So tomorrow night we (SiteCrafting) is up for one of the South Sound's Fastest Growing Companies. Last year we finished 6th - this year we will be at least 5th as there are only 5 finalists this year as opposed to last year's ten. Maybe there weren't that many businesses growing this year, maybe folks are worried about jinxing whatever growth they have had to this point. Regardless, we are in to win.
Last year my acceptance speech was sub-par. I was thrown by cue cards that were too small and by a photo of myself projected behind me that was way too big. This year I plan to improve, though that won't be hard to do.
In preparation I've been thinking about growing our business and why in some ways it's been easy and why in some cases it's been hard.
I often think about how our customers are only ready for a website when they are ready - I know that seems like common sense, but you can't really sell someone a website that will be a success for them until they are ready to take the plunge. The same is true with business. I'm finding that I really can't grow this thing effectively (that is without losing my mind) until I am ready to let go of key tasks and focus on my strengths. I am doing that now and I believe we will grow even more in the coming year.
There are certainly challenges - competition, reluctant banks holding tight to credit, slow paying customers, employees. Our plan has to always been to try and take care of ourselves. By that I mean to control those things which we can control and respond effectively to those we can't.
In many cases, we've elected to create our own experience. We've expanded when others may have held tight (opening Spokane this past July), we've invested in infrastructure (multiple data centers to provide tier one connectivity), and we've invested in people (increased our health care benefits, long/short term disability, 401k).
There is more to do, but I think we must focus on those things we can control, and for those we can't we must be creative. We must look for partnerships where there were formerly none, we must reach out to our partners, friends, and competitors, and we must invest in growth.
So what lies ahead? Who knows. We do know how to respond no matter what.
A few nuggets though:
- New Sales team
- Seattle location
- CFO
- Possible restructuring of the company to provide ownership to employees who have demonstrated loyalty and excellence
- New designers
- Programmers
