If you’ve ever stood at the helm of a new business, you know that mixture of exhilaration and terror. The vast open water before you represents possibility, but also uncertainty. Welcome to the Starting Sea – the first phase of the 7Seas business journey.
When Are You Truly in Starting Waters?
And let me be clear – the clock starts ticking when you begin actually selling to clients, not during the “prelaunch” phase when you’re still designing your website or perfecting your service offerings.
Sometimes businesses circle back to the Starting Sea after exiting a period of Shifting. I’ve seen many entrepreneurs who believe their previous experience in a similar field means they can skip this phase. Spoiler alert: they can’t. Just because you worked in a company that does what your business now does, or even had a similar business partnership, doesn’t mean you get to bypass Starting.
The Hidden Challenges Beyond Cash Flow
In the Starting Sea, you haven’t yet hit your groove. You haven’t experimented enough to find the optimal workflows. You lack the experience of managing team members within this specific business context. Everything feels like you’re making it up as you go – because, frankly, you are.
The Biggest Misconception About Starting
Here’s the unvarnished truth: taxes, payroll, staffing, performance reports, sick days, accounts payable – these unglamorous tasks are all part of the “grind” that most doe-eyed entrepreneurs want to gloss over.
If you only want to focus on that “thing” that you do, provide, or serve with, get a job instead. Starting a business comes with a massive amount of financial and emotional overhead. It’s not just about doing the work you love; it’s about building a vehicle that can sustainably deliver that work to the world.
Navigating Successfully: A Case for Planning
You may be brimming with Passion and Purpose as you launch, but you’ll need to manage your Perception (facing the great unknown of an unproven business) and confront the reality that a significant percentage of businesses fail in their first two years.
Profits are almost always an issue, especially in service industries where many entrepreneurs try to bootstrap with minimal investment. The age-old advice of ensuring you have adequate runway – enough cash to fully operate your business, including fair wages for staff, plus income for yourself – is absolutely critical during your startup period.
Three Pitfalls That Keep You Stuck in the Starting Sea
-
Not hiring help soon enough – Yes, cash flow is tight, but trying to do everything yourself creates bottlenecks and burnout.
-
Not establishing processes, KPIs, or OKRs early enough – Without frameworks to measure progress, you’re sailing without navigation instruments.
-
Not adjusting or pivoting quickly when issues arise – The nimbleness of a small business should be your advantage. Don’t cling to strategies that aren’t working.
Essential Systems Worth Establishing Early
I’m also a strong advocate for time blocking for Starting businesses. Without this structure, founders naturally gravitate toward the work they love while neglecting other crucial aspects of business building. These habits, when developed early, transition smoothly as your business matures.
When Is It Time to Leave the Starting Sea?
Please don’t convince yourself that your 11-month-old venture is ready for Selling. No one is truly interested in buying your starter business – or at least, you won’t get the valuation you dream about.
Stalling is typical around the 24-month mark, when growth may plateau below expectations. The hard truth: if you keep doing what you did during Starting, you’ll keep getting the same results – which often means merely surviving.
Sinking usually occurs well before the two-year milestone. Ideas and companies that fail to launch effectively, suffer from poor management, have founders at odds, or lack human or financial resources often find themselves taking on water early.
As for Soaring – it’s not always the promised land people imagine. I’ve worked with companies just weeks into their Starting phase when they were hit (or blessed, or cursed) with an overwhelming influx of new business. Without established people, processes, or procedures, this sudden growth nearly capsized them. We managed to right the ship through considerable effort, but it wasn’t easy. Success was only possible because the founder had sufficient financial resources to rapidly scale the company.
The Timeframe Question
Think of it as a marathon, not a sprint. (I really should come up with the nautical equivalent of that saying!)
The Mindset Shift
My most counterintuitive advice – which consistently surprises Starting Sea businesses but proves invaluable – is to hire help sooner than you think you need it.
I have a concept I call the “$1, $10, $100 rule” of focusing on what you’re good at. In the beginning, you’re doing all the things, but you need to offload administrative tasks FIRST. Contrary to what many in Starting (and Stalling/Sinking) phases believe, an assistant – not a salesperson – is the best first hire every entrepreneur should make.
Charting Your Course Forward
Remember, every successful business once sailed these Starting waters. The difference between those who advanced to calmer seas and those who capsized often comes down to preparation, realistic expectations, and the willingness to adjust course when necessary.
In our next article, we’ll explore the Soaring Sea – what happens when your business experiences rapid growth and how to prevent that exhilarating rise from becoming a devastating fall.
Until then, remember that even the most seasoned captains once had to learn to read the stars. Your time in the Starting Sea is not just about survival – it’s about developing the navigation skills you’ll rely on for your entire journey.
