by Erika Dickstein, SpringInsight (@springinsight)
As an entrepreneur with kids and a spouse in a high hour/high stress job, I think the biggest challenge I have had is prioritizing my time on building my company over the needs of our household. I made a strategic decision to start my web and ecommerce strategy company with no clients. I knew that since I would have somewhat limited time to spend on the business at the start, I would need the energy for the infrastructure and wouldn’t have time to build that while providing the level of service I would want to give a real client.
Starting a consulting business with no customers had unintended consequences though. When you have no clients, you have very little accountability. Now with home issues, kids homework, laundry, etc. you have lots of accountability. Those deadlines are real and very compelling. If I don’t get the text I had planned on writing done today? Who will really know? Now if I don’t take my daughter to one of her follow up doctor appointments or make sure she has the clothes she plans to wear to camp? Those deadlines have real stakeholders and real consequences. (Seriously, do you want to explain to my five year old why she doesn’t have the right wig for wacky hair day?)
The consequence is that I have started my company… break… started my company… break… started my company. As you can imagine, that doesn’t lead to a smooth and steady start for a company. Instead of the slow but solid start I predicted, I have stagnated. Two weeks of fragmented work does not equal two weeks of continuous work, it doesn’t even equal one week. So, this start and stop has lead to wasted time and effort.
Unlike the entrepreneurs featured in this series, I can’t look at my mistake in retrospect because I am still too squarely in the middle of it. But with my kids back in school next week and an au pair employed, I have reached the point where a wise friend pointed out that I was “out of excuses.”
I own the accuracy of that statement and think it is a great place to be. When excuses stop accountability starts. It is no longer ok, to explain away a lack of productivity. So, the answer to not prioritizing my business? To put the tools in place so I could prioritize my business. The answer to not having sufficient accountability? Promise people things. That is where I am. Now it is time to sink or swim based on real work.
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Erika Dickstein is a web and ecommerce strategy consultant who works with small businesses to optimize their web presence. She has over a decade of Internet marketing and product management experience leading complex campaigns and projects for both large and small organizations such as AOL, the Graduate Management Admission Council and Liquidity Services, Inc. Erika is proud to share her office with a grumpy 15 year old cat and a large collection of Pets.com sock puppets.
Website: www.springinsight.com l Twitter: @springinsight
