Some advice that I would give people
who are in the growing phase
is try to focus on the point
where you feel like you're stable enough,
that you don't have to take on
every project and every lead,
and work with everybody that
asks you to work with them.
You can be a little bit more picky
and, you know, you can pick the projects
that hit close to home that
you actually care about.
And I think in the end, those projects
and the outcome of those projects
is much more valuable to you
and the people that you work with.
The biggest challenge I'm
having in the growth phase
is funding.
And I think it's partly
realizing that it's necessary,
and that mental challenge
of realizing that,
and partly the process of
funding and figuring out
how much we're going to need,
what it's gonna be used for exactly,
where we can find that funding,
and then going through
the process of pitching
or applying for loans or
whatever the case may be.
Ya know, we’re trying to
stay ahead of that growth
and think ahead, and also
we're very much constrained
by the resources we have.
So I think getting over that hurdle
is the challenge we're facing now.
I definitely would have hired more team
members to do the actual services.
And then I would have sooner hired
an admin assistant
someone to do some of the backend
stuff like the scheduling.
I, I got
to the point where I was
scheduling until like 10:00 PM.
So I probably could have like
invested a little bit earlier
in hiring someone to do that
because if I would have
done, I would have been able
we would have been able to grow quicker
because I would have had
time to work on like some
of the other things like
marketing that would help us grow.
One of the things
I had a real problem with
at the beginning and in the middle
and the growing phase
was access to capital
is always a prevalent thing.
The more that you grow, the more you need,
And even today, bankers are very hesitant
for whatever reason,
they'll pick a reason.
There's economy,
there's a problem with
that particular industry,
there's problem with real estate,
they don't like this
particular asset or whatever.
And so bankers, that's their job to say no
but what you can do is find
people around you that say yes
to whatever it is that you need to do.
And there are people out
there they will say yes
and they'll give you the chance
and they'll give you the capital.
And now I'm one of those that
give other people capital
in order to grow, in order
to do what they're doing.
If you have a good idea and a good product
it's a no-brainer for
someone that's not a bank
that will invest in you.
So I think one place that
Plum Print has continued
to struggle with as we grow
it really keeps coming back to marketing.
And I think that marketing
really is a tough nut to crack
and it's always evolving, right?
There's always just new ways
to be promoting your company.
So I think like, as an
entrepreneur you can't think
that you always are
gonna have the answers.
So to be talking and reading
and looking at what else is out there,
To be on top of that, it's a challenge,
but it's also exciting to
always have to be on the cutting
edge of what's next.
is thinking that we can achieve
this next level of growth
with the same number of
people that we currently have.
If we can only get over this stair step,
then we'll be able to ride
it for a little while.
And that just has never been the case.
The next stair step is always way higher
than you think it is.
And as we found out, well, it never ended.
I mean, that's a great story,
and thank the Lord for that.
But if you're doing something well,
that's probably going to happen.
So just being ahead of the hiring game,
not stressing your people,
having enough folks to
get to the next level,
and the next level, beyond that,
I think, is the best focus to have.