Ambition

Once I’d joined bp all those years ago I never needed to apply for a new job (except one); they kind of appeared or morphed from what I was already doing. But I do vividly remember how oddly motivating it was to prepare for interviews and get into sales mode, not only about what you’d done, but also about what you were capable of doing.

Being your own boss is a lot like preparing for, and holding an, interview every day. You’re constantly having to explain to others (and to yourself) why you’re good and how you can help others. The last part particularly – which is where ambition comes in.

I have struggled with this kind of ambition while I’ve been building Familiarize. No doubt due to some weird self-preservation thing, I’ve found myself saying “I don’t expect it to be anything big” or “I only need it to replace the income I had from bp”.  I’ve reduced what Familiarize could become by taking on paid consultancy, so I don’t need to rely on Familiarize being more than a side-hustle.

Very very occasionally, like two or three times in six months, I’ve let my mind wander and imagine what Familiarize could become…and then hurriedly squirrelled it away to focus on something practical and near-term.

This week however things changed.

Not because I decided to be more ambitious. But because I was forced to.

I stumbled on an Innovate UK grant “Creative industries fund: fast start business growth pilot” – up to £25,000. What I could do with 25 grand!  When I read the scope it felt like it was screaming at me APPLY.

So I did. And it immediately felt like I was back in interview prep mode having to talk up everything I’d done with Familiarize, and crucially, shout really loudly about its ambition.  It was like the path to that place where I’d squirrelled these ambitious thoughts away suddenly became illuminated and a superhighway for all these ideas to come flooding in:

• Familiarize is about cutting new business startup failure rates (60% of new businesses fail after 3 years in the UK - sorry).

• Familiarize is about cutting waste (time, energy, money) by bringing the customer into your business and product development.

• Familiarize can help investors, including Innovate UK, and incubators validate their portfolio’s traction.

• Familiarize provides a more ethical, opt-in way of acquiring customers than the sinister methods of Google and Facebook.

• Familiarize can help tens of thousands of startups get to product-market fit faster and create more value for the UK economy coming out of COVID.

You get the idea.

You can probably imagine how it feels to set your business in this kind of ambitious context. Exciting and terrifying both at the same time.  But I need to fight the urge to squirrel it all away because it’s so motivating; it’s literally moving me to commit more of myself, invest more time and money to make this ambition a reality.

I definitely need to hold on to it until the grant application goes in.  But I want to hold on to it forever. Because that fear is also motivating in a way; it’s like a challenge has been set.

Here are some tips:

1. If you’re not ready, telling yourself to be more ambitious won’t work. But rather allow yourself time to wallow in these ideas of what your business could be.

2. Other people are much less likely to see blockers or constraints to your ambition than you. Find the people that see different things and push you. My friend John did this for me this week and I’m super-grateful

3. If you’re at all like me, you’ll immediately start self-censoring the ambition as it comes forth – write all your ideas down even if you (lightly) cross through them

4. Force yourself to apply for something where you have to sell what you’re offering – it really worked for me, to kick me out of my self-preservation and write “This Could Be A Game-changer”.

5. Losing or downgrading the ambition then becomes the big risk – here’s where visualisation helps. Build a picture in your mind what realising that ambition will look and feel like. Tune into that visualisation weekly and fight back the urge to become your worst naysayer.

I’m not sure it can really be put back. But it can be squashed and consigned to the “too difficult” box or the backlog.

I feel excited by extracting and expanding my ambition for Familiarize – and I want to believe I can deliver it. If I get the funding I’ll have to! But even writing it down here, makes me feel more accountable to try – and banish my nice-but-unnecessary habit of self-preservation.

Please share how you’re feeling right now - and whether you need a kick in the ambition direction!

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A few of you have asked about Familiarize – and some of you have even bought my offer (thank you!) – there’s a website where I’m posting tools and tips each week as well as a hacky video - as well as Instagram and LinkedIn.