Chance

One of the things I found most unnerving about starting my own business was the realisation of the degree to which work could come in by chance. Of course, one could try to increase the opportunities for chance to strike, by joining the Chamber of Commerce, for example*, but there was also the need to accept that one couldn't go to every networking event simply because it *might* lead to new work. 

Eventually, I found a balance, which, in a nutshell, meant not going to anything that was purely about networking. 

After a while there was a further refinement to this in realising that not everyone who rang into the office was a contender. Like the guy who took up a Friday afternoon to talk to me about his idea for an online estate agency but who had never heard of Rightmove. FFS. 

A few years ago I had a call from a hesitant sounding chap who was looking for "an app". To be honest, it sounded like something and nothing but I said I'd drive down and meet him; I like a trip out in the car. As it happened, I knew the area where he was based. It was a little run down and that further diminished any hopes I had that the meeting might lead to anything.

I wore my suit and tie, anyway, and followed the satnav to his address. Along the road I knew - boarded up shops, sandwich bars, and hairdressers - and down a side street. Then 'round a bend onto a smaller lane: just where the hell was I going?

And then, suddenly, out onto an estate, a huge factory, with its own roads and even traffic lights. I adjusted my tie. 

As I say, that was a while ago. Today, my colleague, Steve, and I had a meeting at the factory, after which, the chap with whom I'd had my first meeting offered to show us around. It was my first walk through the R&D labs, the test machines, and the production environment. It was incredible. 

Just outside the meeting room were these clocks, underscoring the size of the company and its international footprint. Fingers crossed for a meeting in New York!

*several years of membership, not one new client. 

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Reading: 'The Silkworm' by Robert Galbraith