WHY
BEING AN ENABLER
IS NOT A BAD THING?
by Heather Darnell
Lots of people ask “Why did you start your company?”
The normal answers are “I wanted to build X” or “I want to create Y” or “I saw a gap in the market and I decided to fill it with Z”. These are the creative and inspirational stories that we hear all the time in the media.
But we are not “creators” in the same way as those people. We are enablers.
We enable those creators to do their thing.
And everyone needs enablers – whether that is a founder or a supporter or a mentor or an inspirer.
Enablers do not get the same press or kudos or respect that creators do, but they are just as necessary, and I would argue just as interesting and fun as the creatives.
The most common wish that we hear is “I wish I had a business partner.” Whether it is someone to help share the worry, someone to bounce ideas off, someone with complimentary skills to your own or just another person who cares about the business as much as you do – these are the things that creators are looking for. Sometimes it is just someone who has the experience of running their own business. Experience is not the most important bit of running a business, but it does give you the perspective that you can only get by having done it before.
We at BOSS are the business partners that you wish for.
But we will not partner with just anyone. We want partners with shared values, and most importantly with the desire to go on a shared journey together – to us the journey is as fun as the end result and we want to work with people with the same attitude. Even if your ultimate plan is to sell your business, that is rarely done in less than three years, so that is at least three years on a journey together!
So although we do not “create” in exactly the same way as most other entrepreneurs, we do create a positive impact on the businesses that we are on a journey with.
I guess you could say that we want to create an environment where our fellow entrepreneurs thrive and grow.
Heather x