OPINION: A Year into Choir Digital: Some Lessons (Part #1)

Written by: Anthony Ferrier, Managing Director at Choir Digital 

As I come up to the 1-year anniversary of Choir Digital (yay!), I thought I’d share some of the experiences to date, the good and the bad:

We’re Doing Well…

I wouldn’t have said that at every point of the last 12-months, but at this point we are exceeding my expectations. We have 6 great clients, 3 of which are some of the biggest organisations in Australia. In each case we have a strong, growing relationship, built on trust, transparency and a practical focus on addressing shifting AI / digital needs. We’re cash positive, expanding our team, creating new marketplace offerings and our value proposition is resonating with buyers.

After a hard slog of a year, it’s great to see that we are on the right track. So for now, yay!

…But With Plenty of Ups and Downs

You’d think that after doing this twice before that I would have been prepared for the emotional roller coaster of starting a new business. Perhaps this time it’s different, as I have proper investors, a team from Day #1 (previous efforts were boot strapped) and a robust growth plan?

Perhaps it’s just that I’d forgotten about the emotional investment put into any new business, and am a bit older, so the stress hits different?

At the end of the day, I guess I should have prepared for it more, so at this point I’m taking active steps to manage the stress levels.

Overcoming Barriers to Entry

Especially when aiming to work with the upper-end of the market from day #1, selling a concept / project to a client is only part of the challenge. You first need to overcome buyer trust, which requires case studies, talking points and clearly differentiated points of impact. Getting that set up takes time and effort.

Beyond that, the systemic barriers to entry, such Procurement systems, MSA’s, payment terms, etc. are real / purposeful barriers into these organisations. Building mitigating actions on each of these has been a key focus of our ongoing efforts, which is paying dividends.

Create Focal Points

Everyone is busy these days, so to generate any interest or initial conversations, I need to have some focal points to get into a client chat. These may include an offering, some case studies or sector-specific experience. It sounds simple, choose a sector or product and build away. But in the case of Choir Digital, we’ve spent the last year addressing such a wide range of client needs, getting that focus can be a challenge. In response, we have created some new client offerings and built up some case studies, but in the year ahead, I want to focus on specific target areas that we can own.

Network Support

I have always maintained a decent professional and personal network, that often overlaps. I’m an extrovert, what can I say.

What has been just delightful to experience is when friends / colleagues step-up to actively support our efforts. That has happened with clients, advisors, partners and just people advocating for us. Frankly, it’s always a bit odd to navigate these dual levels of a relationship, but so far it’s working out. Having this network step up has just made me so grateful (and honestly relieved) for their trust and support.

Being nice, as a negative

I’ve been told in that past that I am too ‘nice' to be a successful entrepreneur. And sure, I’ve made mistakes and taken too long to rectify some situations with this business. But at the same time, I do believe that clients and colleagues value a leader who listens to their needs, who can empathise and pick-up on changing circumstances, and who is focused on delivering the highest-quality outcomes.

So sure, nice can be a negative, but I believe you have to be true to yourself and those around you.

Being nice, as a delay tactics

Being nice doesn’t mean you should avoid making hard calls, but it does mean that they need to be considered and act calmly with clear intent. You aren’t helping anyone by delaying an inevitable hard call. Taking those actions is never easy, but as a small business owner, I just can’t delay. Situations that aren’t working are a huge drain on a small business, so just better for all (including the impacted individual) to make the call and move on.

I’ll provide more content next week, but for now, let me know if any of these factors relate to your experiences in working with / for small professional service businesses?

Cheers

Anthony