Last week, as we flew back from London after attending the CIPR Excel Awards, I picked up “Atomic Habits” by James Clear in the airport. A few pages in, this quote really struck a chord with me:
“When you finally break through the Plateau of Latent Potential, people will call it an overnight success. The outside world only sees the most dramatic event rather than all that preceded it. But you know that it’s work you did long ago - when it seemed that you weren’t making any progress - that makes the jump today possible.”
We’ve just finished a season of awards and it's really nice to see our name in lights and to be recognised amongst the best in the business. I’ve also recently returned home from a trip to Bermuda to build a new pipeline of clients there. We’re feeling inspired and we’ve got lots of new enquiries and an impressive list of new contacts and friends.
What is most striking about this time in our business, however, is that it all seems to have happened at once. It’s overwhelming for sure, but absolutely thrilling!
When I first started the business, I worked from an iPad for four years. I spent more time alone in my house, coffee shops, meeting rooms - you name it! Whenever and wherever I could do business, I did it and I did it alone (apart from when I was, in later years, accompanied by nappies, bottles and all that goes with juggling motherhood with business!) I doubted myself and in hindsight, I didn’t really know where I wanted to take the business. I didn’t have an office; I didn’t have a computer and I didn’t have a team. I did, however, have grit and a love for what I was doing.
And now… after all the hard graft, the tears, the doubt, pushing through boundaries and making the impossible possible, it feels like we’re reaching the Plateau of Latent Potential. It is not an overnight success. Mitso didn’t “come out of nowhere”; we’ve just started to truly reap the rewards.
When I say ‘we’, I mean the three amazing ladies who have joined me on this crazy journey and who have also been working quietly, honing their talents, doing the late nights, and striving for success over the past few years. All without complaint and without the need for exposure.
To be frank, although it might not seem like it of late, we are more interested in doing great work than being seen. We have a few hundred followers on each of our social accounts - we don’t want 10,000 people to know what we had for breakfast! We want to keep doing great work and be known for all the right reasons and by all the right people.
Most importantly, although it might seem like instant success to some, I think it’s important for us to remember that it is the sum of many years of solid work. During some of our more challenging days, it’s comforting to know that even though it might feel like we’re not making progress, the work we do every day will continue to stand by us and give us all the success we deserve.
If it happens to come all at once, we’ll take that any day!
