A Man's Reach Should Exceed His Grasp

One of my minor passions is painting. In truth, I have more passion than talent and recently, more ambition than common sense. I've had an recurring image in my mind for the last six months. Finally I've come to admit to myself that I have to tackle it in some fashion - see if I can't capture it in oil. Problem is, I envision it at a certain size, which is four times larger than I've ever painted before.

Well, damn the torpedoes, as they say. I went out and bought the canvas and framers and threw it together so now I have a large blank 6 X 4 canvas sitting at one end of my living room waiting for attention. 24 square feet - it takes up a lot of space and frankly I'm intimidated. Slowly though I've started sketching rough hewn aspects with charcoal. It may take me a while but that's the nature of the game.

I mention this because it's the same pattern for adopting new technology. If you're a small company, just starting out, you have a wealth of choices as far as software to utilize for the various functions you need. In fact, much of it is free, which is truly amazing and more importantly, for a small company, can level the playing field quite a bit. The quality of this free software is in most cases at what we call enterprise level, meaning it's been vetted by corporate IT (information technology) departments who have the cash to really check these puppies out in areas such as security and reliability.

There's a catch though. The software is free but you have to learn how to use it. This is the hidden cost. The more powerful the software, the more complex it is, and the learning curve gets steeper. As an entrepreneur I have to make some key decisions. First I have to have a vision of my corporate infrastructure. What do I need now, what will I need two years from now? What can I afford, much is free, but things like websites and databases have to live somewhere, do I set up my own in an office or do I rent space on a hosting platform. There are literally dozens of questions along these lines.

Second, what do I have time for and where can I do something easier and faster. Today's game is to get up and out with post haste. Once there, you need to run like the wind, so your systems have to be expandable, reliable and most importantly transferable, meaning you can hire someone to come in and pick up what you started.

What you need first and foremost is a image of your company, today and down the road. Picture it as you want to build it, see it as a successful endeavor two years out and then walk the aisles and look around - what are your bottlenecks, what are your people doing, what are your clients requesting? Build today for that image. Frame your painting to the size of your vision and use that to judge how much canvas to buy. Just be prepared to be intimidated for a while as you absorb new technology.