Waiting…again

I struggled to decide whether I should write this post. It’s boring and it sounds like a moan (because it definitely is a moan), but then I remembered the whole purpose of documenting this journey is to keep it real. Starting a business isn’t all about willing success to happen, working really hard and then it happens. I’ve learned that – for me any way – it can involve waiting around. I am waiting…again. In the past, I’ve written about the challenges of the Wait and I feel like I’m in that place again. For the first time since April last year, I can’t move because I’m waiting for a big yes, no or maybe.

What’s the hold up?

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we are in pre-production. Our manufacturing team have been quite good about keeping the lines of communication open. This helps, but the waiting is still so hard. This is one of the less glamorous aspects of trying to get production off the ground. I have some marketing work and items I’ve been investigating while I’ve been waiting. However a lot of them seem like academic exercises that I can’t test until I at least have a prototype. I’ve written about not needing to get a perfect product before I shout about Mummy’s Muse, but I feel like I need more than technical drawings to get people excited.

Sometimes I question whether the waiting is a failure on my part. Should I be more forceful with people and my approach in dealing with them? Am I too trusting with reasons why deliverables are late? Basically is there something in what I’m doing or the way I am that is causing this to happen? The thing is I believe in long term relationships and nurturing them, so I’m hesitant to throw my weight around in order to get things done. I’m also telling myself this is the start of this process and I’m a very small client in comparison to big companies that may have huge orders. However, deep down I know that I do need to make my expectations clearer and find a way to communicate this without being disrespectful or damaging what I want to be a really good and long term relationship.

Patience…a virtue?

So the wait continues. I’m really hoping praying, I’ll soon get some news and I’ll be able to move through and finish pre-production, but it doesn’t make this time any easier. In the past few days I’ve had a few ideas of a few other things I can be working on while I wait. I have visions of it being June and I’m still waiting – that would not be good. If I’m being brutally honest with myself, I’m really not ready to pivot again.