent that it leaves them feeling uncomfortable. The person who was in receipt of these comments handled it very well; the person dishing them out could not give up and kept repeating themselves. It felt very awkward…
Fast forward another day and it was the turn of seeing how a solopreneur can sometimes find it difficult to both:
1. start trusting the team around them, even when they have known many of them for a long time.
2. understand the presenting a business proposal to Venture Capitalists is about shaping the project to be something they can both understand and believe in, alongside some financials that don’t include building the Empire State Building when the only experience you can demonstrate is putting up a garden shed.
Telling them you are going to build the first fast food outlet on Mars is unrealistic, particularly when you are including pictures of baked cookies against a messy food counter!
This doesn’t mean that investors won’t put money into small start ups, but you have to be realistic and professional.
Having said this, when you do find people you can work with, it’s special; you actually find yourself wanting to get online and collaborate.
This song was playing on the way back earlier and whilst it’s probably about some love affair, these words did resonate:
