GPG is Ten (and some change)!
What's it like to run a business with your spouse for ten years (plus a little)? It's a weekly combination of challenging, fulfilling, thought-provoking, fun, sometimes stressful, and above all, rewarding.
When we founded the firm, I was pregnant (young, delusional bravery is the best, right?) and we had two small clients keeping us just busy enough. It was a steep learning curve to create all of the things that were needed — proposals, invoices, paperwork for health insurance, emails and then email signature lines, the list goes on and on. We had been working at and relying on institutions who had processes set and people in place to support all the stuff needed before leaving our jobs for the entrepreneurial voyage; the hours now spent devoted to building infrastructure were tiring and teaching me things I didn't know I'd need to know. But it was ours, and we were proud of each thing we created.
As time went on, we found more clarity in the work we knew well and ways to pitch larger clients; they paid better, offered higher quality work, and most of all, genuinely valued us as consultants. They wanted us in the room, and we would learn over the course of our first decade that this is the most valuable takeaway of all. Each step toward "more" was rewarding, particularly as we saw the quality of our services, offerings, materials, and advice grow rapidly. Maintaining a balance of celebrating our growth and wins, and simultaneously setting new goals ensued. How do you stop pushing the goal post out so you can actually relish in your victories, but not get too comfortable? A long lesson in gratitude and goal-setting for us as entrepreneurs!
Eventually, we made hires to our team, grew to partnering with clients in new regions, speaking on bigger stages, making more hires, working with nonprofits that were large, established institutions — and thinking about growth differently than we had in late 2014. Momentum is a palpable energy. As a strong believer of living in alignment, once you find your flow as a business owner, it's remarkable how much more you attract in a state of confident authenticity.
Some of our greatest takeaways from this decade of building GPG include:
-Be an expert in something, throw your weight behind it, and confidently articulate what it is. No one will hire you because you are good at a ton of things, but they'll absolutely hire you for being the best in one or two things.
-Being effective is more important than being right when it comes to consulting. We've delivered the hard truths, the happy truths, and the matter-of-fact truths, but the ones that stick are delivered in a style that resonates with those on the receiving end. It doesn't matter if you are absolutely sure that your approach is the right one if it doesn't land with a client — be honest, respectful, and use EQ to deliver a message effectively. which is more important than being insistent on your recommendation.
-Scaling in a service industry is hard for everyone. You can't pitch yourself then send a stranger to service a client, but you can't make 10 versions of yourself to be in 10 different places either. Striking a balance between: growing into the greatest role for yourself personally, spending your time at the highest level around your own skill set, trusting teammates so you can delegate what makes sense and empower their unique skills, and introducing prospective clients to your teammates earlier allows for teams to grow and quality to grow, too.
-Working on the business and working in the business are very different. It requires a lot of hours and much discipline to consider how the industry is shifting and how our firm must evolve. Marketing, AI, the evolution of materials, social media, titles, roles, speaking and writing topics and audiences, and even service offerings must be assessed regularly.
-Business development is everything to a healthy business. Who do you know, how do you stay in touch with them, and where do you put yourself to be perceived as an excellent potential hire? There are both straightforward and creative ways to business development. Don't get complacent in just responding to business as it comes to you; don't overthink connecting and engaging with your network and growing it; don't assume that being in front of hundreds or thousands of people will automatically mean new business — it's a combination effort regularly of broad and personalized communications!
And lastly, we can say with complete certainty: building something is genuinely enjoyable. There is no greater feeling than setting a goal, putting in the reps, getting back up when you're knocked down, and achieving it. Work cannot be fulfilling if it's not fun. As our colleague Sam always says, "we need more play around here!" And we do — we spend too many hours working to not feel inspired by the industry, our individual and collective contributions to it, and the warm, energetic feeling of accomplishing something. The process must be enjoyed because you'll wait your whole life for the fulfillment of reaching the destination if you don't make all of it the destination.
How has being married made this even more unique? It's special to build a family and a business together concurrently. We don't always agree on something as specific as a suggested solicitation strategy for a client, or something as grand as a major firm goal for the year, but we respect that each person comes to the table with a genuine devotion to getting better. There are a lot of late-night ideas conversations, and dates that turn into strategy contemplation. Once, when our kids napped at Disney World, we mapped out new ways to talk about our services on our website. Having a partner helps with navigating the highs and lows (and if one of you is funny, then that's really a great plus. Can you guess which one of us leans into the humor more? 🙂)
If you've trusted us along this decade, thank you. We live in deep gratitude for the opportunity to partner with organizations and families that are changing the world. Our team's work means the world to us — impacting communities, lifting people up, and sharing our philosophies, ideas and deliverables, beyond generating their own ideas and strategies, as part of our collective group. Ten plus years in, it feels like so much life is behind us, and yet, we're just getting started! Thank you for being here with us.
