One day, my custom software company (eNovasys at the time) received an interesting phone
call. It was Friday afternoon and my partners and I were anticipating our weekend break. We’d
ordered pizza, and it had just arrived when the phone rang. Well, the last thing we wanted to do
was talk to anyone. Nevertheless, I decided to pick up the phone.
No sooner had I rattled off my greeting, than the man on the other end shouted, “I have PAIN!
Can you help me?” Then he paused.
Well, my mind was reeling with concerns. Was this a prank? Did this guy
even know what number he had dialed? What was I supposed to do about
someone’s pain? Shouldn’t he call a doctor?
Eventually, (after a 90-minute conversation) I got to the root of this man’s problem. What this
man, Reed Hoisington, wanted was a software program that would more effectively manage his contacts. He was trying to follow up with
his prospects and customers, but he was making a lot of mistakes. He was having
a heck of a time keeping straight leads, responders, and customers. He couldn’t
track things properly and the follow-up
was hit or miss. In other words, he was
mismanaging his business and it was causing
him pain.
The irony is, at the time of Reed’s phone call, we too had pain! Probably more pain than anyone in my company wants to admit.
Note: As you continue reading this book,
the importance of this story will become clear. You will discover how this story taught me the
one secret every small business owner must know, if they are going to achieve unbelievable success. But I’ll address that secret later. Right now, I want you to understand why this man’s declaration of “I have pain!” struck such a chord with me.
When eNovasys first began, there were four of us (me and the three founders) working out of a
small office space in the corner of a strip mall. We provided customized software to small businesses.
We built all sorts of custom software applications.
However, like many small businesses starting out, we really had no idea what we wanted to
achieve. In actuality, we had no idea whether we were going to be in business from one month
to the next. Still, we plugged away with a glimmer of hope that our budding company would become successful.
Business ownership seemed exciting at first. We let ourselves daydream about what our company
could become. I was working with close friends; and besides, we weren’t being tied down by
corporate jobs. But then almost instantly the reality set in. The amount of work required to run
a small business forced all of us to reanalyze our situation. We began spending more and more
time at the office, sometimes working through the night to get projects done. It didn’t take long
before our only option was to eat, sleep, and breathe our business.
But worse than the hours put in at the office was the stress and fear that appeared one day
and never subsided. We were worried about our product, our clients, and whether or not we’d
be paid. And in the back of our minds we were questioning whether or not we could make this
business work. We developed small business paranoia. We were constantly expecting something horrible to happen to us.
In fact, one of the founders became so agitated he lost 40 critical pounds in
a matter of months. The possibility of missing an important phone call kept
most of us from even eating during the day (not that we could afford to eat
anyway).
Life had suddenly taken on a whole new meaning. I was propelled into the age-old “fight for
survival.” My friends kept asking me where “the old Clate” had gone. I rarely saw my family, and
even when I was around, Infusionsoft (we had to change the name because people were calling
us eNovices) was on my mind. I had less patience and little devotion to the things that meant so
much to me before. My mind was busy, my stress levels were increasing, and I completely forgot
what it meant to “live” my life.
Despite the raging personal battles, and almost miraculously, our company
progressed and we hired several employees to help us manage the work.
But as we expanded, rather than finding more time, additional business,
and helpful solutions, we found ourselves wrapped up in more problems!
For one thing, in order to keep the company growing, we needed more money. A lot more money.
The two founders and I invested our personal savings into building and growing our company.
Multiple mortgages were taken out on homes. We leveraged whatever financial outlets we
had, yet we slipped further and further into personal debt. Still it wasn’t enough. We were continually
panicked about being able to pay the bills.
On a couple of occasions, I had to approach our employees and explain we couldn’t make payroll.
To their credit, they stuck it out and worked hard to help us get through the tough times.
And of course, the founders and I often went months without seeing any money.
But even as we tried to budget and gave up our own income, the money would run out, and the
creditors would come calling.
I felt particular embarrassment one night when my son asked, “Dad, why are you so
mad?”
“Because a freakin’ creditor called me on a Sunday!” I snapped at him.
The next question was, “What did he want?”
“He wanted to know why I hadn’t paid my bills.”
“Well Dad, did you tell him it’s because you haven’t made enough sales?”
How often had I said that? And how could I explain to my eight-year-old
son the depth of the financial situation we were in? What lessons was I
teaching him? And how could I bear to watch him go without…because I
wasn’t succeeding?
I wasn’t the only one depending on the next sale. As one of Infusionsoft’s founders sat in the
hospital with his wife and brand new child, he was on the phone closing a deal. When his irritated wife berated him, he looked down at his brand new baby and said, “You want to be able to afford the hospital bills, right?”
Now don’t think we didn’t try to find other
means of financing our endeavors. All my
pride was completely dissolved as I groveled
at the feet of bankers. Each time we
were rejected. I insisted they could trust
me to pay my obligation. But they all
shook their heads saying they’d heard that
story before. If ever a man felt completely
overwhelmed and humbled, I was that man.
I’m trying to present this information
as undetached and factual as
I can, but its impossible. My entire
life was wrapped up in a love/
hate relationship with a draining,
consuming company.
I think the worst part of this struggle was
seeing the frustration and fear in my wife’s eyes. It was killing to me to know I could be providing
my family with a much better life (if I was only willing to give up this crazy dream). Not only
was the company struggling to survive, I was struggling to balance my vision with harsh realities.
I would stare at the computer screen and try to wish away the debt, the long hours, and
the stress. But somehow I pressed on. We pressed on. Of course, I didn’t feel like I had much
choice.
The truth was, without the business I had no idea what I was going to do.
After just a few short months, we’d invested so much time, money, and
effort into the company that failure would have been the ultimate devastation.
So every day we trudged through one challenge after another, spending
long hours at projects that may or may not bring in revenue.
Finally, the clouds started to break, and we knew Infusionsoft was going to be around for a
while.
Ultimately, we formed and perfected our business plan as we went along. We took care of problems
as they came up because we simply didn’t have the time to plan for the future. So, for the
first few years of our inception, Infusionsoft was hanging by a very thin thread. Fortunately we
moved past the majority of our problems.
© 2008 By Clate Mask
