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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, after watching Batman v Superman this weekend I can still say that Michael Keaton is my favorite actor to have ever portrayed Batman/Bruce Wayne, and I believe if you are learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share lessons I’ve learned by being faced with incredible disappointment.
Today’s Fun Fact: For as long as I can remember, Batman has been my favorite superhero. Here are some fun facts about the caped crusader.
- Batman was created in 1939 by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.
- Paul Reubens, a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman, has portrayed the father of The Penguin in both the movie Batman Returns and the TV show Gotham.
- The Lamborghini driven by Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy is a Murciélago. Murciélago is Spanish for “bat.”
- The University of Victoria in Canada offers a course in the science of Batman.
What I Learned Yesterday:
Can you believe it’s been nearly 3 years since I quit my corporate job and became a full-time entrepreneur? The 3 year mark will be here in just over 2 weeks. When I told my CPA that I was quitting my corporate job, she thought I was making a huge mistake. After the first year, she told me that it usually takes a business 3 years to find success and that 90% of businesses fail. She also said that she could already tell that I was going to succeed.
When she told me that, it was a huge confidence boost that I really needed. Let me tell you why.
As some of you know, the first year I spent as an entrepreneur was not typical. About 6 months before I left my corporate job, I landed a really big client. I saved most of the money I earned during that first six months with the client, and that’s what gave me a big enough security blanket to finally quit my job. Once I quit my job, I had more than enough work coming in from that single client to provide for all my needs. There was never any loss of income when I made the career change. Most entrepreneurs don’t have that luxury.
All of the work was a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that I had a great income stream coming in each month. The curse was that it was keeping me so busy, that I didn’t have the ability to take on any other clients. That one client represented about 90% of my income at one point. That’s a dangerous situation. It’s never good to have such a high percentage of income tied to a single client.
My worst fear was that the client would run out of financing and shut down. That eventually did happen, but fortunately, it didn’t happen overnight.
I started really getting concerned about the long term funding of the client at about the first of the year. This would have been January of 2014. That client began slowing down the amount of work that was coming in, and I was really starting to feel pressure to add new clients. I went to New Media Expo in January of 2014 really hoping that I could meet someone that could use my services.
I knew the odds were pretty slim. I’m not at all good at striking up conversations with strangers and I didn’t have a booth or any obvious way that people would know that I offered services to help podcasters. Still, I was determined to get out of my comfort zone and meet new people.
As I left my hotel room on that first day, I can remember giving myself a pep talk to encourage myself to strike up a conversation with a stranger. I immediately headed to one of the Starbucks shops located inside the hotel. As I stood in line to place my order, I got up my nerve and started a conversation with the guy in line behind me. We started with typical small talk about where we were from, what our background in podcasting was, and why we had decided to attend the conference.
It didn’t take long for me to tell him about Golden Spiral Media and the podcasting services that I provided. When I did, his face lit up! He said something to the effect that he and his business partner were hoping to connect with someone who had my background and provided some of the services I offered. They were starting a podcast soon and needed some help with it!
I couldn’t believe it! I hadn’t even attended the first session yet and it looked like I may have been well on my way to landing a new client. The guy asked me if I would wait for him so he could introduce me to his partner. Of course, I agreed.
We quickly found his partner and had a brief recap of what we had discussed while in line at Starbucks. We each had other things on our agenda to get to, but we decided to set up a time to have a more formal style meeting before the conference was over.
The next day we met at the other Starbucks location and talked about everything from editing, equipment, best practices, and budget. Things seemed to be going really well. I tried to contain my excitement.
After the meeting was over, I found a quiet place and called my wife. My excitement boiled over and probably looked like a teenage girl on the phone. I was pacing back and forth talking really fast and energetically. I didn’t notice it until my wife pointed out how animated I was and excited I was.
I had every reason to be excited. I mean, if I didn’t land some new clients, and the other client did shut down operations, we were going to be in a really bad spot financially. I needed to secure some new clients fast!
I met briefly again with the guys before new media expo was over, and I had a really good feeling about them. I was nearly 100% sure that they would soon be a regular client. That ended up being the only good lead I was able to get from that year’s conference, but I was pretty encouraged by it.
Well, my enthusiasm soon got blown up. The guys let me know that they had decided to do all the editing themselves so that they could make their tight budget last longer. While I certainly understood their position, it was crushing to me. I had come from a mountain top school girl like enthusiasm to crushed disappointment in a matter of a few days. On top of all that, I was back at square one with no good leads. Disappointment doesn’t even express the fulness of the pressure I was feeling.
Here’s what I learned.
I really don’t know that I’ve done a good job at conveying just how disappointed and concerned I was when I didn’t land the client. Furthermore, my main client was continuing to slow down the amount of work they were sending me and it was truly looking like they were not going to be able to sustain their podcast.
As it turned out, I found myself in a nearly worst case scenario. I did end up landing 3 new clients about 4 months after New Media Expo, and about 6 weeks after that, my large client closed up shop. When they ceased operation, they still represented about 60% of my income. Ouch!
If you’re a long time listener then you’ve probably already pieced this info together with some of the other stories I’ve shared. That is, over the next 8 months, I did not make enough money to pay my bills. Fortunately, we had saved a lot of money during the fat times, and that savings is what saved us during the lean times. Those 8 months were incredibly challenging, but also helped me grow in ways that I never would have otherwise grown.
And that’s a big lesson that I learned. No one likes disappointment, but living through those situations better prepares us for the future. They give us practical lessons that make us stronger, more efficient, and more aware of all that we truly have to be grateful for. Looking back on it now, not only did those tough months and failing to land that client give me a better perspective and appreciation for what I had, but I’m now grateful that I went through those times of disappointment.
I have one more lesson for today’s episode.
Even though I just recorded this episode yesterday, it’s been on the calendar earmarked for this day for about 2 months. Last week something happened that has given me an even deeper understanding about disappointing times.
You see, the guys I met at New Media Expo just happened to be the first prospective clients that I had a good feeling about that ended up not becoming a client. I think that also added to my disappointment. I’d never experienced that type of thing before. It’s now something that has happened quite a few times. But last week I had 2 separate parties come to me and sign on to become new recurring clients. In both situations, I’d met with them on multiple occasions and helped them with various things related to their podcast. I’d talked to them about doing ongoing audio production, but they had decided to go with a less expensive option.
I’m not sure what happened with either of them and their audio editors. All I know is that they now have a better appreciation for what I’m able to provide and are ready to pay for the level of service that I provide. For one of the clients it has been nearly a year and a half since I first helped them, and for the other client, it’s been a year.
I know that not all of the prospective clients that pass on my services will eventually come back and become recurring clients. However, I’ve learned that if I keep doing good work and operate my business with honesty, success will come. There will be days of deep disappointment, but the lessons I learn from those days will only make me better equipped for the days ahead.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
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