What would I do with $10k

Not long ago I was asked my advice on the 10 ways I would invest $10k into my small business if I was just starting out. In my experience it is better to do one thing well than to spread yourself too thin.

I recalled our first 12 months in business, when there was always a battle between keeping overheads low and investing in marketing. After all, I needed to tell people we existed, how else were they supposed to find us?

A similar situation came to mind when I wanted to spend $15,000 on a trade show called the Corporate Gift Show. I thought to myself at the time “If I am going to have any chance to really pitch RedBalloon to the corporate market, I need to be there. No, I absolutely have to be there. But we also need to look impressive not as if we had done it on the cheap.” Even in the beginning I was very aware of the brand personality I was creating.

My husband Peter pointed out that at current earnings that amount equated to 15 months revenue (not profit) and wasn’t I being slightly foolish to spend that amount of money? We had a very heated discussion over that one. He finally said to me “Well it’s your money, honey.”

“Me, foolish?” I thought. Is someone who takes risks foolish?

There’s a famous quote by Thoman Edison that sums up my drive at the time: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard work”.

Sometimes you have just got to jump in and swim, and so I decided this event was going to be the making of RedBalloon in the corporate space. There are no guarantees in business but the more effort and commitment the more likely it will turn out alright.

Far from settling on a stand where we could hand out a few brochures, we called up our suppliers and had a rally car, a hot air balloon basket and a number of real life props to adorn the stand. We were big bold and outrageous. It was a gamble – but we looked big, we were acting as if we were big. We were living into the future we dreamed of.

I followed up on every detail, every lead, and every idea of an opportunity. Ultimately we won $500,000 worth of business over the next 12 months from the event, and we still get regular business from those that we first met at that trade show.

The trade show was a pivotal moment for us. We received orders bigger than I could have ever imagined when I first wrote the business plan. Large orders, as I was soon to discover, actually presented a whole new set of challenges, which again could force the business to grow.

The lessons in this:

• Be a little dog with a big dog attitude. From the beginning I never thought of us as a small business. We were a big business in a small agile body. We had a big plan and now we were dealing with other big companies.
• Entrepreneurs take risks. My personal motto has always been ‘if it’s meant to be it’s up to me’.
• Being challenged, holding your ground and working hard for the returns has always held me in good stead.
• Start with the end in mind, believing in what you want to achieve and go for it. People are very quick to tell you why it will not be a success. But if it were easy everybody would do it.
• Make sure the product/service is so exceptional people will by nature talk about it. Then secondly get people to trial it and be advocates… Not really that much different than we did at RedBalloon almost a decade ago.

Naomi Simson is the 2008 National Telstra Women’s Business Award winner for Innovation. Naomi was also a finalist for the Australian HR Awards and a finalist for the BRW Most Admired Business Owner Award in 2008. Also in 2008 RedBalloon achieved a 97% Hewitt employee engagement score. One of Australia’s outstanding female entrepreneurs, Naomi regularly entertains as a professional speaker inspiring middle to high-level leaders on employer branding, engagement and reward and recognition. Naomi writes a blog and has written a book sharing the lessons from her first five years.

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