Motivational
As my business development efforts have continued for iEngineer, my startup company, I’ve learned that you have to be flexible with how you achieve your goals. You certainly have to follow what you’re passionate about, but be flexible with your methods to success.
This subject came up when I was speaking with my business investors about the approach and progress during our monthly meeting. I told them many of my more difficult conversations have revolved around our consulting and project fees.
More specifically, those that know me want to get a more favorable rate and those that don’t, aren’t willing to take a risk to learn about the value we bring. What’s more, there’s substantial competition in the market and buyers are more focused on the dollars and cents rather than the soft-value proposition of working with this company or another.
Here’s where my understanding of economics kicks in. The law of Supply and Demand tells us that, all things being equal, the market will determine a product or service price based on the supply in that market. Price and supply are inversely proportional, meaning as one goes up, the other goes down. For example, if there are many homes in the market, their prices fall. With a shortage of gasoline supply, its price will go up.
I still aim to succeed in this business. I’m still interested in insuring the company’s success. However, I also know I can find efficiencies in my business operations much easier than a large firm. So, I know we can compete at lower prices given the current over-supply of indistinguishable resources in the market. In other words, I need to either change the market conditions, create my own rules, or change my rates.
As it stands today, I want to insure a continuous stream of business before considering raising rates or addressing the higher value iEngineer brings to the table. So, I’ve decided to change our rate structure.
What this means is that I may take a longer and different path to the success for myself and the company, but I still aim for the same end result. My goals haven’t changed, but my means of achieving them has.
Is this betraying the goal? Am I betraying myself or my investors? If anything is diminished, it’s my ego, but that’s acceptable. The point is that in the pursuit of our goals, we decide what can be sacrificed or compromised and what can’t be.
(By the way, compromising is not the same as sacrificing. This is a common misconception that I’ll address next week.)
In the en
d, we have to be flexible with our methods of success, but not with our goals. So, set your goals. In fact, set your BHAGs, but if the current path you’ve chosen leads to a dead-end, don’t give up. Just choose a different path that’ll get you to the same result.
What Do You Think?
Feel free to share your comments below.
Photo Credits: cvilletomorrow, JOPHIELsmiles