By Kim Browne
On the eve of our official second birthday (1 April 2013), we continue to delight in the joys of running our own little enterprise. March has been a fabulously busy month at The Toast and we are enthralled at having gained a piece of retainer business, which originated with an Internet search. The client had no prior knowledge of us, our previous lives and what we did before in media.
This may sound like a strange comment. But all our work thus far has been the result of real, human word of mouth. So now it’s no longer only who you know, but what you know. We’re just loving our small case study of “being found online”.
We’re also seeing repeat business, where we’d initially only been signed up for a project with a start and end. It’s great to welcome clients back for more.
And then there’s the work we pitched on ages ago and thought had gone cold. A call out of the blue and we’re in business. Perseverance truly is a masterful art. Like Yogi Berra quipped: “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”. You just never know.
In sales there’s always rejection. This is never easy. The art here (it’s really difficult to do), is to move on quickly and not wallow in it. Interestingly, at The Toast “no” often comes unexpectedly and is usually a rather drawn out process. This is what makes it harder, because there’s always an investment (we can’t help but put our hearts and souls into things — it’s who we are). A quick, straight no right in the beginning is never an issue and easier to digest.
Year three is the big one for us. Our target is substantial, which means it’s the sum of the previous two years’ business. A month into our new financial year and we are on track. Prospects are there, there’s work to be shipped and we’re feeling buoyant. We may no longer be classified as a start-up, but we still feel “new” :)
We’re hands on, doing stuff we love and are proud of our happy clients. We’re not keen to give up our hard earned independence … just yet.
Game on!
