FIRST IN LAST OUT
STARTUP TENACITY VS . GROWTH TENACITY | Todd Elliott
It seems like every time I turn around , I ’ m reading about startups . Startup businesses . Startup churches . Church planting . Incubators . Unicorns .
“ 5 Ways to Crush a Startup !” “ Ditch Your Day Job and Start a Business in under 40 hours / week ” “ 5 Easy Steps to Planting a Church ”.
It takes a certain type of person that can start something . It requires a level of tenacity that many people don ’ t have . The ability to stick with something even when it is difficult . It requires confidence in a vision ; the willingness to do whatever needs to be done , even if you aren ’ t very good at it . This translates to some long hours , with lots of potential payoff .
Many startups don ’ t get out of this phase of existence ; the list of reasons is pretty long and diverse . Leading in startup mode isn ’ t for everyone .
For any leader who makes it out of the startup phase . The challenges are just beginning . Leading your ministry or business to grow requires tenacity , but a completely different type of tenacity .
As someone who has started my own business , the startup phase is very tough . When “ I Left my Fulltime Job and Started to Live My Dream in Under 40hrs / wk ,” I did everything myself . The stuff I was good at along with the stuff I was really bad at . I had a vision and I just kept doing my best to realize that vision .
When I started the FILO Conference ( First In , Last Out ), I was basically making everything up as I went along . I knew that I wanted to provide an encouraging place for technical artists in the local church to learn , grow and be inspired and at the beginning , I just figured I ’ d try it and see what happened . That was just about ten years ago , and we ’ ve grown from an organization run by myself and a ragtag team of volunteers , to a larger team of volunteers and several staff people . We started by reaching 275 at our first event to now reaching thousands from all over the world .
While starting FILO was tough , I had my hands in everything , and I knew what was going on down to every minute detail . As FILO continued to grow , I knew I needed help , but the real question for me was , how much am I willing to let go of so that we can keep growing ?
In this new phase , I realized that the tenacity I needed in the first few years had changed to something different . Instead of just putting my head down and getting as much work done as possible , I ’ ve figured out that my tenacity has to be channeled in new ways .
COMMUNICATE VISION / EXPECTATIONS
When it was just me , it was really easy to communicate what was expected of myself . No words were required . As an introvert , I ’ m a fan of this .
The minute you add people to a team , you need to be able to articulate a vision and the expectations around that vision . For people joining the team to succeed , this is now my new most important job . The trouble with this is that coming from startup mode where you ’ re doing everything , casting vision and expectations really can seem like a waste of time . There is real work to be done . I don ’ t have time to figure out how to articulate this stuff . Staring out the window isn ’ t real work .
However , without time to stare out the window to discern what is important for you , your team
116 June 2024 Subscribe for Free ...