I didn't expect

[MacQNE]

This is the most challenging endeavor I’ve ever faced. Coming from years of following slow lane principles and being surrounded by slow lane minded people means we’re finding our way through new territory by trial and error alone. It’s both exhilarating and frustrating. Here are a few things about this journey I didn’t expect.

To love how brutally honest the market is
Yes, the books explain how you shouldn’t ask your friends and family for their opinion about your product. But it inevitably happens that they enquire about what you’re up to and always, being helpful and all, offer to take your product for a spin. It makes sense that they would want to spare your feelings, but I was not prepared for how unhelpful that can be. The market, however ... oh how beautifully honest the market is. I didn’t expect to value to the candid feedback (direct and indirect) the market can send your way. It's something to see how much a feature improves based on honest feedback alone.

For new parts of my character to be revealed
Although strangers’ opinions can be especially harsh and unpleasant, I expected that kind of onslaught to some degree. What I didn’t expect is how hard it would be to disappoint those I have great respect for. Especially when they don’t express their disappointment out loud. When they tell me “it’s all good” and then help to remedy whatever I messed up this month. To take on this venture alongside people I care about deeply, means they have a front row seat to, not only my achievements, but my faults and flaws too. My unique blend of f-ups are pushed to the forefront when I’m under a good amount of pressure. There is also the added benefit of discovering a few new unpleasant character traits along the way, some of which I would have preferred to uncover away from an audience. For me, this specific situation remains hard to manage, especially when these loved ones are one of the very reasons I’m doing this.

To want to turn on the breaks
When I set out to produce a great product, all I could think about is getting the golden gum balls to drop consistently - a sure sign that I’m adding value to the market. As soon as our latest product started showing promise, I suddenly felt I wanted to put on the breaks. The product has a lot of interest, but it wasn’t as good as it could be from day one. This is obvious, part of the iterative process that any product inevitably will go through as it is battle tested in the hands of consumers. As people are using it, the flaws and opportunities for improvement start to show. Sometimes the revealed flaws are deal breakers when new customers make a value evaluation on the product in its current “can be better” state. I didn’t expect to want to “slow the progress” temporarily until I can fix an issue. At some point, however, I realized that, even if I could “make it unavailable” temporarily, that wouldn’t make sense. The dynamic required to evolve the product into its best possible state, is for consumers to use it, the flaws to be exposed, and you to fix them as they become apparent. Yes, I will lose a number of potential customers because of the flaws. But this is exactly as it should be. Those consumers play a part in exposing the issues, and they move on. I’ve gained value from their temporary involvement. Future customers will benefit from their dismissal of my current substandard production when my main focus stays on fixing the problems and stacking on the value.

To work so well with hubby
It may be odd that this made my “I didn’t expect” list. But you hear of relationships that don’t handle “also working together all the time” very well. We were already married for 12 years before we decided to take on entrepreneurship. It’s because our marriage was solid up to that point that I wondered about us working together. A good relationship, whether it’s marriage or any other, requires a lot of consistent care to build and maintain - through the good times, and especially the bad ones. We’re both of the opinion that it’s better to be happy and alone than miserable with someone, so both of us invest heavily in keeping a solid relationship going. I didn’t want anything to mess with what we had. I probably should have known that our solid relationship practices would spill over into a business partnership too. Yes, we had to make some adjustments and sure, the road is definitely not always plain sailing. But overall, we make a great team and stuff get’s done. There are too many things to name that I know contribute to the result we have in this regard. Three however stand out. First, we’re both heavily invested in the success of this endeavor. Neither of us has a job or the inclination to go back to one. We’ve “burned the boats”. We’re both driven and skilled. We want this to work. That ensures we keep the eye on the ball. Secondly, we have always clearly spelled out what each person’s responsibility is and the load is carried equally. While the other can help, assist or give input, the final call lies with whomever is mainly responsible. Finally, one philosophy always gets us through a disagreement: “Do you want to be right, or do you want to do what works?” Those two questions are hard to hear when you’re on the receiving end. But seeing as we’re both adamant to get results, it means we want to do what works.

To continuously find more value in MJ’s books
I re-read MJs books while working in and around the house every six months or so. I’m often surprised by how the same information can add different value to what I’m doing at that stage in this journey. Because of this, I’ve often wondered if it is reasonable to expect anyone to understand the true gravity of advice or guidance without the accompanying experience. Obviously whatever you hear makes sense at the time, but it gathers new meaning as the road continues. I’m constantly reminded that I probably don’t really understand the depth of a concept until I engage in the process myself. And I'm grateful to keep gaining so much value out of the investment in the books.

To suck at Execution

This one is my constant nemesis.

Some quick context: After quitting our jobs, we consulted for five years purely because it was so damn lucrative. It wasn’t sustainable (obviously), so we decided to stop taking on large contracts and focus on producing a product. It’s now five years later. In these five years we skilled up (software development) and produced our first product, but shelved it when the run rate was a bit high for our savings to out last a good time into the future. The second product didn’t take off when we discovered a risk that, if realized, would be devastating and we didn’t want to roll the dice. Third product made it out the door and into the hands of consumers. There are some golden gum balls, but we’ve got a ways to go before it resembles anything I would call a resounding success. To summarize: it has taken us five years to get to this point, and, as we stand now, we haven’t yet achieved the result I’m after.

Five years. I’m sure that’s as hard to read as it was to type.

I know that you shouldn't expect to achieve great success in any specific predetermined amount of time, but to my understanding, you should see some results in a reasonable amount of time. I'm not certain that what I have here is reasonable. It remains to be seen.

As I see it, I'm not quite there yet due to one of two things. One, the recipe is rubbish, or two, my interpretation/execution of the recipe is rubbish. When I refer to the recipe, I refer to: Find a problem to solve. Create a product do so, and do it well. Let your customer know about it. Get your value vouchers. That’s the basic recipe, with the CENTS commandments woven all the way through. I’m sure anyone will agree, the recipe is fine. It is sound. Therefore, the problem is with my interpretation and/or execution.

As someone who is used to getting results when trying most anything, this is frustrating. I really didn’t expect to suck at execution, or at least, to suck this much! This feels like giving birth to a very large pineapple.....

When I look for and discover problems with my execution, it’s always obvious things that I’m sure would be common sense to an outsider. Yes, we’re producing software all on our own without any outside help. And yes we’re producing the same product on multiple platforms in each platform’s native language. But there were (and likely still is) a number of dumbass decisions I made on a regular basis.

Over the last year, we’ve focused extensively on understanding where the issues are, specifically with execution. Because of this focus, things are different, which is probably why the current product is showing promise. I should have spent more time thinking things through from the beginning.

For now, I’ll keep doing what has worked over the last year. I've gained a ton of skill. I've learned so much. I'm not giving up on this. There is no plan B.

 

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[Ernman]

Liiq miespoph, hsuxoph epf onqsuwoph. Xjip zua neli e notveli, miesp gsun ov epf fup'v siqiev ov.

Iyidavoup ot vuahj cz fitohp. Og ov xet ietz, iwiszupi xuamf ci fuoph ov epf vjisi'f ci PU getvmepi.