The Quiet Journey Into Being Loud
One of the oddest things about starting your own business, or being part of a small team launching a new business or startup, is how quiet it can be at the beginning. It seems counterintuitive, because there’s also usually so much fanfare around jumping in and getting started in any endeavor. Sure, there is a lot of motion around you, lots of big ideas and excited conversations, and plans and forward momentum, but don’t be surprised that there is also a LOT of quiet building time.
This time looks different for every person and team, whether it’s fundraising, or administrative work, or hiring, or planning, or building software, or starting your marketing, but there’s a “heads down and get to work” part of getting started that can feel tedious, quiet, and sometimes even lonely, as you actually put that idea into the motion of becoming a business. It turns out that taking a vision or an idea out of your head and into reality requires a lot of little steps along the way, and someone has to do those steps!
It can be hard sometimes, when you’re in these quiet moments, to remember why you’re there. The motivation to do the work, the grand vision and the excitement about what you can bring to your clients and customers, and how you’re going to make an impact on the world, can feel very far away as you fill out that government form or build code or design a logo or create a marketing plan.
It is imperative that in these quiet moments, you do whatever you need to do to get you to the next day, the next task, the next accomplishment along the journey. Write a to-do list, put it on your calendar, tell someone else, check in with the overall vision and plan and remember why you’re there, doing this work. The accountability to something outside of your individual feelings is the only thing that will get you through this part.
And you need to do all the things that are on your list get through this part, even if they’re quiet, even if they’re boring, even if they seem useless and unnoticed and frustrating. Because on the other side of this quiet building is your success. The volume level around the business will increase, the clients will find you and share your product, and the wheel will start rolling down the hill toward your goals and dreams.
But the wheel doesn’t start rolling down the hill unless you do the work to push it up to the top of that hill in the first place. And the time period between the loud ideas and launch and the ball rolling down the hill can be longer than you expected. So keep going. Keep checking things off the list, building systems and competencies, one at a time. Keep your head down and your mind working toward the goals, even in the quiet and unnoticed days. Because those are the days when it will be easy for you to think about giving up, and going back to another type of life, one that is more familiar and comfortable and expected.
Don’t fall for the trap of ease if you believe in what you are doing. Give it all of your attention, time, and commitment and commit to making it work and figuring it out until it is successful. The quiet is a season, and as you figure it out, the business will become louder and louder until you will need help to turn the volume back down again for you personally and get your life back into its proper balance. Just remember in those quiet moments to keep going. Follow the plan. And let the quiet show you how strong you really are and how much you really believe in what you are working on. Cheering you on, always!