Resilience is Recession-Proof

September 2009

Even though Dave had left, I knew it wasn’t the end of the world.  So, I kept chugging along, doing anything I could to find a developer and get the ball rolling.  At one point, I went to these networking events for web developers, hoping to find someone there.  I met some interesting people and learned a lot, but in the end nothing came of it.

At this point, I had a lot of papers, documents, etc., and they really started piling up on me.  Between the articles of organization, the bank account files, receipts, and everything else I was handling, I needed some sort of filing system.  So, I went to the store and picked up one of those expandable folders.  I have upgraded to a more organized filing system since then, but at the point, it was all I needed.  I suppose I could have gotten by without the expandable folder, but I was lucky that I went to go pick it up.  While at the store, I made the greatest investment in the history of my company: a blue spiral notebook for 89 cents.  I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I like to believe that this single purchase enabled me to accomplish everything I have today.

It’s kind of like the notebook the Coach (Fonz) had in “The Waterboy” if you’ve seen it- just an outlet for all my creativity in one place.  Once I bought the notebook, I started scribbling down idea after idea and sketching what the website would actually look like, something I hadn’t done before.  Sometimes I like to flip through the notebook just to see the evolution of the business.

Meanwhile, I tried to get advice on starting a business anywhere I could.  Inc.com was a great resource in the beginning, but after a while, I needed some real advice… from a person.  Luckily, I had interned at a firm called TradingScreen the summers after freshman and sophomore year of college.  By the time I had arrived, they weren’t exactly a start-up, but I still watched them move into a much nicer office down the street in just one year.  However, I heard stories about the founders working out of a single apartment to get things up and running.  So, if there was one person whose brain I wanted to pick, it was the founder and CEO, a man named Philippe Buhannic.

Although my business is not similar to TradingScreen in any way, Philippe had done exactly what I want to do, and he is an extremely intelligent man.  So, after a little bit of work tracking down old co-workers on LinkedIn, I found Philippe’s e-mail address and arranged for a meeting.

Later that week, I saw an ad on Facebook for something called “Wolverine Bootcamp,” which was organized by the University of Michigan Alumni Association.  One of the events being hosted that day was about starting a business.  First, a woman named Deborah Grayson Riegel (www.rightinfrontofyou.com) gave us invaluable advice that she had picked up in starting her own coaching, speaking, and training practice.  She was an amazing speaker, so I was able to learn a lot and enjoy myself at the same time.  Next, we were lucky enough to hear from a panel of entrepreneurs who were all U of M alumni.

I left the session feeling pretty good about myself.  It seemed like I was doing all the right things: taking action, seeking out a mentor, writing a business plan.  However, during the session, Deborah also spoke about the dreaded dip: a point in the entrepreneurial journey when it seems like you are up against the world, and successfully starting a business feels impossible.  I hadn’t experienced the dip, but I am sure glad she spoke about it because a week later, it looked as though I was in over my head.