Start-Up Diary – The Unexpected
Always plan for what you don’t know that you don’t know. At GE we used 25%. You have to account for those delays that will cause you to spend resources while delaying your cash inflow. They happen from the most unexpected places.
Yesterday was a beautiful day, just perfect for me to tape a yoga session that I would use to sell on my website. I tape outdoors because that is the cheapest place for me to it. The light was right just after noon. I had everything set up and just as I was about to begin someone started to run a gasoline motor.
Well nuts (not actually the words I used), my first thought was that it was someone mowing their lawn, but the engine sounded too large. I decided to walk down to see what was going on. Shot in the foot by technology.
It seems that my neighborhood is a target market for the new at&t. They are going to be offering their new television, Internet and phone services to my neighborhood. We will be one of the first in the US outside of Texas.
The motor that was ruining my taping session was being used by one of the at&t crews (there were 6 in the area) for something or other as they upgraded the circuits. Lucky me. Well eventually, yes, but not today.
A large part of the afternoon was shot, but I did have other things I could do with my time. I thought they would quit for the day about 4 PM and I could still get some video in after that. I was wrong. They worked overtime and my light was gone by the time they hung it up for the day.
There will be other sunny days (not today) when my neighborhood will be quiet enough for taping outside. I didn’t really lose any expenses out of pocket, but my income stream has been delayed. Imagine if I hired a crew to shoot the video, or had investors that were looking for an income stream by some date certain. That unexpected delay would have had more tangible costs.
Everyone involved in a start-up needs to be aware of the impact of the unexpected. The awareness shows a worldly level of maturity and sophistication. As an entrepreneur you need to set your teams expectations for achievement that factor in the unexpected.