Growing a business is a little like raising a child. From the early days of worrying if you’re going to inadvertently harm your “baby,” to the stressful highs and lows of navigating the changes that come raising a successful business, we’ve had an eventful 16 years at The Roundtable. In celebration of our anniversary week, we thought we’d take the opportunity to look back at a few of the milestones along the way and share some of the lessons learned.
The Early Years (2007-2010)
I remember the moment I launched The (then) Executive Roundtable on December 13, 2007 to the 300-odd contacts I had in my cobbled together database. About a third bounced back; a handful reached out to wish me well; one person pointed out a typo in my email; and, one consultant sent a snarky remark back to me that she intended for someone else. (That was such a bummer because I really admired this person’s work, but I’ll save that story for another day). Zero people booked me for business. Talk about a wake-up call.
The majority of businesses don’t make it past the 3-year mark, so when we did, I threw a party to celebrate. Unfortunately, I didn’t capture the moment, so you’ll just have to believe me when I say it was a good time.
Milestones:
- PowerRoundtables Bring Leaders Together. In the early years, we hosted monthly breakfast Roundtables with senior leaders. Over 100 executive shared their learning with our audiences and I still quote many of them to this day.
- The Roundtable for Leaders Program Launches. Our (now) signature program all started with eight intrepid leaders who were willing to give a different approach to leadership development a shot. Thanks to Merjane, Allison, Leslie, Anita, Eleanor, Tammy, Shana and Lauralei who charted the path that followed.
- First “official” employee. Although I had lots of contract support in the early years, it was Karin Eaton who made me get familiar with what I needed to do to outsource payroll. Susan MacKenzie, Kim Blackwell, Theresa Rosati and Shannon Nedza were members of the core crew that helped me navigate those early years. Each have left their DNA in the organization.
Lessons Learned:
- Celebrate the Small Wins. To keep myself motivated when my phone wasn’t ringing, I bought a bracelet and stacked a bead on it each time I hit a milestone. 6 years into the business and 12 bracelets complete, I retired the practice but they’re a great reminder of how far the business has come.
- Cash is Queen. While you’re building your business, you may need ‘cash flow’ gigs until you can spend more time on your ‘main gig’. I did a lot of ‘odd jobs’ before I was able to fully focus on The Roundtable.
- Document the Happenings! Be sure to take lots of pictures in the early years. I barely took any and wish I’d got more to look back on in terms of a measure of progress.
