The building stage is easily the most freeing and fulfilling, but growth and publicity create gaping vulnerabilities.
I’m going to poke a hole in the biggest entrepreneurial misconception out there: Building a business isn’t the hard part.
I can build a new business — and even get customers — in a day. I’ve done it, and I’ve helped countless others do the same. However, at some point between making your first dollar and your millionth, the tides begin to change.
Back when you were just tinkering away, pre-revenue, there was nothing standing between you and your company’s next mission, milestone, or goal. You kept your head down, did the work, and vowed to dedicate every free moment to building your venture.
That stage of entrepreneurship — the building stage — is easily the most freeing and fulfilling. Each moment of your time and effort results in a tangible outcome, be that a product feature, a new service offering, an outbound partnership inquiry, or an early sale. Your time is yours and it isn’t compromised or wasted.
Unfortunately, if you continue along your productive trajectory, you will get sales. And you’ll grow. Your company will gain visibility and notoriety. And this is when the outside world will alter their view of you as a CEO; this is when everything will change.
As a founder and CEO who’s barely on social media, I would hardly call myself — or most CEO peers and friends of mine — celebrities. Nonetheless, our titles and our companies’ growing visibility invite a new set of characters that chip away at our productivity, compromise our time, and challenge our self-respect.
1. The insatiable
Whether you offer a product or a service, there will always be some percentage of people who simply want more. While this might sound like a success problem, too many insatiable customer requests can end up costing your company more than they’re worth.
I spent three hours last week pricing out a service that my company doesn’t offer. Do I have the capabilities to offer and deliver this service well? Yes. Do I actually want to? No, not really. Is it a good use of time to move Heaven and Earth to conjure up this bespoke offering if a customer is willing to pay for it? That really depends, but I’d argue that offerings outside your company’s wheelhouse that detract from its core mission require a serious premium to warrant consideration for delivery.
So why in the world did I spend all morning last Monday piecing together and pricing out this service on one of my busiest days? Because a former customer asked for it. Not just a former customer, but a customer who’s provided my company with amazing testimonials, has been highlighted as a product success story, and has referred others to our business, as well.
In other words, this person had me in a vice: I could either disappoint them — and risk souring a relationship that’s been largely positive and profitable for me and my team — or I could sacrifice my Monday schedule and hop to their beck and call.
The problem? This isn’t the first time that customer has asked for a bespoke offering outside my company’s wheelhouse. And yes, we’ve delivered those and they’ve paid, but it’s diverted time, effort, resources, and attention away from our pressing mission-critical goals and obligations.
At some point along the way, that customer — despite paying us thousands of dollars for years — has become more of a time and resource sink than a value-add. If it were any other customer or someone for whom we hadn’t set the unhealthy precedent that we’re open to a-la-carte bespoke services, we’d easily decline the request. Instead, we’re enslaved to the precedent we’ve set to avoid disappointing one of our top success stories, testimonials, and references.
The takeaway: If a customer starts pushing you for additional products or services outside your company’s offerings, don’t be afraid to say “no”. Once you say “yes”, you may be in for a long, bumpy, and time-intensive ride with no escape or ending in sight.
2. The intimidators
Posting a “CEO” title on your LinkedIn or email signature feels a lot like taping a “Kick Me” sign to your back. That might seem counterintuitive, but believe it or not, there are a lot of angry people out there with pent-up aggression they’re just waiting to release. These people can be triggered by an ad they don’t like, an automated email they don’t remember opting into, or simply the fact that your company took longer than 13 seconds to respond to their chatbot inquiry.
One memorable instance comes from a man who left my company a scathing voicemail about how he was going to take down our business and report us to the BBB. Why? Because apparently, he confused us with a bike shop he’d had a bad experience with. The crazy part is that once we returned his phone call — big mistake! — he didn’t back down. He was unwilling to accept that he had the wrong company, and no, we have nothing to do with the bicycle shop that offended his son…
On the bright side, he only left one angry voicemail.
There are some intimidators who seemingly won’t stop until they speak to the president or CEO — and when that’s you, that can be uncomfortable. When they threaten social media defamation if they don’t receive a prompt answer or a call directly from the CEO, you’re left to either obey their demands or call their bluff. While some unhinged people may be bluffing in the heat of the moment, you just never know — and as the owner of the company being victimized, these unsolicited threats can take a toll on your mental health.
The takeaway: Some disgruntled people just want a punching bag, and punching a CEO may be the biggest ego trip they can find. That said, the best way to deal with playground bullies isn’t to negotiate; it’s to disengage.
3. The opportunists
Back in the early days of my entrepreneurial journey, my weed-out filter was incredibly weak, and I would give every unverified opportunistic email the time of day. Years later — and countless letdowns and hours wasted later — I hardly skim even the most compelling of them.
I’m talking about inbound offers that, on the surface, appear to serve up great benefits and perks for you or your company. It might be a partnership inquiry, an interview request, or a joint venture to which you’d lend the perfect expertise. At least, that’s how they get you in the door — or on the phone (or zoom). That’s when the bait and switch takes place, and their real colors start to show.
I can’t tell you how many “opportunities” turned into largely one-sided deals that were rarely — and barely — in my or my company’s favor. A partnership that isn’t equitable may really be a request for access to your customer list, free marketing, or unlimited access to pick your brain.
The craziest part is that sometimes these inquirers believe that you, as the founder and CEO, are presumably wealthy and successful enough to tolerate your time and attention being compromised. Plainly put, they feel that of course, you can “afford” the phone call, partnership, or requested input.
In reality, what few of those inquirers realize is that most of us founders and CEOs — whether we’re generating $1k, $100k, or $1M+ — are still working hard figuring out what’s next. Being a CEO doesn’t mean we’re done; instead, it means we’ve created or earned the privilege of climbing the mountain of running and growing our business. Our time is limited and valuable, and until we retire to a life of volunteering and philanthropy, we must be incredibly discriminating in how we spend it.
The takeaway: Every moment has a potential ROI. Every interaction either achieves that or sacrifices it.
One of the biggest draws of building your own company is freedom. We’ve all seen the plethora of “WFA” (work from anywhere) and “BYOB” (be your own boss) mantras touted across countless “startup inspo” posts. And yes, it’s true that — depending on the type of company you build — you may be able to work from anywhere and be your own boss. I can. However, that’s not the full story.
I may not have a boss on an org chart who serves me up a predetermined salary, raise, or bonus (that sounds nice!), but rather my customers are my boss — and their opinions can be far more impactful to my future earnings than an HR-appointed manager’s. But they aren’t my only bosses or the only people impacting my earning potential.
I recently experienced a two-week succession of unexpected fire drills, in which people from the above three categories weaseled their way into my email, onto my calendar, and onto my to-do list. I started to feel like I, the CEO — and the one who should be in charge of my time and my schedule — was last on my own priority list. Furthermore, it felt as if these people were driving a wedge between me and my own business. If running my own company is keeping me too busy and overwhelmed to run the company, that’s a major problem. That’s when I resolved to fix it or sell.
Either I reconstruct the moat that’s been mercilessly worn down, reinstate legitimate gatekeepers, and safeguard my valuable and limited time in the best interest of my businesses, or I sell and disappear into obscurity.
As founders, we’re allowed to have goals, desires, and to prioritize ourselves first. Being a CEO means serving customers, but it doesn’t mean being a slave to every incoming question, request, opportunity, or insult. I’m reclaiming my time and resurrecting my boundaries, and if uninvited people are encroaching upon your productivity and compromising your mental health, I suggest you do the same. Failing that, there’s the cash out and sail away forever option. I’m not taking it off the table entirely, but I’ll give it a few more months until I decide to set sail.
