The Time My Business Was Nearly Ran Over By The Struggle Bus
And how I saved it from the dust bin of history
My company, Fullstride, was dying. I almost packed it in at the end of 2023.
We had just lost yet another client.
A client that had been introduced to us by a vendor partner after they signed a 3-year contract. We would help them implement that software.
And, yes, I said *another* up above.
Not the first client from that same vendor.
A pattern had emerged. We could no longer ignore it.
These clients were deeply frustrated. Not with us. With the vendor, with themselves, with the entire shady process.
Right out of the gate, we asked questions that sounded simple.
Yet the client team would provide multiple answers.
And then look at one another, surprised.
Needs were unclear. Assumptions were everywhere.
This meant designing the solution (how they’d use the software) needed MUCH more time to get right and actually move the business forward.
Not in the budget. And a budget we didn’t control.
The client wasn’t truly *ours* yet.
We were subcontracting. For the initial site implementation. And then the vendor would step back and we’d work with the client directly for all the rest of the warehouses in their supply chain network.
On our terms. No longer a middleman of sorts.
That was the carrot we were chasing.
But that never happened.
The pattern that couldn’t be ignored
As was becoming the pattern that I alluded to above… these “clients” weren’t ready to succeed. Not ready to invest as necessary. Didn’t even know what “necessary” was in these situations.
No one had been forthcoming with them about what was truly needed to succeed — where they had pitfalls to avoid and maturity issues to tackle.
So, it landed on us. AGAIN.
We spent several additional weeks clarifying HOW their business worked.
For their own clarity just as much as for completing the solution design.
Got people in the room from adjacent teams and created alignment.
We visually mapped their current processes.
So everyone could quickly understand the current reality.
Then we layered in technology so they could see WHY the system had so much potential to help them improve margins and delight more customers.
But they choked on the maturity issues part.
The things they would have to tackle within their own business.
Too much work. Too many other initiatives going on or headed their way.
So they “paused” and disappeared.
When they reappeared they were focused on getting out of the contract.
But it was ironclad. On the hook for 3 years. Value or no value.
This sucked. For them. For us.
And it should have sucked for the vendor too but they seemed to be mostly concerned with getting paid. Churn was years in the future.
Which leads me to the “again” reference from earlier.
Same outcome. Different clients. Multiple times over.
So we pulled away from the vendor.
Clients were grateful for our contributions. They just couldn’t prioritize digging themselves out of the hole they had stumbled into.
Essentially, they were taking for a rough ride on the struggle bus. And we all know it’s easy to get on but unbelievably difficult to get off…
We even had talks with multiple clients about alternative paths forward, but legally we were on shaky ground so nothing came of them.
So, there we were. End of 2023. Bleeding. Perhaps, even dying.
Charting a new path forward
We needed a new game plan. A new business model.
Preferably, no longer dependent on vendors. Some potential vendor partners couldn’t even execute. It was a mess.
The question became “what is missing here?”
And after much debate and introspection, our answer was “nobody is warning buyers that they aren’t ready… or getting them ready”.
I’ve personally seen that issue dozens, if not hundreds, of times over the past 20 years of my career. Massive clients and small clients, alike.
But especially harmful to mid-sized businesses.
The big boys can spend their way out of nearly any pickle they find themselves in but the up-and-comers don’t have that option.
They need warned. They need educated.
They need an advocate to guide them through this maze.
So, Clarity First was born. Or, rather, its first iteration.
What is Clarity First?
We needed an easy way to help businesses pursuing their first Warehouse Management System (WMS) avoid the proverbial struggle bus.
That meant ensuring they truly needed to leap. Now.
That meant evaluating whether they were ready. No one ever is.
That meant identifying the must-have capabilities of a vendor’s solution versus getting lost in the sea of sameness that was feature parity checklists and super boring and misleading software demos.
Based on those broad requirements, we created a framework that would take roughly 90-days to complete and marveled at our achievement.
It was the embodiment of what we’d done for many clients over the years, as piecemeal-ed attempts, now in all its comprehensive glory.
But it largely failed.
Very little traction. Too long. Too expensive.
And the expensive part threw me for a loop.
We were pricing it for much less than I had ever charged for something comparable when working with large enterprises.
As it turned out, mid-sized businesses just weren’t familiar with consultants yet and sticker shock almost made the first version a non-starter.
Essentially, beyond pricing, we were too risky.
So, we listened and iterated.
We threw out everything that wasn’t essential to “just get going”.
90 days. 12 weeks… down to under 2 weeks.
We landed on a purpose-built assessment framework.
The deliverable was a 90-day action plan, designed to be DIY.
Yet we had a follow-on solution that would equate to a “done-with-you” alternative, which was close to our original 12-week framework.
The theory was that the follow-on solution would be easier to sell once we had built rapport and successfully demonstrated results.
This got traction.
But not much. At least at first.
Staying alive while everything marinates
While we continued on, driven by our faith in this approach, we had to bring money in the door to stay afloat. So this was a period of non-ideal work with clients that really didn’t fit.
But the whole point was to stay alive, while we built momentum.
That momentum? Writing on LinkedIn most days, guesting on podcasts, and networking with anyone willing to make eye contact with me.
It was brutal.
Fullstride gained referrals. Most were duds.
The typical referral was a business that came knocking with a preconceived notion of how they’d work with us. The age-old “here’s what I want you to do and how you should do it” mentality.
Most weren’t familiar with our operating model. They didn’t appreciate what they didn’t know. And many were convinced they were just buying technology that would fix what ailed them.
Some would change course and opt-in. It took time for them to come back around and I’m convinced it was my content that slowly won them over.
Even so, it was an uphill battle most days.
But then everything changed in Q3 of 2024.
Zero effort sales and quick closes
Inbound started to work.
After months of sharing my perspective and shedding light on all the ways most businesses struggle or fail when pursuing their first WMS…
I was getting meetings with folks that came in ready to go.
They were familiar with my mindset.
Used my words.
And just want to confirm they were a fit for me… mindblowing.
And that I was legit.
Essentially, was I who I appeared to be on my video posts.
In the last month alone, I’ve closed two clients with one or two 15-minute conversations and onboarded them a few days later.
They were totally onboard with my model. No risk perceived.
What comes next
Clearly, this is still the early days for Fullstride.
My frameworks are continuing to evolve. I’m learning something new on every engagement and still working on how I’ll build a team to augment or replace myself eventually.
And I love working with mid-sized businesses.
The people are passionate and I know I’m so much closer to helping build up the local economies than I ever was helping the massive corporations I served with my first business.
I’m also building this business to sell.
Not that I will sell it, but I want the option and I want the ability to step back or away periodically as life hits me with the inevitable surprises.
My kids are all nearly grown, which means one of those surprises may be the introduction of the next generation. Scary yet exciting at the same time.
Something else I do know now is that I love business. I love creating products (or services, solutions, whatever you want to call them) that solve real issues and allow me to build IP that is reusable.
That allows me to build something scalable.
At least far more scalable than slinging hours at a billable rate. Did that with my first company, hated it, and never going back.
Not slinging hours means scope is incredibly important to nail and pricing strategies require real thought and a long-term, factory oriented mindset.
If you enjoyed this article and want to follow along on my journey, follow me on LinkedIn and tell your friends, peers, colleagues as well.
