After five great years as a Consulting Partner, I’m launching a new Digital company today.
As I’ve prepared for our launch, I’ve been receiving 3 common questions:
1.) What are you launching?
2.) Why?
3.) What makes your new company different?
Question #1 – What are you launching?
I’ve created a new company called Second Spring Digital Inc. – and it has three focus areas:
1.) Action-Oriented Digital Strategy and Planning
We help motivated companies grow their digital capabilities so they can create game-changing opportunities for themselves, their employees, and their customers.
2.) Digital Implementations
We focus on creating new business opportunities for our customers driven by great digital experiences. Our strength is Low-Code and Cloud-Native Platforms, and in managing the changes due to digital in an effective and thorough way.
3) Service Delivery Innovation
We’ll leverage digital technologies ourselves to build new products and tools to continuously innovate how we provide the high-touch services that really deliver results.
Question #2 – Why?
I’m fortunate to have been part of a thriving global firm for thepast five years. It’s not easy to join a large organization after you get used to the full autonomy of a small company.
I still managed reasonably well – until Jim Rohn found his way into my head (thanks, Jim!).
To give you some background, I’m a fan of professional development.
I’ve engaged with quite a few thought-leaders overthe past ten years – either directly by attending their programs, or indirectly by consuming their content. And I’m quite active on that front in 2020.
A commonality I noticed among many thought-leaders is a link back to Jim Rohn.
If you don’t know Jim Rohn, he was a prominent personal development speaker who was active beginning in the ’60s.
I decided that I wanted to hear Jim’s teaching directly from the source, and I began to listen to Jim’s seminar recordings regularly – usually in the car on my way to client meetings, soccer tournaments, and ski trips.
And I loved them.
I gathered a number of new insights by listening to Jim directly, and I had some things I already understood reinforced and explained in different ways.
However, one concept stuck with me above all else -The Seasons of Life. In this big idea, he presents that life operates on anunalterable cycle of four seasons that you cannot change.
The takeaway?
You can’t change the cycle of the seasons – but you can change yourself, how you choose to adapt to the reality of the seasons, and what you do to leverage them.
It really resonates with me.
Through Jim’s work, I realized I wanted to set up a specific season for myself
– Spring.
I decided – I want a Second Spring in business.
Once I made the decision, it didn’t happen immediately.
I spent a lot of time thinking. I talked to successful friends. I mind-mapped, white-boarded, and strategized.
I found my resolve and got in motion.
I am launching my Second Spring today, and I am very excited for this new chapter to begin.
Question #3 – What makes your new company different?
Here are a few of the concepts being applied to Second Spring.
Concept #1 – Start Small, Think Big, Grow Sensibly
One of the sayings in the startup space is, “Start small, think big, grow fast.”
chapter to begin.
I have applied it to Second Spring, with a twist.
Start Slow: I am the sole founder and partner. My wife Pam and I are the only employees at launch.
Think Big: I have big plans for Second Spring. So we are designing scalability into the model from day one.
We are utilizing a suite of digital platforms to simplify and automate the work of running the company.
I have developed a team of outsourcers to handle many internal tasks related to finance, marketing and operations.
And we have a network of subcontractors to let us deliver service without having to scale the employee base as a full prerequisite.
We will begin hiring digital planning facilitators and cloud engineers (e.g. OutSystems + Azure) soon, however,we are up and running – and able to deliver -on day one.
Grow Sensibly: I’d like to grow in a meaningful way. I don’t want growth for the sake of growth, and I don’t want to get caught up in vanity metrics like number of employees, or office locations.
We are not venture backed and have not taken outside funding, so we are free to grow at the right pace to meet our objectives.
Concept #2 – Be a Great Place to Work
I have the benefit of leveraging the lessons I’ve learned from SwiftRadius – the prior company I started.
SwiftRadius was frequently recognized as a great place to work, and when I talk to people in our extensive alumni network, they reflect fondly on the time spent with our company.
I’d like to do that again. I want us to be a great place to work, for the 2020’s.
Here are some of the key elements of the culture I am designing for Second Spring:
1.) Inclusivity: An inclusive workplace where people are comfortable being themselves. We will also be a great employer for Women in Tech.
2.) Freedom: Foster flexible and remote work for the best talent.
3.) Appreciation: Top performers deserve uncommon opportunities and are driven by measured results.
4.) Great Team, Great Results: We are fanatical about our customer success.
5.) Fun: The journey is part of the ride. Let’s enjoy it!
Concept #3 – Perfect is the Enemy of Good, In Digital
Top digital organizations know that digital is not just about implementing technology. It’s about taking a comprehensive approach when making large shifts in the way a business operates.
Then it’s about getting in motion by learning and continuously building a digital capability.
The true challenge facing organizations around digital is the pace at which they can successfully absorb change, move forward and grow.
Given that progress comes from motion, it is important not to waste time.
We’ve developed a set of approaches and tools that allow you to quickly assess where you are on key dimensions of Digital in order to determine the intersection points with your business strategy.
Then, the next most obvious initiatives to make progress are discovered, planned and put in motion. I prefer plans that are completed in as little as three weeks and refreshed no more than twelve months later. We have designed our approaches to work on that cadence.
What Happens Next?
I’ll be a regular contributor on channels you use over the coming months, so keep an eye out for:
1.) Regularly posted and value-packed original content, including lessons from us and proven teachings from other industry experts.
2) Weekly emails that contain five interesting things going on in the world of digital.
3) Free, valuable tools – like our Digital Snapshot Quiz (already LIVE on our website!).
If you’re interested in learning more, or having a conversation, reach out through a private message or through our website. If we aren’t already connected, it would be great to receive a LinkedIn invite and make your acquaintance.
Scott