Swing Big at the Right Time

You’ve come a long way on Rule Three. You’ve done some number crunching. Set some rules. Waited patiently. You’ve let some less-than-ideal opportunities pass by, even when it was excruciating to watch them go. Finally, the market’s primed for your brilliant business idea. Now, you’ve got to stay focused, stay out of your own head, and go for it with all you’ve got. (Or, if you need to, feel free to go back to any of these previous Rule Three steps for a refresher.)

On Monday, you walked away from what seemed like a surefire opportunity to catapult your business. Almost. Except . . . it wasn’t the right timing. Or the right person. Or the right product features or investment. You go home to wallow in it for a bit and read yet ANOTHER book about an entrepreneur making it big. (No one loves the Glossier story more than us, but, wow, does it never fail to make us feel just a little paler in comparison.)

Then, on Tuesday, the opportunity of a lifetime lands on your desk, right next to last night’s empty pint on Ben and Jerry’s. This time, it truly is perfect.

Know when you know it’s right.

We, as Female Mavericks, must be mentally prepared not only to recognize the golden opportunity when it comes, but also not to doubt ourselves or talk ourselves out of it. Because if we hesitate, in the blink of eye, a competitor can strike, and we could miss our shot.

So, how do we keep our nerves and cynicism at bay? Mostly, we try and stick to the facts and remain highly clinical in our decision making. But we also recognize the value of our gut instincts, too.

Here are four great indicators that the opportunity is truly upon you:

1. The investment allows you to directly serve one of the strongest growth areas in your TAM. We took a big swing that our corporate buyers were going to have much bigger budgets for ESG services than traditional communications services. By hiring a few very experienced (and expensive) people, we hit the market hard in the very early and explosive stages of that growth.

2. The opportunity slides right into the growth strategy section of your business plan. In our case, we invested heavily in an offering our existing buyer was just realizing they needed, and at the same time, seeing how difficult it would be to deliver. They needed experts (cha ching!) to help them gather, translate and communicate critical environmental data in a language investors could understand. This customer entry point was our #2 growth opportunity – and we went for it! 

3. You have a tangible example where this type of investment worked before. If a competitor has made a similar investment, and your own clients are talking about it (or thinking about using it), chances are this is the right place to put your capital. This reasoning ultimately pushed us to build a software product, which became an important add-on to our services offering. 

4. Your gut says yes. Now, please notice this is listed fourth for a good reason. Ours (momentarily) said yes, A LOT, and we were often wrong. Make sure the opportunity passes the business gauntlet first. When it does, go ahead and listen to that voice in your head telling you to just do it (assuming you can separate the business opportunity voice from all the other voices asking about the last time you worked out, if you remembered to pick out your kids’ outfits for the class pictures, or if you can ignore you car’s check engine light for one more day?) Clear the noise and if it’s telling you not to check your swing, then go ahead and connect with your dream. 

 What’s Next?

A celebratory glass of something is obviously in order. But there’s one last Must Do in Rule Three that you need to consider now that you’re going all in. And it might mean you’ll have to get comfortable giving up some equity earlier than planned, so you don’t have to forgo the right amazing opportunity when it shows up. Next week, we are going to take a hard look at the merits of strategically timed outside investment and their potential to increase your riches, irrespective of the ownership percentage.