“Think big”, an oft used phrase.

Think big, one should definitely do provided the thinking isn’t beyond means and methods.

And for small ventures, “think big, act small” is more ideal. This part, you and I know already. Many books and articles have been written.

“Think big, act small!”.

We read. We listen. We nod in consent.

Yet, when it comes to doing, we forget!

I don’t know about you. I forgot it yesterday and almost committed on something big!

I was in an upbeat mood and unusually cheerful yesterday. And I was trying to think big. But I forgot the 2nd part of the tenet. Acting within your zone of comfort. Taking small enough steps, so that a few wrong steps don’t send you packing to chapter 11.

I had been thinking of expanding in the last few days and had a list of things to do. But, the priority amongst them was kinda hazy because data was not yet completely reliable, and hence the absolutely needed vs nice to have’s weren’t clearly demarcated. My first mistake.

Mistake no 2, I was upbeat with the revenues this month. Never make major moves when you are in a cheerful mood.

I checked with a couple of dealers, got a nice deal on several things and almost placed an order that was bigger than Tapprs could chew. (Keep in mind that I keep accounts for Tapprs strictly separated from my personal account and would hate to keep adding to Tapprs account to just sustain it.)

I realized my mistake just in time to renege on the commitment to buy. I realized how my scalability plan was haphazard and felt the need to sketch out a plan to scale if and when Tapprs does well.

You do badly in business, you get screwed. And you do somewhat well and get too cheerful about it, you get screwed. I need to learn rope walking now.

Whatever, a few lessons I learnt.

• Act small, think big! The priority is on the prior.
• Have a rough scalability plan in place. If I make this much, I will deploy this much towards expansion. And keep ’em small.
• Will an incorrect execution of this step screw my venture? If so, how can I break up the risk.
• Am I drunk? Should I decide later?
• What do I expect if I execute this step correctly? Is it worth doing? Or is it better to do a minimal part of it for now?

That’s it for today!