In last week’s post, we covered pressure, partners and niches. This week, we’ll wrap things up with some observations and final thoughts…

Observation 1: The World Is Infinitely Large

We are more connected than ever, which often leads us all to think about a shrinking planet. The planet is not shrinking. In fact, it’s expanding. Thanks to the Internet, Skype, free trade, the pervasive use of the English language in business circles and UPS, our access to markets has never been greater. The world is now infinitely large as far as your startup business is concerned.

Understanding this fact will help you in many ways.

First, there is always someone out there who thinks that they have no other option but to buy your undocumented product that you just made in your basement. They don’t have a full picture of the market and trust you are their only option. Lucky you!

Likewise, if you screw up really badly, there is always some customer who doesn’t know about your screw up. Your worst mistake won’t mean the end. You may just have to leave town for a while.

Third, there is no niche too small, given that it’s likely that even the smallest niche is potentially 10′s of millions of dollars of annual revenue in size. You probably only need 10% of one of those 10′s of millions to be happy.

To help illustrate the scale of opportunities out there, the next time you’re on a plane and descending onto the runway for landing, look down at the houses, streets, schools, play fields, stores, warehouses, cars, trucks and office buildings.

That’s the view from one window from one plane on one approach on one runway at one airport in one city in one state in one country. Just think about how much steel and concrete someone had to sell. Think about all of the crap that had to be invented. Think of all of the commerce that you witnessed. Think about how many niches you just saw.

The world is infinitely large.

Observation 2: All Things Are Relative

Your best attempt is worse than someone else’s worst product, but it’s better than what the potential client in front of you has ever seen and better than what they have.

It never ceases to amaze me, the crappy digital signage systems out there that people buy. Whenever I’m upset that Carousel doesn’t meet some internal utopian system that I’ve got in my head, all that I need to do is walk the Digital Signage Expo floor for 5 minutes to get my confidence back. Relative to my competitors within my niche, Carousel is at the very least competitive. It’s easy to forget that when you are around a great staff that has extremely high standards.

Tightrope goes to InfoComm. When we first started, we were in one 1/4 of someone else's 20x20. Now we're in our own 20x30 and we're still a pretty small exhibitor!

When we first started out, I once foolishly assumed that all of the digital signage business in Minnesota was about 2 million dollars. I told JJ in our first year of business, “If we ever sell a million dollars in a year, I’ll quit.” We’ll most likely do that in one single month this year, yet relative to where we could be, we’re still a very small company.

As you grow, you’ll be amazed at how little things really change. The numbers get larger but the verbs and nouns do not budge. Cash flow is always king. Support is always a work in progress. You’re always on the edge of something, waiting to break to the next level.

JJ and I were going through another set of struggles in the early days, just after we bought the company from Visual Circuits. Sales were low, cash flow was in the tank and, again, we didn’t know how we were getting out of it. We were at InfoComm, pecking over the wreckage at dinner, contemplating an exit strategy. That meal was awful.

Our good friends invited us out to dinner the next night, their treat, at Fogo De Chao. We had all-you-can-eat steaks of just about any cut. There were green olives the size of key limes and as crunchy as apples. We loosened our belts and retired to the bar to smoke stogies and sip cognac, returning after a nice belch to have more steak.

The scene of gluttony.

The contrast could not have been greater. We were choking back Applebee’s-quality pasta the night before, depressed over the condition of our life’s work. The next night we were with friends, forgetting our troubles, laughing our asses off and eating like pigs.

At the trade show floor the next day, things were going to be fine.

Why does this matter? Just keep in mind as you move along that you’re never as insignificant as it may seem. Things are never as bad as they could be. As long as you are in control, your attitude and resolve will be your fate, far more than any set of mere facts will be.

Keep your head up.

At least you’re not working for that jackass back at that company you worked for before you realized that you were unemployable.

All things are relative.

Observation 3: People Are Good

The world is filled with excellent people that want you to succeed. Most pay their bills and are honest. If, in turn, you are disarmingly honest about your business, your motivations and your struggles, you will find that almost without exception, people will help you.

Roger and Doug: Two close friends who'd do anything for us, and we'd do anything for them.

Find great mentors who’ve been there before and lean on them. You cannot have enough people around you that are willing to share their experiences.

JJ and I once had this great idea about charging for support. We scheduled a conference call with some of our mentors and laid out the plan:

• Customers abuse support.
• They don’t read the manual.
• It costs us a lot of money.
• Let’s charge them for support.

Everyone listened politely, asked questions and then departed. Shortly after the call, Tom Walsh, also known as The Old Man, called back.

Tom: “I think you guys are ruining your business and I’m going to fly up there to stop you from doing it. Are you around next week?”

Wow. Tom came up and, for free, laid out the problems he had with our plan. During the few days that he was at The Rope, he talked about support, cash flow, management and product development. He gave us advice like, “When you’re little, spend less money than you make.” and “If you have a support problem, you really have a development problem.”

I cannot count how many times Tom has stopped JJ and I from doing something stupid, not that we always listened. He also lets us know when he thinks we’re doing the right thing. Tom and his business partner Tracy are a part of Tightrope. We would not be the same company if not for them.

You cannot succeed in starting your business without finding your own Tom and Tracy. And no, you can’t have ours.

Wrapping It Up

So, these are the things that we’ve Learned so far. I’m sure that we’ll learn a lot more in the next 12 years. There is so much that I don’t know and our days of leaning on mentors are far from over. I look back with extreme embarrassment on the assumptions and the actions and the mistakes that we made in the early days. As proud as I am of where we are today, I know that in another 12 years, we’ll look back on these Good Old Days with the same feelings. Because, after all, all things are relative.

I hope that this was helpful and I hope that you find satisfaction, no matter what you decide to do with your life. Maybe this marathon set of blog posts scared the shit out of you and you’ve decided to suck it up and be the stellar employee that you always knew you could be.

But, if you’re insane enough to try your own thing, then with all sincerity, good luck! That is unless you plan on starting a digital signage or broadcast server business. Then my good luck is dripping with sarcasm.