By: Sean Daly
Starting a business…what does that REALLY mean?! What was it like for you in the early stages? (not so much minor logistics, but overall experience/mindset/struggles):
Jeff: I think every entrepreneur goes through the “will anyone even care?” stage at some point during a business startup. It is the ultimate crisis of confidence. To overcome this feeling, you simply have to commit to your business and make proper preparation. Decide, on purpose, that you are going to push through all the discomfort and just go. The other side of this is that you MUST do your homework to know what your business is and how you can mitigate your startup risk. If you have the crisis of confidence and have NOT done your homework, take the opportunity and do it at that time and make adjustments to your premise and plan if and where needed.
Harvest Pursuit: This “will anyone even care?” stage is definitely expected in the startup process, but also totally normal to experience during new growth phases or redirections in your business. We’ve heard many clients question “why me?” when it comes to building an audience or following that is looking for what they offer. That’s part of our mission here at Harvest Pursuit – to support authors and entrepreneurs through these experiences. It can be easy to pivot or change course without another perspective or additionalinsight. HP provides the opportunity to talk things through, offer specific feedback, and see your plan through – making sure the anticipated result is reflective of the effort put in.
And how does that compare to now?
Jeff: Now the business is running – the discomfort is a bit different in that it’s a constant questioning of “am I serving my market?” and adjusting my plan the best way possible. Always. Be. Adjusting.
Harvest Pursuit: It’s so important to always be open to the process and remain exploratory and eager to learn your audience as what works for one client is not going to be the same for another. Analytics will come, but still take time to collect (as these can be important in influence decision making).
What is it like juggling all the things: full blown career, being an entrepreneur and having a family & a life? And of course, can’t forget about yourself! Your health & wellness. How do you make time for self-care?
Jeff: I think the easiest approach is to compartmentalize and commit. This means that certain parts of your day are devoted to different aspects of your life. Family, business, work, self growth, self-care, etc. It’s important that you sort whatever system works for you to ensure you are addressing the different needs in your life, purposefully, as you go through your day. One hugely important point – you need to build flexibility into the plan. You can’t plan an activity at the same time every day as most days are not the same and serving your client base has to happen on THEIR time. One hack (as painful as it is) to avoid the scheduling challenge is to get up early – really early. Most people aren’t working at 5AM! IF you can manage to get yourself out of the rack early, you will typically end up with fully uninterrupted time for self care, fitness, meditation and other important things to set your day up for huge success.
Harvest Pursuit: The emphasis on flexibility is key for us, especially since most of our clients are spouses, parents, wearing multiple hats, etc. We pride ourselves on being relational and that helps us create freedom in the process while working together. Grace is always extended because we don’t want to just be task oriented, we want to be human!
What are your 2024 Goals? How do you plan ahead for the upcoming year? Any tips?
Jeff: I have a short goal list each year and typically add a thematic area for focus. I find an area of my life that may need some improvement and try to learn and improve in that area all year. It’s a bit different than simply changing a habit. It may involve a habit change, but it also involves a learning component.
Most people have a sense of areas in their life they could do better – for me this year, it is trying to live a bit healthier by eating cleaner food and using cleaner (less toxic) products in our home. This helped to generate my 2024 theme of “cleaning it up.” From there, it becomes a journey of education and small changes that will evolve into habits. Can I find a less toxic shampoo? Can I eat cleaner or more organic foods? Am I tracking my progress? It often involves looking for ideas (and products) in places unfamiliar and questioning my views on the area of my life I am focusing on for the year.
Harvest Pursuit: Our main goal in 2024 is based on growing and strengthening our community and networking. We are focused on building new relationships and deepening the current ones we have. We want to maximize the opportunities that are currently accessible and find ways to share those opportunities amongst our team and clients. We want to elevate our culture internally and allow that to drive our connections externally with clients and outside contractors/referrals we have.
How did you sustain momentum after your book launch? Did you find it difficult?
Jeff: I was able to sustain some momentum with the excellent support of the Harvest Pursuit team!! 
Harvest Pursuit: Sustaining momentum for authors after their book launch is a large part of what we do. We assist with ongoing PR – podcast guesting, features in articles, etc. As well as continuing to pour into ongoing relationships that could develop new opportunities. There are other journeys that could include giveaways & collaborations as well as continuous efforts in getting book reviews and testimonials.
If you could offer advice to an aspiring entrepreneur, what would you recommend considering or doing prior to taking the leap?
Jeff: The easiest way to reduce the stress of a new business is to do your homework. Have command of your value proposition and your elevator pitch. Look up every way you can find to plan for your new business (product evaluations, business plans, competing products, etc.), study them and include all of the analysis in a detailed business plan. Put in the mental work
to reflect on questions that you may have about your business. Look at the business plan and then review and revise it, until you feel as comfortable as possible with your idea and the plan.
Ask others for input and ask, on purpose, for all the things “wrong” with your plan (don’t be defensive) – this is the golden input you need to improve your approach. People telling you why something is a terrible idea or how it can be improved is much easier (and cheaper) to respond to in the planning stage so ask for as much of that feedback as possible. After all the homework and criticism of your idea and if you still love the idea (and now improved) plan – then go build your team and move out!! Good luck!
Harvest Pursuit: Our advice would be to take the time and/or make the invest in real guidance and more personal support (i.e. Harvest Pursuit ;)) that will make sure your foundation is strong, fill in the gaps where needed, and kickstart some momentum so you feel confident and can visually see the path you’re on towards achieving your goals.