One Year… and Counting

As of today, it’s been one year since I struck out on my own to pursue BizzyWeb full time. It’s been a fantastic ride full of  new clients, networking, new business opportunities and countless new friends.

As I said the day I launched: “I’ve got entrepreneurism in my blood. I always wanted to have my own business, and growing up seeing my father work for himself certainly left an impression. When I got my MBA in 2003, it was in “venture management,” which is a fancy term for entrepreneurship.”

The tools I learned while working for my MBA at St. Thomas have been invaluable at helping me manage cash flow, run projections, market effectively and keep the big picture in mind. I also owe a huge debt to Tim Ferriss and his book “The Four Hour WorkWeek” for getting me off the fence and into the game. I’m not working four hours per week just yet (more like 60), but I’m definitely enjoying the benefits of answering to no-one but my customers.

At times it’s been tough, and I’ve worked far harder than I thought I’d need to in order to keep cash flowing in, but I don’t regret a single second of it. Knowing that every decision I make is going to directly affect the cash in my pocket has definitely sharpened my focus, but it’s also been incredible fun. This company is my baby, and its first steps — though rocky at times — have been forward.

The company has expanded to include another employee (twice the size!), and there’s bandwidth for more. My biggest challenge now that the dust has settled is to find ways to round out my talent, hand off the things I’m not good at and do what I do best more often. That means more client visits, more strategy sessions, more networking and more speaking engagements for me, and more of the back-end stuff to my trusted partners.

There’s also room for improvement, and I’m getting better and smarter every day. Associating with fantastic people who push you all the time to do more, better, smarter will do that. And that’s why I’m so glad I took on the role of President at IABC Minnesota. Without the encouragement, advice and example of some fantastic IABC connections I’m certain I would never have made it this far in just a year — people like Kare Anderson, Steve Crescenzo, Mark Schumann, Barb Gibson, Mary Ann McCauley and Cindy Schmieg have either made a lasting impression, offered me incredibly helpful advice or nudged me in the right direction (and a few even became clients!).

I’d go into a long list of highlights of the year here, but (though it may seem corny) every single day is an achievement that I’m proud of. My favorites run from every new client site to being on the Blue Ribbon Panel for IABC’s International Gold Quill Awards to speaking to hundreds of people on social media topics. I’m standing on my own two feet, making a go of it, and I’ve never been happier, “Bizzy”-er, or more successful.

Thanks for a great year! Here’s to the rest of my career doing the same thing.