So we reached a milestone this week.  Our business coach, Darren Shirlaw, calls it an investment phase as we reach our "1st Brick Wall!!".  Now reaching your first brick wall is a good thing because what has happened in the process to get you into the 1st Brick Wall (I will leave you to wrestle with the analogy) is that you have stopped thrashing yourself, metaphorically you understand, for even embarking on this hair-brained adventure in the first place.  Such a relief that now there will be no more nights lying in bed at 3am sweating from small pours that you were unaware had the right glands attached to them. From now on you are in the serene state of being able to invest confidently in the business. 

That's the theory and for most mortal's its bloody good - can't recommend the Shirlaw's stages model highly enough for any start up, especially if you are prone to the odd bit of self indulgent, deprecating, navel gazing that leads to panic stricken wails of "I CANT" and "WHATS GOING ON"...arrhh "AND WHO ARE YOU and what doing in my room at 3am?"..

So we are investing. This is a good sign.  For anyone of you reading this waffle and looking for startup business insight, investing means that gone is the futile early excitement that says "This is great...everyone wants this, I just know it". Gone is the pointless thrashing of mindless activity as you run around like an eager spaniel (yup Linda - there that phrase again), tongue out, looking keen and desperate at the same time (no mean feat by the way)*.  Gone is wrist slashing despair as the anxiety of "no one gets what we are talking about" subsides.  Only to be replaced by an unnerving calm that surrounds you.  Only when you think about it  do you realise the calm is in fact the centre of an eddy of activity that means that whatever choice you make next, the only thing you can be certain of is that "frantic" will be your bed fellow again...and what is the catalyst for us to move into the raging wall of our little whirlpool ( I will cram more metaphors into these few words if it is the last thing I do ) ... it will be the recruitment of our first employee.

For us we hope we have found a real gem.  The challenge is putting together something in terms of a package that will reward, motivate and inspire this person without bankrupting us.  What I have learned from the negotiations so far is that money ain't everything and when you talk to these critical first people there are so many non financial elements that need to be considered, especially as we think is the case here, when the person is clearly better than you at many things.   Don't let me delude you, when the negotiations run, we are always clear that MONEY is at the heart of things, but it won't keep them if they are not included, it won't stop their eye wandering if a more nourishing environment appears.  So I can see our next very new adventure.  If we get him on board, that is the start of the negotiation not the end.  We are all going to have to shake down together and he will want to make his mark.  He will have to be patient with us as we prize our fingers off a bit of our tiny tiller and we will have to let him push it around a bit... and all this whilst sailing in a whirlpool with 100 mile an hour cross winds....HEY HO!!... will let  you know how it goes.

*Just so you know this is not a good time...keen and desperate when mixed have their own unique odour.  Sadly you can't smell it but pretty much everyone can and you can see it hit them as you walk into the room and their nose twitches at the pong!!

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