Make a Backup Plan for Success

Startup Sunday

Yesterday I saw social media guru Peter Shankman speak for the second time, and even got to meet his mom. (She's adorable.) He told many of the same jokes I'd heard before but the interstitial material was somewhat adjusted for the audience of journalists, freelance writers and book authors. One of the points that resonated most with me was his advice to make a backup plan for success.

I am risk averse, as I've blogged before. That's why I never thought I would become an entrepreneur. But while I love to plan, there is a limit. I plan vacations, child care, future spending and major career moves. It never occurred to me to make a back-up plan for success.

Shankman's point is certainly a valid one. By telling would-be entrepreneurs to make a back-up plan in case they fail, we're unwittingly sending the message: "You're such a loser; you're bound to screw it up!" Certainly, there's research documenting the power of visualizing the outcome you want. (Another speaker at the American Society of Journalists and Authors conference, Kevin Daum, went so far as to tattoo the words "New York Times Best Seller" on his chest as a means of constantly reminding himself of his goal.)

Peter Shankman told the story (which I'd heard before) of printing 500 shirts, around the time the movie "Titanic" came out on video, that said: "It Sank. Get Over It." He sold them all in one day, in Times Square, and told a friend at USA Today the story. That weekend the item ran on the newspaper's front page and the resulting visits to his Web site crashed almost all the hosting company's servers.

Shankman spent the following weeks frantically filling thousands of orders for T-shirts (placed by email correspondence and snail mail check) out of his apartment. "It was the Rube Goldberg Fulfillment Center," he said. He raised $100,000 and started his public relations agency.

To me, this is a success story. I suppose if he knew the T-shirts were going to go viral, he could have planned better. But who can ever predict that? And in the same talk, he commented that in the early days of AOL, they tried something new, and if it worked, they did it some more. You can't really plan for that.

For entrepreneurial mothers, however, I do think you can make a backup plan for success. It contains at least these elements:

• Line up child care. If you receive a breakthrough opportunity, you need to be able to jump onto it without a worry about your children. This can be as simple as setting expectations with your husband or partner. Or, making sure you have the occasional babysitter so that your children are used to child care outside of the regular work day.
• Stay organized. Say you get a call from venture capitalists who want you to fly to the West Coast for a meeting. (Yes, let's say that!) You'll need to be able to pick up and get on a plane with the key materials to convince them to give you funding. That means your big selling points
• Network with an eye on the future. Perhaps you're saying to yourself, "Venture capital? They'd never be interested in me." You never know. When opportunity strikes, it helps if you have an address book full of contacts at various sizes and scales. Entrepreneurial mothers are notorious for thinking small and planning only to replace their income from the day job. If you allow yourself to envision huge things for yourself and your business, it frees other people to do the same.

How are you planning for success?

Photo credit: aloshbennett via Flickr

Comments

[Jen Singer]

Nicely said. I saw the same presentation, and I loved his line: "Have a back-up plan for success." These days, it can come quickly and virally indeed.

[Levinson Axelrod]

Very well written. Thanks for sharing the words of Peter Shankman. His presentation,story and tips are great things learn and take away.