Taking my own advice - a moment of truth

This October is indeed a very busy month for me and my company! Although the business is doing well considering the multitude of challenges I had to face since Decapolis Consulting's inception; from financing to buying out a partner, from building my teams to networking, from acquiring new clients and retaining existing clients - I haven’t  been able to meet all of my goals as well as I could have.


As this month marks Decapolis Consulting one year anniversary in business, and since business has been slow for quite some time now, and in a moment of truth; I have decided earlier this month to hire myself and my team to conduct a Current Situation Analysis, to figure out why we haven’t met our set goals.

Our findings were surprisingly simple, yet crucial. Which I will share with you in a moment, after I shed some light on the background dynamics that led to my decision to hire our very own services.

As I said earlier, business has been slow for quite some time, and I found myself with some free time, so last May I joined Mowgli Foundation as a mentor, gave out free coaching packages to a number of individuals, and I just recently volunteered with Injaz’s Company Program.  The experience of volunteering and  helping others is its own reward. But I was pleasantly surprised that I have gained a lot too!  The insight into my own self and into my business alone which came through my involvement with Mowgli Foundation and the wonderful people I met through the program, is priceless. I started asking myself questions like what is my story?  What is my company’s story? Where am I going with the business?  What am I missing?

Questions that every entrepreneur should ask themselves, but sometimes just get too caught up with building and operating day-to-day business that we miss paying attention to the big picture, we forget our story, or worse yet we get emotionally attached to our story. 

I directed my team to be objective in their analysis, and to be emotionally detached upon making recommendations. It wasn’t easy, but we managed.

As simple as the reasons were, the result recommendations were brutal. They were brutal because we were very emotionally attached to the original story. You see, circumstances have changed; mainly due to the dissolving of partnership and incurred additional financial commitments as a natural result of buying out a partner. We went from a partnership to a sole proprietorship, but our message and story didn't change, and we realized that potential clients were confused and overwhelmed with our many offerings that didn't seem to tie well together in light of our new situation. Our story was amiss and a mess!

Our own recommendations for ourselves can also benefit all entrepreneurs who find themselves a bit too emotionally attached to their startups:

1.     FOCUS and Niche Our Story

2.     Modify and Restructure our services to fit our target niche

3.  Redo our business & marketing plans to align with our new modified business

4.  And as a result of all of that, the company profile, website and other promotional content will be rewritten.

5.  Add to the team: starting with hiring (aggressive) marketing and sales professionals for each service line; adding more consultants to our support teams. (yes we are hiring)

6. Put in place a new Action Plan with SMART goals with emphasis on measurable and objective evaluation mechanisms.

Taking our own advice,  we have decided that Decapolis Consulting will Focus on providing management support services and consultancy to SMEs and we will continue to support other consulting firms as their backhaul support kitchens.

We are currently restructuring our offered service lines and some lines will be discontinued altogether. The next step remains to present our recreated story through our website and promotional material. So stay tuned, as we would love to have your feedback!

There is no such thing as a silent investor, or a silent partner

First Posted on | Mowgli Foundation http://t.co/Bb3iuZy on July 4th, 2011

by Ghada El Kurd

There is No Such Thing As A Silent Investor, or a silent partner, and that’s why I turned down 110 thousand US Dollars.

Yes, I really did turn down 110 thousand dollars cash-flow injection into my relevantly new company. As tough as things were at the time, with limited to non-existing funds, trying to build up a wider network and client base, having just bought out a partner, and above all, managing a big project that required dedicated and costly resources; when an investor came along offering to inject 110 thousand dollars, as a silent partner. I said No, thank you!

I will explain exactly, how I came to this decision as a result of my firsthand experience, although my knowledge and decision also were supported and came by way of observing the businesses and partnerships of colleagues, friends, relatives, clients and other SMEs, whether up close or from afar.

Now, my experience in my own ventures as well my work history in the family businesses, have taught me many valuable lessons over the years. The one that came crashing back into my mind with a neck breaking speed, was that There is No Such Thing As A Silent Investor, or a silent partner.

My first business, was thrown at me, no, really, it wasn’t really a choice at the time, I was barely 18, and dear old father decided that I will own (legally) and run the family’s new venture. Now that may sound impressive and yes, it was really very satisfying to my 18-years old ego; yet, little did I know that I really owned and controlled nothing.

In the first few months, I realized that I did have partners, the head designer who was the real talent was one, whose salary was 5 times mine and who banked 50% of net annual profits. But it was fair as he was the talent, and the whole business was built around his talent and skills. And naturally father was also a partner, actually the main partner for that matter, as he had the last word on everything. I was just the owner/manager! I accepted that, and tried to learn from both as much as I can.

Father started getting me involved, periodically, in our other businesses, especially when he’d be travelling. Little by little I came to understand the dynamics of the group, and became aware of the existence of investors, to whom we were accountable, and whose involvement gradually progressed to the role of active decision making partners. Conflict arose, and things started getting too chaotic, key personnel were at loss too, as they knew not whose orders to carry out. It was a total mess, especially that those investors-evolved-into-partners, had very little or no idea about the nature of our businesses, management or even a basic understanding of the markets at the time.

Essa El Kurd, my wise father, realized that the probability of losing everything was becoming a very real and high business risk. He boldly decided to buy everyone out, each and every investor and partner, which resulted in a 7-figure debt. We planned and implemented the buy outs over a period of 18 months. With every buy-out we regained more control of our own businesses.

And for the next four years, the business I managed, was our cash cow, it was what kept a roof over our heads and those forty other roofs over our employees’ heads in all of our businesses; Those other businesses were running successfully and making profits, but all profits went to paying out the debt we incurred in the buyouts.

As for my unofficial partner, well, he was the only partner we had by that time, we were investing in him and his talent, and as managing investors we had absolute control.

Know that if you are looking for an investment, whether it’s a kind old Uncle, an angel investor, who simply likes to get small businesses off the ground or a venture capitalist, without being held accountable to your investor or think they will assume the role of silent partners, you are seriously mistaken.

Sooner or later, they will want to know what and how you are doing, and increasingly more often, and gradually you will see them start to get involved at one level or another, regardless of the promises of letting you run your business, they WILL be involved, even if it’s just a phone call once in a while! And with the first mishap or trouble, even if it’s a minor one, you can expect even more communication, physical presence and active involvement. Every investor and every “silent” partner will want to be sure their money is being used and managed properly. And that their investment is in good shape, and it is their right.

I repeat, there is no such thing as a SILENT investor or partner, that is the main reason why I declined the investor’s tempting offer which could have saved me a lot of time and hardship in my business.

I know that raising outside investment is a difficult and time-consuming process. It is not for everyone though. But without some basic understanding, it can not only be extremely frustrating but could end in angry failure. SO if you are looking to keep majority control of your business, seeking outside investment requires proper due diligence and study of: the reasons, purposes, alternatives, investment type, terms and conditions, shares, management, stage where at investment is required, your team, and many other criteria that should be considered, but above all, don’t be blinded by money.

Don’t be blinded by the investment value or dollar amount that you need that the investor is about to make available to you, that you do not see the investors themselves. Know your investor, study and understand, their character, their goals, their interest in your business, and their expectations. Expectations also include how often and how to report back to them, division of shares, roles, and even additional investment if required.

Think before you jump, know what you both want and need, plan it well, put it in writing; and remember it is still a partnership just as it is a human relationship communication is essential to your mutual success. SILENT investors/partners do not exist.