eGuide’s Zero to One
“The most valuable businesses of coming decades will be built by entrepreneurs who seek to empower people rather than try to make them obsolete.”
I finished Zero to One while running the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon on October 3rd. Listening to a book about entrepreneurship while setting off on a 26.2-mile jaunt may not sound like the idea of fun for most, but for me having an uninterrupted few hours to sink my teeth into the concepts of a book that then inspires thoughts about operating a business is something I’ve grown to look forward to.
As I am running, releasing all those runners’ endorphins, it never fails that I am inspired by a concept I am listening to. What generally happens is 45 minutes to an hour in, I’ll start to think more about the concepts as they apply to operating and growing eGuide vs. listening to the book itself. Being lost in thought when you are running for multiple hours is a great way to keep your mind off the mileage. I found myself taking a quick break on longer runs this year, to shoot a quick email reminder to myself or making a note in my phone, with things I want to remember the following Monday.
Peter Theil’s From Zero to One is a book that is somewhat designed to take the wind out of your sails. Not to discourage you from pursuing your entrepreneurial dreams, but to take a hard look at what your business is doing compared to the greater market. As a service-based business, achieving true differentiation is near impossible. As you read on, you’ll find some exploration regarding how a service-based business can achieve differentiation (or at least stand more apart from the competition).
“Instead of pursuing many-sided mediocrity and calling it “well-roundedness,” a definite person determines the one best thing to do and then does it.”
I started eGuide with a mission to “Do Something That Helps Someone”. This phrase has now seeped its way into every aspect of our business from how we approach our clients, how we respond to emails, how we start conversations, and how we check in with each other. There is no differentiation that comes from setting out with a goal to do good, but it has greatly impacted how we support and retain our clients. Currently, eGuide is still somewhat of a general service provider. While we have narrowed our purview of clients to self-funded small businesses, and emerging nonprofits, we still support those clients with a variety of services. This is partially to do with the fact that I’ve always craved variety in projects. It is difficult for me to do the same thing, day in and day out, and as soon as that boredom strikes, I have the tendency of exploring something “new and shiny”. In honesty, I do think this is partially why eGuide hasn’t achieved the scale that other small businesses may see in the first few years, but there is also another way to frame what has happened for us as a business.
By separating our two divisions, Digital Creative (marketing, social media management, website design) and Systems (IT Support, Technology Consulting, Automations) we have created two businesses within one. From my current knowledge of the marketplace, I don’t think there is another provider that is specifically focused on small organizations that are able to provide both marketing and technology support. Peter Thiel would probably say that we still offer too many services to achieve true differentiation, and I do agree that we should continue to focus on projects that will be duplicative and scalable.
“The best projects are likely to be overlooked, not trumpeted by a crowd; the best problems to work on are often the ones nobody else even tries to solve.”
I’ve brushed elbows with enough MSPs and Agency owners, that I can confidently say that most small service-based businesses are vying for a big contract to achieve growth, and rarely do they want to deal with the owner-operator with one or no employees. I get it. Why spend time the same amount of time on someone who will be constantly struggling with creating bandwidth to move projects forward, when you can plug in to a larger machine and be a cog? This has put eGuide in a unique position. We are focused on the market that everyone struggles to service. Not only are we welcoming that type of business, we are going as far to say that is the only type of client we want. Call it the American Dream, capitalism, or entrepreneurship, but over 90% of the business population is comprised of small and medium size businesses, and with the Millennial and Gen Z “free enterprise” thinking we are shifting to a more independent work-force. What does this mean for eGuide? We are focused on a population that needs support and also one that is not appealing to other firms.
“You should focus relentlessly on something you’re good at doing, but before that, you must think hard about whether it will be valuable in the future.”
The impact we are able to have on organizations is felt with every project we accomplish and our value continues to increase with the more partnerships we create and the more parallels we draw. Having the ability to address fundamental issues that all small organizations are facing, while providing case studies and examples to address how others have navigated and solved those issues, is where the magic is. I say the phrase, “You don’t know what you don’t know” and for small organization leaders, you are often operating in the dark and figuring things out as you go, especially in the early years. Having an eGuide to help toss ideas off of, strategize with, and illuminate a path forward gives me the confidence as a business owner that we are doing something meaningful that will be valuable in the future years as well.
This journey, even a few years in, has just begun and I can’t wait to see what the future will bring with it.
