Hope all is going well. Cannot believe that we are almost through half of the year already! For the final blog of 2020, I made ten “New Year’s Resolutions” that I would try to enact this year, both at a company level and on a personal level. I figured this would be a good time to evaluate if I am making any progress on the list or like most resolutions, they are going by the wayside. In case you don’t remember my resolutions (and I was not expecting you to recall them), here they are:
1. Switching the blog to a bi-weekly release.
2. Increasing the number of webcasts released in the upcoming year.
3. Enhancing our manufacturing capabilities.
4. Expanding our team.
5. Improving my ability to delegate.
6. Growing the company.
7. Executing the plan.
8. Don’t be afraid to dream.
9. Thinking big!
10. Maintaining the culture.
If you had to guess how many resolutions I have achieved, what would be your guess? I’ll wait while you come up with a number (cue the final Jeopardy music). Got a number? To be completely honest with you, before I reviewed the list, I was hoping that I had at least accomplished one resolution on the list. We are constantly working in so many areas at one time that you lose track of what is going on. I guess that is why this is a good exercise to undertake and something that we all can do in our own lives. This way, if we are not even meeting any of our resolutions, we still have time to try. Believe it or not, I have achieved 5 of my resolutions. I have actually tried on all 10 so I was happy about that. Several of these are out of my control as you’ll soon learn. Still, that is no excuse and I will keep working on getting these done.
Let’s go over the ones that I have achieved, with the first two resolutions that directly impact our awesome followers. As you noticed, we have switched this blog to a bi-weekly release. According to our marketing department (Cameron), we have seen a slight decrease in viewers to the website BUT we have seen a larger number of people going to different parts of the website. We have also increased the number of webcasts over last year. Feedback has been good. Our next webcast is going to focus on our cell chamber device so stay tuned. I must admit that I’ve been able to act on resolution 5 (delegating) more than I thought I would. My goal was to learn to delegate more of my functions to our team members who are more than capable and willing to help out. When you’ve had to do everything since the company’s inception, this is easier said than done.
Delegating some of my duties is allowing me to focus on other core needs of the company such as raising capital (we’ll chat about this in a future blog), developing financial projections and growing business opportunities. We have continued to t
hink big (resolution 9) even when things are not where we want them to be. My wish is that we can find individuals/investors/partners who can SEE and BELIEVE in our vision for the company. I need to be able to provide the high-level image of what this company can become with the right pieces in place. It can be frustrating when you see/hear about so many companies getting funding that do not have anywhere near the technology that BioSurfaces has already developed. The last resolution that we have been able to achieve is to continue to maintain the corporate culture (resolution 10). We are proud of the environment we’ve created and this was no more important than this past year. COVID required us all to work together to protect each other and Tina and I were so proud of how our team was able to get through the pandemic.
Let’s talk about the remainder of the resolutions where, if I were a teacher, I would give partial credit which means there was some action but I am still not where I would like to be. Resolutions 3, 4, 6 and 7 require us to significantly build the business. One of our big plans that we had been working on since last year ended up going sideways (it is any wonder I have an ulcer?), which has really hampered achieving 5 of my resolutions. We were fortunate to make it through COV
ID with the team intact. So many companies did not make it so I am not complaining. It’s just frustrating when something is at your fingertips and slips away. I always describe this like riding a rollercoaster. To me, it has been like riding the most intense ride you can imagine. I think the last partial credit resolution (don’t be afraid to dream - #8) is not so clear cut. I have always been a person who dreams about what things could be, but always from a sense of reality. Every time you get gut-punched by different situations, it makes you dream a little less. It’s not that my belief in the technology has changed. I feel that sometimes I feel that we just haven’t had the luck to connect with like-minded people who have the resources to make this dream a reality. Sadly, it takes funds to make the dream a reality and this has always been a challenge for us. We are never going to BS or overstate what we are, which likely puts us behind so many different deals since there are no over-inflated, unrealistic numbers. These crazy values seem to attract money, like flies on manure. We won’t live there and still dream that we can get the company to where we dream it could be without conducting the craziness. Will let you know how it goes.
I’ll try to provide an update at the end of the year to see if I move the partial-credit resolutions to full credit. Only time will tell.
We’ll see you on June 18th.
Matt