But What If...

When I left Ghana a month ago, I wrote how I felt we'd made a breakthrough. I still feel that way. But the ebb and flow of business in any small start-up sometimes has you doubting. I was talking to my fractional CFO today that I alternate between being ecstatic and terrified as we navigate trying to get over the hump (in terms of getting to breakeven and being able to cover all our expenses without donations). I joked there is the couple of minutes between the high (we're going to break through big) and the low (we're going to crash and burn) where you are in perfect balance. I just need to keep my consciousness in that gap!

But that's not why I'm writing this post. It is more a realization that IF we do get to the goal of breaking even, it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY we are going to stop there. Let me explain with a bit of background. 

I've mentioned frequently how this process has been unreal, unlike any business endeavor I've ever experienced. Throughout, volunteers and unlikely donors have shown up exactly when they were needed. This hasn't happened just once or a couple of times. It happens all the time and is continuing. Right after I got back from Ghana another volunteer showed up. This gentleman, let's call him J, was met (as so many have) through a virtual networking group I belong to called Lunchclub. It was a strange call because he was totally focused on Theodora and wanted lots of detail information about how we did things. Turns out he has been using VA's for decades and has a very refined system for using, training, managing, and getting business for them. He proposes to help us. 

This seems a bit too good to be true. I have numerous members of my Ghana group interview him. I check his references. We all agree we have nothing to lose by giving this a try. Fast forward a month later, everything he has told us he was going to teach and show us, has come to pass. We are now starting to work on the key piece...for us the missing link...building a sophisticated lead generation system (not dependent of de-I). I've been watching all the training and I'm thinking, "I think this is the real deal."

Now here is where the terror starts to creep back in. But what if this guy is right. What if we suddenly start generating a LOT of new business. Are we prepared to grow rapidly? The answer would be a big NO.  We'd need a ton of thing put in place. So now I find myself having to balance my thinking between how we manage through our tight cash flow and what do I do if we suddenly have so much business that we must expand rapidly. 

I will continue this discourse in my next post.