My marketing company, Intrepid LLC, is now two years old. I named it Intrepid because I want my clients to be fearless and bold in their marketing. Hard to imagine it has already been two years since I opened my doors. It is a dream come true.
Now granted, I and others doing the same thing sure picked a great economy to go into business for ourselves. But I am surviving. I haven’t done everything right. It has been hard work. I can – and will try to do better. I still have a lot to learn. I have to adapt every day.
When I launched Intrepid in December 2006, I made five promises to myself. Below is each promise, along with my self-assessment on how I’ve done. And most importantly – how I will do it better in 2009.
1. Provide value to my clients- I believe I have achieved this for the most part. But I know I can do better. I am still learning to be a better businessman, and every improvement I make will allow me to provide more value to my clients. And the more confident I am in the value I provide, the more comfortable I will be in making sure I am paid what that value is worth.
2. Provide open communication – This is where I have a lot of room to improve. Wearing all the hats for my business, sometimes I get very very busy – and I know I am not as responsive as I can be. And with all the social media tools now available, there is no excuse not to be perfect here.
3. Fair pricing- I KNOW I have achieved this promise – almost to my detriment sometimes. Friends and colleagues provide lots of constructive criticism that I way undercharge for my services. And to make myself whole – I take on too much additional work to pay the mortgage. I will improve on this problem in 2009 – I have to improve on this problem, or I will burn myself out.
4. Provide quality services – I feel good about the quality of services I have provided my clients over the past two years. But I will continue to focus on doing better. And I will continue to work with vendors who see eye-to-eye with me on this, and I will have no fear of dropping those that don’t live up to my client’s expectations – or mine.
5. Have fun doing it – I kept this promise. For the first time in my life, I have no Sunday night dread – like we all use to have before Monday school, or the Monday back at a job you hate. Life is too short to live with that dread.
What I do know is that you have to be audacious, intrepid, and bold. You have to make your own luck. You have to prepare, and prepare daily. You must to DECIDE to make it all work. But never be afraid to learn and improve as you go. Review the promises you make to yourself – every day. And take steps to get yourself back on track if you are wandering. Good luck!
Todd Schnick. Be Intrepid. http://intrepid-llc.com