Whatever business or endeavor you’re about, it’s likely you’ll eventually find yourself counting on someone else: a partner or a teammate. My advice today is to find partners who you could pop a tire with.
A few weeks ago, Sarah and I (co-founders in this case) were pulling up to the office we were working out of at about 11p. We’d been networking all evening, were giving our first public pitch the following day for an audience, and needed to practice. Sarah backed up to the curb and promptly blew her back tire out, then to discover that the dealer provided her with the wrong wheel lock key and so the car needed to be towed. The important part here is that this is pretty much where the car’s part in that week’s story ended. Yes, it was towed, the tire was ultimately fixed, Sarah drove home on Friday, etc.
With the tire situation understood, we moved onto pitch practice that night. We got up on Wednesday, sorted arrangements for our demo, and carried on. To me, that blown tire is representative; I take it as a reminder of our capacity to take unexpected challenges in stride.
As co-founders building a new business, we see capacity to deal with discomfort, surprises, roadblocks, emergencies, etc. in an efficient & operational manner as critical.
Who are the partners you rely upon? How do you weather emergent surprises? If you don’t know the answer to this question - go pop a tire.
