Learning Curve

by Jim Falletta

at 8/8/2005

I just saw an ad for a Reality TV show looking for people who have left a successful career to pursue one that they truly love. Well, I doubt you’ll find me in People magazine as the next star of Reality TV, but that description fits me nonetheless.

I recently stepped away from my career as a high school teacher. You may be thinking that financially this could not have been too much of a hardship, but we all know that we mock what we do not understand.

A job that allows you to go home at three in the afternoon, offers an amazing benefits package and a salary of almost $70,000 a year for nine months of work cannot be all bad. Conversely, to go from that to a life without health insurance and no consistent income, in fact actually paying money each day in an effort to generate business, seems rather foolish, even to me. Then again, I cannot remember a time I have been this happy.

I left my comfortable classroom to pursue my dreams, and to try and make some money along the way. For the last couple of years I have been moonlighting as a film and television writer. Each night was spent crafting and retooling ideas while trying to network, go to seminars and other events. Meanwhile, I needed to grade papers, make my lunch for the next day and get some sleep (highly overlooked at times).

So armed with the age-old knowledge that I may never sell any of my screenplays, or even more immediate, that the role of unemployed screenwriter is not
interesting and is not going to pay the bills, my friend, 29, and I, 30 years of age, started our own company.

Creative Demands is a media services company (real original, huh?) aimed at small and large business alike. From website design to corporate videos to brochures and beyond, we can do it all. Unfortunately, thus far, we have not been doing much.

This brings me to the portion of today’s counseling session where I take the time to discuss what I’ve learned through this difficult process of trying to start a business…
First and foremost, patience. Without it, you are dead in the water, period.

Depending on your source, it takes a new business anywhere from 3-5 years before it shows a profit. Although, a friend of mine told me two years yesterday so that got me pretty excited.

I’ve also learned to get out of bed in the morning and push this company. Rome was not built in a day and it definitely was not built while all those workers were sleeping.
I’ve learned that this lifestyle never stops. When I was teaching, I could turn myself off after a certain time if I chose to do so, but this world is completely different. If a client needs something from you, especially in your “start up” days, you better find the time to provide it for them. That said, it is exciting and tiring all in the same breath.

I’ve learned that my partner and I have to be marketing geniuses. Developing a website is no longer enough. Simply putting your site on Google’s ad words campaign may eventually generate business for you, but like most everything else in this realm, that is an investment in the future that costs money today.

I’ve learned to do a good job when you do get some business. This may sound simple, but I don’t think anything should be overlooked at this point. Talk to the client, listen to what they want and then take those ideas, stretch them out of the box so to speak and give them something they never expected from you. The one thing you can truly provide people is a fresh perspective. They say ignorance is bliss, and in this case, I believe they’re right and I support ignorance one-hundred percent! For example, we have recently been working on some brochures for a company that is responsible for document retrieval and storage of medical records for insurance claims. In other words, they act as sort of a liaison between the individual making the claim and the insurance provider. Sitting in the owner’s office, listening to him explain this complicated process for the first time, my partner and I were trying desperately not to show our confusion – never a good sign on the first meeting. Eventually things panned out, he liked our work and has recommended us to some of his colleagues all because we were unaffected by what he saw every day; we were fresh, new and hungry (literally and metaphorically).

I’ve learned a few smaller lessons along the way as well. For instance, changing your phone message to say “You’ve reached Jim at Creative Demands” does not necessarily make you a force in your industry. This was perhaps the toughest lesson because after going back and forth for days on a prospective name, we finally chose something (or maybe it was the internet that finally unveiled a domain name that wasn’t taken). Regardless, I rushed to my phone and changed the outgoing greeting. Well done! Now please call!

I’ve learned that my parents were right all those years when they recited those two despised words every time my report card came home: apply yourself. Hindsight. Miserable is it not?

I have learned that email can be a powerful tool to get the word out because your friends can be your best resource. For us, understanding that almost every person we know works for some sort of company has been half the networking battle. In that moment of revelation, we made a pact (probably with the devil) to be shameless while groveling to our “loved ones” regardless of the position we put them in. Oops. Sorry about that.
Perhaps the most important thing I have learned is that no job is too small and no price can be too high. We are practically giving away our work at this point because who wants to be overpriced by two people with no work history and no portfolio? If those people exist, they are no longer in business.

All in all, these past few months have been nothing short of interesting. I have dreamt the little dream and have been trying not to choke on it ever since. On many occasions, my dad has wondered out loud “what on earth were you thinking?” I suppose I could never ask a man who worked for the same company for 35 years to understand my desire to try something new, something far away from the English essays, the comfort of my air conditioned classroom, and for now, any semblance of financial stability. Hindsight. Beautiful, is it not?