“To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart.” ~Thomas Watson, Sr.
It is not quite as easy as it looks to have your life story out in the open for everyone to see. I realize this again as I see myself in a full page story in the business section of our local paper. Compared to the picture last year when I won the angel conference which was a one by one inches, this one looks like full on success. The title of the story – “Growing Pains” takes the reader beyond the full bright smile and tells the honest story of a year with stops and starts and the truth about how challenging it is to make good on investment promises.
Set against the larger context of angel investing, where only ten percent of the companies provide 90% of the upside revenue for investors, I am certainly in good company as I work to close the funding round we need to take this love company to the next level. Here again, I sit in good company as many investors will tell you how reticent the investment community is right now. Even some of the investors we have been talking to have not been able to close their rounds. Still, compared with the other front runner in last year’s competition, I am still in business trying to make it work, which compared to their mid-year closure looks and feels like success to me.
In fact by every measure, Good Clean Love is doing as well as it has ever done: gaining new clients and hitting higher monthly sales goals. Oddly, success in a product company can actually put you out of business. Growing fast without sufficient resources to sustain your growth can also be the kiss of death. It is a tight rope act that is at once exciting and unnerving. It is a daily practice of faith and positivity.
Also out in the open, which looks like it may be a huge blessing is our search for a CEO candidate. I have already gotten two new suggestions and I am optimistic that our new leadership team is on its way, even as I write this. I am grateful to Sherri, the author for sharing my story with the hope and positivity that I work to bring to the office everyday. Telling your story for the world to see deserves that much and just think how our view of the world would change if we all worked hard to tell ourselves a positive version of the life we were creating.
