...At least that’s what I felt like when the Request for Proposal (RFP) from a fairly large company landed on my desk.  

Here was what the letter said.

You are required to write and edit our supplement that will be inserted to the 2 daily newspapers. Mango Media Caribbean is required to raise funding through  advertising. Let us know the cost and how you  intend to the achieve our objectives. Note that should Mango Media Caribbean not raise enough money from advertising, the firm will not be paid for writing and editing the supplement

Hmmmmm.

Needless to say I asked a few questions, just to be sure I got the RFP right.

“Are you saying that if the  company does not raise the required advertising dollars,  we will not be paid for the editorial work ?”

It sounded more incredulous once it was in black and white. And wouldn’t you know it I never heard from that company again.

Maybe as service providers we have the word fool  (or worse) seared into our heads. I guess some large firms  figure that  in a tough economy small companies  may be hungry and/or  desperate for work and willing to accept all kinds of conditions and demands.

For sure, some other consultant took that firm up  on their  offer. That their strategy was  to see if they could throw an outrageous request onto the wall and like pasta see which noodle  would  stick.

I’m not paranoid. 

Over the past last year in particular I’ve come across  a number  of firms who if you ask them about budget, you’d  get no response. Inquire  on  the timing of a  decision after a proposal is written and they don’t know. Ask them about payment and it's a trade secret.

In fact their perfect service provider  is small, eager, and not quite  aware fact that there still a lot of  valuable business to be   from respectful clients if only for the patience and the gumption to find them.

Thankfully as tough as the business climate may be, we’re not one of them.

Independence. That’s why a majority of employees strike out on their own. Or so says a recent US survey put out by that country’s labour department. According to the survey there are more than 15 million self-employed people in America with independents representing one of the fastest growing sectors in that economy.

There is something glorious about being in charge of a small independent firm. The downfall is that sometimes the size of a small firm can preclude its effective exploitation of new markets; the advantage comes from knowing that your size allows for energetic experimentation.

Consider the growth of Elaine Singh, owner of a copywriting agency, “I believe that the reason for my success is that I have been able to align myself with some of the biggest advertising agencies in the business and created a win/win situation for us both,” said Singh. The 37-year-old is able to offer her specialised skills for a very reasonable price, the larger agencies embrace her because they can lower their employment and wage bill by cutting back on their health care, pension and other responsibilities.

Because of her firm’s size- Singh has one full time assistant and a part time accountant- she is able to continuously reinvent herself. She recently added photography and design to her list of services by forming strategic partnerships with other small firms. Singh is a believer in reinvention as the key to entrepreneurial success. “Reinvention is not about changing what is, but about creating what isn’t.” At the heart of Singh’s statement is perhaps a realisation that small companies in the new era need not be around forever and what matters most is the burst they may have in values creation rather than any dramatic claim of being around for 100 years.

Perhaps this may be the fundamental difference between the new enterprise and the old. Between the old firm and the new. The old enterprise viewed permanence as good. And set up vast building with glossy atriums to prove it. The glossier the atrium, well, the better the business. Atrium envy ruled. In the new enterprise there is no such envy because there are no such buildings. People are connected in wired quadrants that allows them to communicate, work and mange themselves in offices without walls and borderless communities. The size of the atrium is irrelevant, how high the mind can soar and what it can create in a short period of time are the determining factors.

In the new enterprise entrepreneurs like Singh recognise the need for a new reality, which does not surround exclusive bottom line issues. “If I focus on the bottom line and profits only I won’t be happy, instead I look around at other small business models and I would like to emulate those that place emphasis on their human community. Profits are vital but so too is the connectivity and the network.”

There are thousands like Singh running small firms, forming strategic alliances and setting their own strategies on how to function in the corporate world. There is no other alternative for Singh. “The idea of being a salaried worker in an organisation is unpalatable for me. There is just something about working for myself; I really, truly do love what I do.”

I bet you’ve seen them in the magazines. The young entrepreneurs, usually about 25. Tousled hair. Converse on their feet. Cocky. At the height of the Internet bubble in the early 90s, they were the toast of the Valley and world. They possessed a certain bravado and were determined to make millions before they turned thirty. Some of them did. Most didn’t. But the ones who survived, like the creators of Google, helped turn living-room startups into billion-dollar companies. They amassed enough wealth to retire without a worry and decide what kind of life they’d want at 30.

These entrepreneurs defy the statistics; the research that states only the top quartile of entrepreneurs make more wages than their corporate-employed counterparts and that 75% of business owners would be better off financially with a good old regular job. Still, it is not the ability to make enormous sums of money that I marvel at, but the ages at which they begin. These entrepreneurs are very young  and they raise a whole set of questions  with regard to when is a good time to start a business.

I started my marketing communications firms at age 29, and I will tell you if I knew back then the necessities for forming a  start-up, I may not have taken my leap of faith. I didn’t have a network. Certainly no real business experience and no wealth of any kind to bootstrap my business. The only thing I had was optimism and the ability to live like a minimalist, even before the term became fashionable.

I recently  read though that the best predictor of entrepreneurship is not age, not income, not wealth, it is ability. Oddly enough, think of a U- shaped curve. People with very low and very high  ability tend to start companies. The middle usually stays put. 

Here’s an excerpt from the  article:

“We hypothesize that individuals with very low ability are more likely to take up self employment. These individuals may simply lack the discipline to work under someone else's authority, or in teams. They may also compare their low positions in their organizations and their low remunerations with those of higher ability individuals with similar human capital, and feel frustrated at the difference. They are therefore  tempted to strike it out on their own. It is an empirical question whether their self-employment income would be higher than their paid employment income.

On the other hand, individuals with very high ability are those with high energy levels, who get things done, who have strong interpersonal skills, and who are creative problem solvers. These individuals may feel that, in spite of their above average remuneration, they can do better on their own. This is because they have to share with their principals a substantial percentage of the value they contribute to their organizations. Finally, individuals of average ability are likely to be compensated in line with their human capital - they are therefore less likely to search for self-employment opportunities.”

I knew on what side of the curve I stood from very early on, what I didn’t know was that age can bring:

1) Money - It helps to have assets.

2) Connections - By the time you are 38, your friends and co-workers will have switched companies, changed jobs, and moved up the corporate ladder so there is easier access to decision makers and the people needed to help you get your business off the ground.

3) Wisdom - You don't have to learn or invent many of the standard processes .

4) Patience - You learn how to wait for the pitch that is in your business' capacity.

Still, as I grow older  and trade one set of skill sets for another, I recognise that age has less to do with success in business than opportunity and perseverance. Once you can spot the former  and do the latter, then go ahead, hitch onto your entrepreneurial star. Enjoy the ride.

The reason why most of us feel uncomfortable with entrepreneurship is because we don’t like roller coaster rides. It's the fall that we are terrified of.

Clients love your work, you go from  meeting  to meetings. You’re exhausted but happy.  But there are times when the phone remains silent or the  HR issues become exhausting.  Whatever the manifestations, your nerves begin to rattle.  

Somehow you thought  you had  built the next Google  but inside you’ve got to admit to yourself,  and then to those that love you, that your idea wasn’t so hot shot after all.  That it will take time to find its traction in the market.

Maybe that’s the toughest part in building a new business, the realization that others (customers)   don’t see your dream as big as you do. 

What should you do? There are two roads.

Persist or quit.

Either is a viable option. 

Quiting allows you to reassess,  re strategise. And yes, even start afresh. There are tons of leaders  of great businesses who  floundered along the way. 

If you decide to persist…

Cheers.

Caution.

Because the energy that you will need to  keep  your start-up going, in lieu of unbridled success,  isn't free; its back breaking work.

Still it may be  worth it for I do believe this: Entrepreneurship is for those who can handle the ride and  for the those who  understand that the curves of the roller coaster are  simply just part of the journey. 

1. Effective freelancers don’t ever become irrelevant or invisible.
2. Effective freelancers make themselves the go to person for their services and expertise. They are forever in the know and work hard at networking, marketing themselves and others. 
3. Effective freelancers are nimble. Like ballet dancers they live on their toes. They adapt to changing opportunities, they can shift gears quickly, evaluate different prospects and they welcome virtual water-cooler chats about their own needs but others as well. They always want to help.
4.  Effective freelancers know when it's time to pull an all-nighter and when they can take the weekday or two  off to catch up with the friends or the laundry. They get to choose.
5. Effective freelancers don't put their careers on cruise control. They  seldom abide by the rules  of bosses and companies and whether quietly or  not,  they  prefer stand out rather than to fit in

Nothing the slightest bit amazing has ever been done in isolation. 

This is the era of mingle mania. In a pared down society you are only as strong as the people you know. You may well be the smartest person in the world but if no one is aware of you, it does not make a difference.

Individual competitiveness = what you know x who you know. 

Overnight, each and everyone of us could set up a mutlinational company in our bedroom and using the Internet, we can reach a market of  millions of  people. 

Focus, focus, focus and then focus again means that we all need to find partners. We need to find parters to help us with each and every activity and process where we are not world-class. A lot of folks are used to outsourcing parts of their private life - cleaning, daycare etc. Not it is time to start farming out some of our professionals lives.

This is particularly true of small firms. I call it survival when things are tough. Growth when things are better. Whatever the times, partnership power means we get to  witness some really dynamic clusters of expertise and knowledge in our firms and we remain relevant, in good times and bad.

How are you partnering?

Yesterday,  I understood the frustration of our PR team. It was the third time we were submitting the same RFP to the same client. The third time we worked back breaking hours on  weekend in as many weeks. The third time the psychological and creative investment was being made.

“I am not sure we should go for it,” our designer said, who was frustrated at the client’s mix up. 

I understood the sentiment. Exhaustion. Frustration. Disillusion.

But as the  leader of the firm  my role is to take the jar of hope from its shelf, open it  and sprinkle required doses around the room. My strategy is not hocus pocus, more precisely it’s about assessing the situation and  taking calculated risks.

Running a PR firm that wins 40 % of new business by responding  to RFPs is like playing the lottery. 

I figure, if we participate, if we respond to the Requests, there is a 99% chance we’ll lose. On the other hand, if we do not take part, our chances at losing are 100%. 

To succeed I have kept  my eyes on the single percent. 

Getting back to yesterday though as we rallied under enormous pressure (technology glitches, mix ups with the  printer and our courier) we sent off our proposal on the wings of hope and prayer and yes, some  kick butt creatives.

As Jan Michelle ( Mango Media Caribbean’s  AE)  stood in the lobby of the client   waiting for Judy (our Event Director)  to bring in one last item to slip into our  package, I sat down to calm the nerves after 14 stressful hours of  working through problem after problem.

Do clients have any idea of the passion that goes into the work? I am not sure. But as I sat in the lobby of the client, I felt a sense of hope. And I thought  that the the future truly belongs to the outliers - those who dare to take risks, break rules and push to the edge. 

It  belongs to those who seize the opportunity to create it. 

Customers come in all shapes and sizes.

Some have fat accounts. Others barely have budgets to match their dreams.

Some can see your vision right after you're done with the last sentence of your pitch. Others will question your every idea until the cows go home. Give in, and you and your idea are screwed. Fight for the campaign that you know is a winning one, succeed, and you'll find yourself a loyalist.

After 11 years in business I have encountered and served them all. Quite happily. In over a decade I've fired 3 clients because of their energy drain. 

I figured out in year 5 after a particularly clueless client berated one of my employees without cause, that I would obsess only with delighting customers who were happy to be happy. Does that sound like tautology? It's  actually not. It has become the raison d'être for our successful PR practice.

Work with clients who are delighted to be delighted. Hire wonderful, talented  people who know how to serve them. 

Happy customers will spread the word. Happy employees will attract them. To me that's win/win

Yes, you heard me right.  To succeed we must stop being so goddam normal.

"If we behave like all the others, we will see the same things, come up with the same ideas and develop identical product and services. 

At best normal output equals normal results.

In a winner takes all situation, normal equals nothing. 

But if we are willing to take one little risk, break one tiny rule, disregard a few of the norms, there is at least a therorectical chance that we will come up with something different,  actually create  a niche and make a lttle money."

Are you ready?