Viewpoint: Mixed emotions on running a business

This week has been particularly exciting, we closed a few more fabulous projects, which for now we keep under wraps. I always consider the singing of the legal documents as the official start, the deposit for work to start the second and then our first work session with the client team confirmation that we are definitely moving forward. Nevertheless I also love the first news that we have indeed won the business.

Growing a business is never easy and if someone tells you different they have had a remarkably and unusually easy ride or they are not telling the truth. I worked my socks off in the final quarter of last year to ensure I can keep my current team and then grow further. For a while it looked like it wouldn’t come together and thanks to my persistence we are now seeing results, cashflow has yet to catch up to the same level, but at least we now know it’s coming. There are days I absolutely love the business and growing it, and then there are days I hate having to deal with all the nitty gritty that isn’t gamification design. Either way client success motivates me most.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are weeks were contrast is the name of the game, you can have a fabulous meeting with a client who approves the high level concept you created and then the same day have the supplier on the same project tear it apart, because it is not to their liking. In our business model we work with partners to rapidly scale and work to our individual strengths ours is gamification design, theirs tends to be platforms and development.

People keep telling me gender doesn’t matter in business, well my male employees are figuring out through being part of some conversations that this is not always true. As a female in a technical landscape I am given more BS and questioned more on my core skills to the point of being insulted for being stupid than any guy typically has been. It is a sad reality. Most of the time I choose business partners well so that this doesn’t happen too frequently, but as soon as we are working with development teams and real projects, true colours come out.

I am proud of the work I do and I always work to deliver what we promised for the client, sometimes it is easier to achieve than others. Our clients stick with us because of our honesty in feedback and expectation management, I just wish that could be the same when we are receiving services from others.

In the emotional rollercoaster of business, I created my game of business development. All qualified leads are in one column, once proposals are sent in they go into potentials and when converted it is ‘bubbly’ celebration time. It plays out in my CRM first of all and then also on my cashflow forecaster, the aim of the game is moving them from one column into the next. The greatest satisfaction I really get is from creating solutions that work and seeing the client experience the positive effects.

With the business growing, my tasks have been moving away from the actual gamification design and more the business management, which is a personal challenge. I love gamification design and making solutions. In order to keep some satisfaction I will keep a finger in some pies, even if it can’t be all of them and then I do my best to gamify all the other parts I need to do. Mini-rewards have always worked for me, so they are in the mix. Blocks of focused work with mini-rewards at the end is how I get most done.

How do you manage the variety of work you have going on? What games have you designed to stick with the day-to-day grind of work?

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