Business

Golf is a game of mental dichotomy.  On one side you have details.  Keep head down, swing through ball, pay attention to stance, keep knees bent, elbows create a “V”, swing through waist, maintain balance…

On the other side, you hear people say, “You’re thinking too much.”  “Relax.”  “Just hit the ball.”

I play golf a few times a year with my dad.  He talks about the two persons in his head with two distinct personalities.  If you claim multiple voices in your head anywhere else than a golf course you are crazy, but on a golf course this is permittedly sane.  One is telling him all the details he should be focused on when approaching his swing; The other is telling him to stop thinking and just hit the ball.

The analogy can be drawn to a developing business.  On the one hand, planning and detail are key to success.  Keep detail on cash flow management; product development, market opportunities, managing employees, vision and strategy setting.  Focus, focus, focus.  Uncover every stone.  Encounter no surprises.  Manage every dime and fine tune every customer engagement. 

On the other hand you want to stay simple.  The initial product offering, vendor lines, customer engagements… these things should be made as simple as possible.  Stop over thinking it and just do it.  I see more new businesses get lost in planning phases and fail to execute.  Keep the plan simple and get to execution phase as quickly as possible. 

In my entrepreneurial law / business law practice, I see this with many new technology companies.  The entrepreneur is often the technician – the scientist with a great idea for a business.  These folks often struggle with moving from planning to execution.  They plan for a capital raise but don’t pick up the phone to schedule meetings with potential private equity investors.  They plan for product roll out but get delayed in development while trying to place additional features in the beta product.  They plan for future employees and officers but fail to execute on product launch which in turn effects cash flow and does not allow for them to bring on the strategic hires.  I especially see this with software licensing and SaaS clients where initial start-up costs are not as high as other industries.

Key concept here is to keep you business plan and product roll out simple.  Narrow the business plan to the essentials and then pay attention to the details on those essentials.  Narrow first; Focus second.  Of course, that is often easier said than done.