“Reputation and Relationships — those are the only two things that matter.”
That’s never more true than when starting a business.
I was fortunate enough in my career to work for a successful mobile ad-tech business. It was early and had a fantastic and memorable IPO, before eventually going on to be acquired for $238m. At the point of the acquisition, I was managing a team of 24 incredible marketers around the world. I guess that — amongst a few other things — has burnished my reputation in that industry. But what’s the half life of a reputation?
Warren Buffet famously said “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it”. I’ve noticed they also diminish exponentially, if you’re only calling on past achievements.
And what of relationships? In this always-on, digitally-connected life, it is very easy to amass tens of thousands of connections, across LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and others. But what does that really mean? Are these metrics an accurate measure of a relationship?
Probably not, which is why I’m choosy when deciding whether to accept any of the daily avalanche of unqualified connection requests. I have no desire to be a personal media brand and day trade attention, as many social media gurus tend to imply is necessary.
Don’t get me wrong, reach is very important and, having taken time to create some content, I want to put suitable effort and resource into distribution. But I see that as running an effective campaign, rather than just amassing a large, but impersonal CRM database.
True relationships, between two people, are something much more significant.
In starting Too Many Dreams Limited , I’ve come to realise how important reputation and relationships really are, particularly as a new company, trying to win new business. The relationships that have been cultivated over many years and which have created a stronger connection are clearly visible, as friends actively want to help, looking for ways our companies can partner and work together.
Outside of these situations, having strong relationship and reputation scores will get you in the door, and secure you a meeting. But then it’s down to delivering the third R — Results. It’s this third one that burnishes your reputation, helps grow your relationships and gets you back in the door to try again another day.
Coda One
I started writing this blog post a few weeks ago, shortly after I published my first one. It was weeks before the UK election and I was pretty sure this forum wouldn’t be a place where I aired my own political views; friends of mine will already get enough of that on Facebook and Twitter! However it’s the first few days after an historic and quite bamboozling election.
One of the things that is interesting about modern politics is that we seem to have forgotten the reputation part of this equation. Campaigns and their success seem to be predicated so highly on the relationships politicians have, particularly with the media, to the exclusion of all else.
I think we need to get back the balance — in politics, business and life — where reputations, relationships and results matter equally.
Coda Two
A surprising, but enjoyable by-product of writing this blog and promoting the content to my network is that a number of my friends have responded positively to both what I wrote and the style in which I did so. These are people who would never normally get chance to read my prose, as it’s almost all in a business context, for industries they are not in. It’s been heartwarming and really encouraging to receive positive feedback from them. After all, along with my family, they are the most important relationships I have.
I think I’d always wanted to start my own company. I even did so at university, somewhat accidentally, when I ended up managing a couple of bands and several DJs for a few hedonistic years.
Close friends would remark that they always thought I would start something myself. But I never did. Until now.
My name is Stephen and I’m an almost 42-year-old, white, middle-class male, with an understanding wife and 2 beautiful boys. I think that description paints a picture of maybe why I’ve never left the comfort of employment: Fear and excuses.
Fear of running out of money and not being able to pay the bills or look after my family. Fear of not being as good as I always hoped I was. Fear of not being able to scale a business. Fear of doing this alone, without a partner to work alongside and share the experience, both good and bad.
These are all things I may explore in future posts, but for now I’ve got no more excuses. I’m doing this. And I want to do it as well as I possibly can.
So why the Medium posts? In all honesty, like most things in life, there were several reasons.
Firstly, I’ve realised I enjoy writing long-form content. As the company I’ve founded, Too Many Dreams Limited, is a marketing agency that provides content strategy and execution, it seemed essential that I keep practicing the art of creating a compelling story. It’s no good earning the 10,000 hours of practice and then never playing your instrument again.
It may go without saying — and with my British reserve I struggle to do so — but I intend to use this series of columns as a marketing asset (the horror!). All content, but particularly that which can be shared socially, can be used to reach, engage and grow your audience, so that is what I will do. I’ll share any learnings from this approach along the way.
And finally, but perhaps most importantly, I thought this forum may be a good way to catalogue and comment on what happens as I attempt to start a business and make it a success. The ups and downs, successes and failures, and lessons learnt that hopefully lead to some new understanding — for me, I’m sure, and hopefully for some of you too.
There seem to be hundreds of mavens of industry out there ( Seth Godin , Gary Vaynerchuk , Malcolm Gladwell , Daniel Kahneman ), many of whom I consume passionately, however they all seem intimidatingly successful. I found far fewer examples of ordinary people, trying to build something, but being open and honest when they trip and fail.
I’m no sage, but I do believe in sharing and helping wherever I can. I really hope my ramblings here have some value, beyond virtual chip paper, and resonate with whoever choses to read them.
Who knows? I hope it’s somewhat interesting, even as just a piece of prose. I’m going to try and post regularly, as I think my self-employed life needs a bit more structure, but do tell me what you think, so I know where I’m going right and wrong. Hopefully then this founder’s fumblings can be valuable to more than just me and my clients.
