Colin Sprake talks about the quarterly investor call he forces himself to make, even when business is struggling. He argues that success means doing hard, uncomfortable things consistently, and that keeping investors informed matters more than having perfect numbers to report.
There's a conversation that I have to have every single quarter, and it drives me crazy, but I do it because I have to. I have had investors invest in different businesses with me over time. Sometimes those businesses don't go as good as they should, or they take a lot longer to get to where they need to get to. And guess what? Every single quarter, I pick up that phone, I send an email, and I make sure they know what's going on. That's the story of a really good business owner. At the end of the day, you do the tough things whether you feel like doing them or not. That's the definition of success for me in so many ways, and people don't really get that. For me, it's about doing the tough things. I make those phone calls, and I pray one day that I'll make those phone calls and people will be like, "Oh, Colin, finally we got to the finish line. Finally we hit that ball out of the park." And that's what I always wish for them. But you know what? I make the calls every single quarter. I don't feel like doing them. There's lots of anxiety that comes up around them, but I do them anyways because that's what a great business owner does. And I hope you do the tough things too, and you do the things that get you really uncomfortable to get you to that next level.
