Stop Collecting Underpants and Start Selling Them!

Stop Collecting Seashells and Start Selling Them
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Every time I have started a business I swear to myself that this time I will not get caught collecting underpants. However, as I recently began my business planning, about two years into this new venture, the ugly truth was literally piled up. It took a few tough meetings with some solid business advisors to make me see that I had yet again collected a lot of underpants, but I had failed to focused enough on Phase 2; selling them!

What does ‘collecting underpants” mean? It’s from that hilarious South Park episode when the gnome’s whole business plan could be boiled down to basically one thing: collecting underpants. The gnomes know they want to make a profit…and they know they want to collect underpants, but they have no plan for what they are going to do with those underpants, once they collect them, to make money.

After owning several companies, employing dozens of people, and mentoring countless women entrepreneurs, I’ve come to realize that this ‘collecting underpants’ conundrum dogs a lot of us—even those of us who think we’ve got our businesses all buttoned up, and all our ducks in a row, we still fall prey to this issue. And I think I know why, or at least why it happens to me.

All too often, in both our personal and professional lives, and in our rush to get started on whatever it is we are going to do, we find ourselves sidetracked with things that aren’t critical to making our businesses solvent, i.e. collecting underpants. It can be a real challenge to focus on the task at hand, and follow-through with the perhaps time-consuming, tedious, or downright hard elements of owning a company that are part of the process. Letting yourself get dazzled by something new and shiny—a new product idea perhaps, or a plan for changing a part of your business (that is most likely already working) …these sorts of ‘seashells’ seem like a welcome breath of fresh air from the grit and grind of owning a company.

But in my experience—and believe me, I am the queen of collecting underpants; there’s nothing I like more than a shiny new distraction—the moments where you could take your eye off the ball and stop focusing on the tasks at hand are the moments when you leave your business exposed to failure.

Luckily, they are also the moments that I think you can easily learn to recognize and side-step when they land on your desk. In order to avoid the seductive appeal of collecting underpants, (and make no mistake, procrastinating with the wrong tasks in favor of the right ones is powerfully seductive), successful small business owners will lay down a plan that instead identifies all of the factors needed to get across the finish line. In other words, do the right things, really well. So, when I get off track, here is how I get back in the game.

Plan – What underpants are we collecting and why?

I have a saying that has defined my approach to business for the past decade: ‘plan the work, and work the plan’, and with good reason – it works. It’s hard to succeed without a plan. What are you creating or selling? Why are you creating it? What is the plan for the company, both for today, and for the future? What does your company not do? All of these factors and plenty more need to be established and identified at the outset of starting any company. And then—then you need to follow the plan you set, no matter how tempting it may be to leave the path and follow a butterfly. Your determination and creativity led you to start your business—it can now help keep you on track, as well.

Execute – If the right underpants are made; stop making them and start selling them.

Phase 2 is all about selling the heck out of whatever you’ve created. Arguably, this is the hardest part for creative entrepreneurs and here is why. In my experience as a small business owner and a woman CEO, I’ve seen more examples of companies derailing during this phase than not. I don’t know exactly why this happens, but I believe it stems in part from the fact that…the initial phases of setting up a company are all about create, create, create! Create a story, create an offering, create a website, create a corporate culture…sometimes all this creating gets in the way of nailing down the P&L and selling the goods. Let’s face it, this part is hard and not as much fun as creating. I doubt there are many folks who would say setting up budgets or delivery schedules is exciting. A photo shoot with a fashion model for a website, or creating a new product and scent, however? That’s definitely not boring. But if it isn’t part of the plan at that time—then no matter how exciting it is…you guessed it, the wrong seashells.

Control – (Or, what happens to your underpants?)

I think control has gotten a bad rap over the years, when in reality, not controlling what happens with your company – after all of the work, time and money you’ve invested – is a surefire way of guaranteeing one result: failure. Controlling the business realities of your new venture may not be very exciting or sexy on a day-to-day basis, but you can bet your last dollar this control is one of the biggest factors in which businesses make it…and which don’t. Keep an eagle eye on every dollar and where it is spent; maximize outputs where possible while minimizing inputs; and keep the bottom line front and center with every single decision you make. $500 here or $1500 there might not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of your business, but when taken in total, small deviations from your plan can add up quickly—and not just in money. I have learned to count every penny, spent or made.

Yes, it’s true that owning a business is not for the faint of heart, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming either. Plan the work, work the plan…only make the underpants that you are certain will add to that plan, and you are already well on your way to success. I’m off to sell my underpants!

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