Eleven years ago I was in my dream job heading the largest ad agency in T&T working with some really bright and passionate young people. But my then boss wanted me to be him and I wanted to be me. So it did not last. I started pepper without an entrepreneurial bone in my body. Here’s ten things I learnt about running your own small business for the first time.
- Mentor capital is more important than the monetary version. I have people to turn to when I’m in trouble. Their value does not appear on our balance sheet and you don’t pay interest on them. In fact, sometimes they even pay for the lunch; they pay to help you. Don’t start a business without mentors
- Culture is everything. You will not be great at what you do if you are a one man band. You need to create a space of shared values that are more than a plaque on the wall. People must see the plaque in you
- Don’t hire an academic resume. Look for attitude in the interview not only talent
- Make sure your brand is differentiated. Pepper’s point of difference is our ability to helps others differentiate themselves by finding and focusing on the “one thing” that makes their brand special
- Customer Service is the most important job of everyone at pepper
- Every business is a brand. So even if your brand is an ad agency or a political party, you have to invest in defining the brand and engaging people with it on a consistent 365 basis
- Digital is not a flavor of the month. We are glad we jumped on the digital train earlier than most other agencies and clients and that is now an advantage for us
- Your name is really all you have. Take good care of it. Networking is the lifeblood of our client acquisition
- Young people don’t have the same dreams as old people. Make sure you understand young people and what makes them click. How? Ask them.
- You can’t run anything by committee. You have to lead
So now ten years on I’m my own boss. (right Rebecca?)
Image courtesy Entrepreneur.com
