The honeymoon is over

So our first year as a company went well. Great actually. Fantastic numbers, high spirits, and an everlasting startup feeling. That all changed early in year two.

Act and react

I already wrote some words in my “first-year review” regarding the then ongoing recession. If we knew then what we know now, right?… This year we saw early signs at our clients as well as in the general public market that the uncertain situation in the world was taking its toll and that the situation would spiral further. Thanks to the senior experience within the group we acted quickly and precisely. Working actively with forecasting and keeping a tight feedback loop we managed to take actions, on a group level as well as an individual company level, cushioning the impact of inevitable customer cutbacks and losses. We developed a contingency plan identifying a list of actions to improve the outcome (on a monetary level). A list growing in severity and level of unpleasantness. The two most extreme being bringing on external capital and laying off colleagues. Our focus shifted from growth to profitability, cutting unnecessary costs and “nonprofit driving activities”. An important thing for us was to have full transparency and regular communication amongst each other. It wasn't fun, but everyone agreed on the precautions and understood the seriousness of the situation.

Looking back there were especially two months that I will remember. I will not remember them fondly mind you but I will take with me into the continued journey. During this period I experienced changes in my physical wellbeing. Most noticeable discomfort in the chest, trouble sleeping, and general fatigue. All this stemmed from the utter disgust I felt about even thinking of layoffs and knowing how we all suffered. Lingering in not knowing and to a large extent not having any power over the situation. Thankfully we managed to turn this around rather quickly and we could, with quite high certainty, say that we would close the year on black numbers. The relief was imminent.

Is it really worth it?

I’ve gotten the question “Is it really worth it?” a few times during the year. And not to take lightly on the health aspects of it all, but YES. It absolutely is worth it. I thoroughly enjoy my day-to-day work. I love my client. I love the interaction with brokers and colleagues, trying to achieve a common goal and doing it for myself, as well as for them. I’ve learned a lot during this year; regarding myself, my colleagues, and perhaps even more about running a business. I believe the people of Elva have become tighter with each other and more prepared than before. In the end, I’d say we are a better company and group for it. I don’t intend to rest on my laurels once things stabilise. I’ve come to terms with what bad stress is to me. When to avoid it and when to listen to my body. I’ve also come to appreciate and somewhat thrive during periods of high workload, making me feel appreciated and with a sense of accomplishment.

Yes, because:

In hindsight, we’ve accomplished quite a lot as a group.

• Grew in numbers despite an extremely tough market, and not only in our existing locations. We launched Malmö AND Stockholm.

• We lost two clients; but gained five.

• We finally got an AWS User Group and Community in Örebro.

• Won the various AWS prospecting competitions we set out to participate in

• We lost a year; but gained experience that will benefit us for years to come.

The first year was amazing. The second one not so much. I hope in year three we can at least find a middle ground and some stability. No doubt things are still tough; at least now we have built both resilience and processes to handle it.

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If you enjoyed this post, want to know more about me, working at Elva or just want to reach out you can find me on LinkedIn.

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