18 months later www.lateralhazard.co.uk exists and has traded for well over a year. Has it taken off? Well I'm writing this from desk in the office so I guess not. In the interim we have sold plenty of T-shirts, made a number of amateur mistakes (we got a little carried away by the potential of an order), have sponsored a tour, then the tour went bust, lost one of the original partners, all things that any new business would expect.
However both myself and my business partner are now suffering from what can only be described as a lack of motivation towards the business. It's never easy holding a job and then a business + all the rigors of a young family, but what was fun and motivating has now become a drag.
I'm actively demonstrating to myself how in my professional life I would be urging those paying for my consultancy services to actively motivate people during these tough times. Working like this is actually a revelation because I can see directly how those tactics actually work. To a consultant this is like gold dust, actually experiencing the tactics you create.
I've found the most successful ways to motivate are those that provide perspective
- being patient - things don't change overnight
- look at what has been achieved to date and focus on the positives
- understand the mistakes but don't beat yourself up about them - you'll make them, accept it and learn from them
- going back to the business and brand story, change, tweak and if its wrong don't be afraid to start again
- speaking to customers - how enthusiastic are they about the product, what are there suggestions and how can the business perform better
- look at the new product development opportunities for next season
- focus on the reasons you started / joined
Let's see whether this works and how it effects the performance of Lateral Hazard.
