When I first started Eligeo in 2008 I had this unrealistic expectation that people would flock to my business to take up my world class I.T. services.  I truly believed that it would be so easy for me to get business that I had no worries.  Little did I know the struggle that was upon me and it carried through until March of 2009.

If you’ve been following through my blog you’ll recall that I made an expensive mistake in December of 2008.  I made a financial commitment to a marketing “expert” that cost me several thousands of dollars which didn’t produce the results that I had wanted.  In fact, the whole program was a joke and it will certainly go down as one of those learning lessons that I think all of us entrepreneurs experience over time.  That financial set back almost killed me off in the first year of business.

In March of 2009 we were running out of money and while we had several irons in the fire, there didn’t seem to be any thing coming to fruition.  I was getting to the point where I felt like I was about to let go of my only employee and then start looking for a new job.  A new job?  Back to the corporate world?  I know, it was unthinkable.  But sometimes you have to do what you have to do and well I got lucky.  I got lucky for the first of many times to come and sometimes you need to be lucky to be good.  I was lucky.

I was in Lethbridge in March of that year trying to drum up some interest in web page design and literally the phone rang from 3 different businesses that would shape the future of Eligeo for the next several years.  Three of our clients, all of whom are still clients to this day, called me up to accept our proposals.  This all happened on the same day believe it or not and you can bet I worked my butt off to secure deposits and get contracts signed in those days afterwards.

It was almost like someone was looking down on me and putting me to the greatest test in my early entrepreneurial career to make sure that I would learn the pressure and to see how I would handle it.  I certainly handled it and that was the day that it set everything in motion for me.

Do you believe in karma?  Whether you do or not I will tell you this.  I wholeheartedly believe that everything happens for a reason. I’ve done some dumb things running my business but I’ve rebounded with some lucky opportunities but don’t get me wrong.  I might say that I am lucky but I also believe that you create your own luck.  This is where karma comes in.  I care about people immensely and I will go out of my way to make thing right for someone whether it is personal or business.  This is both a positive quality in my personal life and sometimes a negative one in my business life but it is who I am.  But with that I feel that there are those out there helping me along the way some way or not.

That day in March 2009 was the closest I came to closing this business.  We’re a profitable and growing business now but back then it was always tight and scary.  The risk of creating something for myself was immense but it certainly had an effect in building me into the man I am today.

The first problem that I ran into was the fact that the concept we had decided to do together was a great idea but it really had nothing to do with my I.T. business I had.  The business partnership had goals of creating a place to create more business for a variety of businesses but to be honest, I really had no capacity to take on this sort of project.  It was something that I thought was a great concept but the expectations and selection of partner were wrong.

The selection of partner was wrong as well.  We couldn’t have been any more different in terms of our ethics in business and our responsibilities to our own businesses.  We were also in many ways different in the placement of where we were in our lives and our simple goals of our businesses.

So let’s talk about expectations.  When we started this particular business I felt it was a part time endeavour where the other person saw it as a full time gig.  To be honest, for it to be successful it would have needed a full time presence and likely more capital to make it successful.  The problem was that we never really laid out those expectations and communicated that information.  When venturing into a partnership world, make sure that you lay out the expectations of each other.

The second piece is, the partner.  Earlier on I picked a lot of bad partners and made several bad decisions as you’ve seen in my blog. However, with that said I’ve made far more better relationships with individuals over my time than I have bad ones.  There are a lot of really close people to me that I rely on for a lot of decision help.  Make sure that the partner you find is someone that you are compatible with and have qualities that are in common.  I would even suggest doing a personality test for each party so that you can understand the communication styles and determining the best way to work together to accomplish things.

Partnerships are a touchy thing however in small business I really believe that they are important.  You just need to make sure to take the right steps to meet the expectations laid out by those you bring into your fold.

So why did I get our first office?  There were a couple of factors that I looked at.  The first was that I had brought on a web design contractor in 2008 who was very junior and was likely to become an employee (which he did in January of 2009).  The second reason was selfish in some cases but I found I just couldn’t work very well while I was at home.  There were too many distractions and too many things that I could do rather than focus on work.  I really needed a place to get away to focus on what I needed to do so that I could come home and feel satisfied that I had accomplished my goals for the day.

When I was working at home it wasn’t uncommon for me to find an excuse to crash on the couch and relax while I figured out what I wanted to do next.  Now, I’m not saying laying on a couch and brainstorming isn’t a bad idea, the problem was that I would snooze off for a few hours.  This is what happens when you’re starting out and working from home.  I needed a place that made me feel like I was at work and ready to focus and get things done.

As I mentioned, the other reason was an employee coming on board.  I feel younger and more junior workers require more mentorship and although I couldn’t give as much mentorship as I would have liked to at least I would be able to be near the employee to give them feedback on what was going on.

The office we had went into the first time around was very small.  In fact, we even shared the 150 or so square feet with another individual and as you can see from the picture to the right, it was tight in there.  As an I.T. company you make do and you can even see our Home Depot purchased rack stand with our server, printer and spare computer on it.  My desk was to the left and our sole employee at the time was on the right.

Regardless, it was home for awhile and it would be the first of several offices up until signing our long term lease in 2011 with the Crossroads Market.  I really felt that the office was a place of coming together and I still very much believe in that.  Those that have been to the new Eligeo office can atest to the collaborative environment that we have as well as the atmosphere that we portray and how important it is to me.

So if you’re starting out your business and thinking about an office then I hope this little article helps you out a bit.  My main driver was always having a place to collaborate but also to be accessible to my staff, contractors, vendors and customers.

I like to think of 2008 as my initiation and really the first kick in the butt to get things going.  Over the coming weeks I will be sharing a lot of my 2009 experiences, which some I cherish incredibly, with all of you.  I will be discussing our first office, first employee, nearly calling it quits along with an incredible spurt of business growth that has started the path to where we are today.

2009 was also the year that I learned that you can have connections outside of the world including my incredible experience in Italy as well as my nomination as Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year.  This was also the year I learned how hard it could be on a personal relationship to last and if you didn’t give the effort then things could crumble quickly.

After 2008 I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to keep doing what I was doing.  Eligeo was still a small dream and a small thing that didn’t pay me a dime.  I was losing money quickly and was even burned to the tune of $9,000 by an individual that I haven’t talked to in years to this day.  It was a rough patch in the road that would ultimately lead to many successes and opportunities.

I’ll begin posting tomorrow including our first office in Calgary that was shared with another individual in a rather small, no windows and crappy lighting setting.

Happy April.

Let me repeat that.  HE needed ME.  Yet, I was scared.

I love a line I heard a few years ago and it was we fear what we don’t know.  That was the issue I had back in 2008 was the fear of rejection, I didn’t know what it was like.  I didn’t know how the person would react to this guy in his office and what it would mean to me.  But thankfully it turned out to be pretty easy and that same person has been a customer of mine for nearly 4 years.

So how do we keep pushing ourselves?  How do we forget about fear and channel it into excitement?  Well, I’ve found a few tricks along the way.  The easiest is to find a way to build up confidence in yourself and I have a few ways I do this:

1. Conferences

I love going to business conferences and meeting other people in my industry.  I get so psyched up and excited about the products I represent and the services that I offer.  After I come back from a conference I am completely rejuvanted and ready to make deals.  It’s a temporary increase of mental state but I find I am super productive during the week or two after the conference.

2. Blogs & Podcasts

I have a few favourite blogs and podcasts that I tap into to keep a tab on what’s going on in the world.  At the same time I look for others who provide me with ideas and things that really excite me.

3. Books – Sci-Fi books

And last but not least, books.  And not business books, I like sci-fi books.  And no, I’m definitely not a geek that way where I am into Star Wars or any of those things but I do enjoy a book that has nothing to do with reality.  It takes my mind off of everything including stressful things.

So what do you do to push yourself and energize your confidence?  Is it any of the things I spoke about above?  I would love to hear your ideas so make sure to connect with me on Twitter at @DerekMajor and share your thoughts.

The first thing I’ve learned through good friends of mine is that social media is the future.  Not necessarily the term but more so the thought that we will be relying more on the opinion of our peers rather than depending on that of the advertising companies.  Consumers whether residential or business customers are going to be relying on what their neighbour is saying more so than ever before.

Back in 2008 this is when things were starting to heat up with social media.  The economy was collapsing and opportunities were limited.  Those that were losing their jobs started hitting up things like Twitter and Facebook to voice their frustrations and that is when….

Everybody became a social media expert.

I have friends of mine that are probably laughing reading that last part.  It is true.  Everybody and their dog suddenly became experts in how to communicate to people on the Internet.  The problem was that these people were still not marketing experts.  Heck, at one point I started offering social media classes but to be fair I kept it low cost and I was up front that we were only doing grassroots initiatives like a simple YouTube video or establishing a twitter account.

What is a good marketer?  Well, I think it takes a good marketer to explain that.  Although I’m not the greatest I do know that the good marketers are those that excel in creativity and have a passion for delivering unique messages targeted at the audiences that they seek to convey.  You probably seem them often at dinner parties or meet up groups.  They are the people that you instantly trust and who are typically surrounded by many.  In these instances they are actually marketing themselves.  It is pretty powerful to observe and to learn from.

I know for me I am learning new things everyday that I am applying to my business and I think in 2012 there will be some unique things happening to my role.  I think this year I actually transition into a marketer myself instead of being just a consultant.  We’ll see.

We were talking the other day about businesses and creating new businesses.  He mentioned that too many people try to re-invent the wheel.  I did exactly this when I started out Eligeo and while a lot of the ideas worked, they were not going to make us money in the long run.

In 2008 we partnered with IBM to start selling their small business servers called Lotus Foundations which were fantastic server boxes.  They were originally designed by Nitix before IBM purchased the company and re-branded everything.  The problem I ran into was convincing businesses to take on this unique product which was “I.T. in a box” for all intents and purpose.

I spent so much time trying to convince people to make a switch that in the end I lost money from the sheer point of trying to sell a product that wasn’t easy to sell but was effective to use.  It took us about a year and a half to cave in and focus strictly on Microsoft products.

Why did we change our focus?  We spent so much time selling a product we made hardly any money off of while our competitors were selling Microsoft products left right and centre.  I know how good our people are in our business so I knew all it would take is for us to sell the same products and then we would shorten our sales cycle since our competitors were proposing the same solutions.

What was the lesson?  While it is great to deliver cool solutions to customers you need to maake sure that you make  money.  A lot of businesses get caught up in the excitement of delivering new and shiny products or services while they forget they need to make money.  I learned this and since we made that change our revenues have doubled each  year since and it is continuing that way.

Now as Eligeo gets bigger I am starting to introduce some of the cool features that I wanted to do in the past but when you start out don’t forget you need to build a base and get paid.

Lesson 1: Pick your medium correctly

My first real advertising placement was with a local coffee magazine you would find in a local coffee shop.   The person I was purchasing the advertising was just fairly new in the printing business but being a new business owner I thought I would help him out just as those had helped me.  Guess what?  Expensive mistake #2.   Now, I can’t really blame him so much as I should blame myself for going into it and not doing my fundamental marketing research.  His type of offering is a long term play where I was only interested in a 1 shot deal.  He was also really nice to me and his ad did get me 1 client.  As it turned out, it was his Dad he refered to me.

Remember this: business is business and don’t be a nice guy just because.  We both did that and in turn it created an awkward relationship that ultimately didn’t benefit anyone.

Make sure you pick your medium properly.  For some social media is the way to go, some it is TV, others it could be radio or some times it is just an old fashioned phone call from your desk.

Lesson 2: Choose your target market

One thing we stopped doing after a months at Eligeo was serving residential customers.  I felt it was near impossible for our business model to succeed in both business and residential.  Both areas have their pro’s and con’s.  When we deal with residential the expectations are much lower and they don’t want to pay high fees.  In business it is quite the opposite where businesses have high expectations and are more than willing to pay for good service.

The first ad that I spoke about above was targeted at residential customers.  But when we saw our website it was more about business.  As the consumer they were easily confused when they saw the message since it was the wrong marketing message.

Choose your target properly and reduce the scope right down to an industry if you have.  For instance if you sell boots, you might want to focus on the construction sector and make the best darn construction boots out there.  You get the idea.

Lesson 3: Hire an expert

I know it is hard when you start out to hire experts to serve your business as they can be pricey but I truly believe that what you invest will come back to you in a big way.  A smart marketing expert can drive a propre message and campaign for you and help you return results.  Find a good expert that has references that you can trust and to even see results of the work that has been accomplished.  It won’t be cheap as an expenditure but I’m sure your eyes will light up when you look at the revenue column.

I could go on for awhile but I thought I’d bring some learning lessons that I have found and talk a bit about them.  We’ll call them the entrepreneurial myths.

Myth #1: I get to set my own hours

Ah yes, set your own hours.  To be honest I actually really thought I would be different than every other mentor I had out there and I would actually set my own hours.  I was in I.T., I had computers and Internet; I could do it whenever I want!  Well, I quickly learned as my clientele list grew that setting your own hours just simply doesn’t exist.

Depending on what kind of business you get into, you’ll be working 9AM – 5PM, 1PM – 11:59PM, 2AM until 8AM…you’re getting the idea.  Well, I’ll give you the run down of how my life worked for awhile when I had no staff.

• Monday Morning from 8AM until about noon I’m usually dealing with the “emergency” issues that customers are having that morning after a weekend.  (Tuesdays after a long weekend are even nastier).
• From noon until about 3PM I’m catching up on bills, learning new tools and trying to find new opportunities.
• From 3PM until 5PM the phone’s keep ringing as more things to deal with pop up.
• The rest of the night I’m updating the Eligeo website, replying to emails and checking in other things that I need to do with the business side of things.

This kind of continues throughout the week.  It’s sporadic because you wear so many hats that you find yourself a bit all over the map.

Myth #2: I report to no one but myself

So, you finally quit your job.  Told your boss what you thought of him/her and you’re now your OWN boss.  You report to nobody but yourself.

That is until you get clients.  Your new bosses.

Yup, I said that plural because now you are responsible for the experience and happiness of each customer as they interact with your business.  It is imperative that you build systems and solutions to help your customers better utilize your services/products.

I used to joke that I’m now free from the politics of the corporate world but truthfully I hadn’t escaped that at all.  You never will and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Being in business means you need to continue to interact with people and in this case with a lot more senior people.

I deal with executives and business owners day in and day out.  It is part of the job now since our company deals strictly with businesses.

Myth #3: I can do whatever I want

OK, this isn’t really a myth.  It really is true that I can do whatever I want.  I can’t say that everything I do or want to do is necessarily the best thing or has been the best thing but I have the ultimate power.  I did learn that with great power comes great responsibility.  If you don’t learn to use it properly, you’re going to go out of business fast.

I’ve watched a lot of competitors start up similar businesses and fail.  They failed because they didn’t take the time or effort to really understand their clients and most importantly listen.  I spend a lot of time hearing business owners tell me about their businesses everyday.  I can’t just go out there and throw out any offering or product but I need to offer solutions that I believe in and trust so that my customers will in turn trust the decisions I make for them.

I love what I do and I wouldn’t change a thing.  But remember, if you are thinking it is going to be a walk in the park you’ll be mistaken as it isn’t a 9-5 job and you’ll end up reporting to more people than you ever have before.  But that isn’t such a bad thing as you get to meet some incredible people and bring some very unique individuals into your life.

So here I was in 2008.  It was just me.  No co-workers, or even suppliers/vendors here in Calgary that could be considered a remote possibility of being a co-worker.  But, in Derek fashion I took my then girlfriend out to dinner at a nice restaurant around Christmas to celebrate the first year.  It was a really good steak since it had been a long time since I treated myself like that and believe me I really enjoyed it.

I guess my point of this blog is to reenforce how important it is to celebrate every success.  We sometimes get too caught up in the day to day of our businesses (or starting them) that we forget to sit back and smell the coffee.  I look around our office at Eligeo and it is pretty amazing to think about it.  Because of me several people have a job that they love to do.  Because of me I have a cool sleek office in Crossroads Market full of potential and opportunity.  I’ve created new relationships with people that I would have never connected with.  I think of our shareholders, I think of the business partners I have across North America and all of the people I’ve met through vendors at a variety of conferences all over the world.

I love what I do.

When Arthur started with Eligeo back in January, 2012 I did something that surprised him a bit.  We had a really slow day and things were running fairly smooth that day.  So I looked at our team around 3PM and said, let’s go to a movie.  But don’t forget your cell phones just in case.  So here we went to a 4PM matinee to see Mission Impossible in the IMAX.  I won’t forget the look on Arthur’s face when he couldn’t believe we would just go do something like that.

We do all kinds of events these days.  We have the annual ball hockey tournament but we also do a lot of impromptu things like going out for lunch to a different type of restaurant.  We may do little excursions on the weekends or we even just give a guy a day off since he’s been working his/her butt off.

The annual Christmas party seems to get bigger every year but I’m the kind of person that likes to do creative things.  This past year I took everybody to Jubilations but I also took 2 tickets and raffled them off at the Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids Christmas party.  This party was full of volunteers and 2 people joined us who were super friendly and we were really glad to have them with us.

The year before that we all went out to Smuggler’s Inn for a fun evening out with our team.  This 2012 I have some ideas up my sleeve as we have a cool group of advisors and shareholders which we never had until the last 6 months.  I’m sure it will be a big bang.

So what do you do at your business?  How do you keep people excited about things?  Or surprise them?