I created a prenup for my business
Most entrepreneurs jump into a new business with excitement, energy, and optimism. I was no exception when I started The Data Shop last year.
I became an entrepreneur because I believed I would be able to deliver a lot of value to my clients and make enough money to be financially stable/successful.
You need a degree of abnormal optimism to pull off the risky jump to start a business.
A “I know this will work” kind of mindset.
But many companies don’t make it. That’s a reality that supersedes any optimism of a founder. In an effort to minimize the impact of optimism on my business, I did something that might be a bit odd.
Before I launched into The Data Shop full-time, I (along with my wife) created a business prenup.
An agreement about the terms of when we would “break up” with the business.
We affectionately call it “kill criteria”.
It’s phrased something like this: If, at XYZ time, the business is not in XYZ state, we will quit the business.
We review the kill criteria once a month together. It does a tremendous job of keeping me grounded. Since the beginning, every month I have to clearly acknowledge what it will take to keep my business going.
After all, “Good mental health is a commitment to reality at all costs.”
Why should you care?
Maybe you have experienced one of these:
- A data project that’s been on life support for the last 18 months.
- A data pipeline that you constantly fix and patch but has never reliably run.
- A promotion that you set your eyes on and talked with your manager about 9 months ago.
And numerous other areas of your data work that would benefit from a kill criteria.
Kill criteria, defined up front, is a powerful force to avoid making rash decisions - e.g. quitting right after a difficult meeting with your boss. Or to help you avoid sticking it out way longer than your should - e.g. “I’m sure this next time will be it”.
Your rational self is most available before you ever get started.
Get help from that version of you.
How can you implement kill criteria into your work this week?
I’m here,
Sawyer
