If you’ve ever dreamt of creating your own startup, you know that it is no small feat. Coming up with an amazing idea, finding supportive partners, and building an effective curriculum can be very challenging by itself, but throw in a shoestring budget and limited time and resources, and you’re set up for a huge undertaking.
However, small businesses and startups still manage to create incredible products, services, and programs every single day. Along the way, they often face many constraints, or obstacles that may limit their ability to accomplish their goals. While often inconvenient and complex, at ROI, we believe constraints can be positive; they challenge us to think bigger and find creative solutions to our problems. Keep reading to learn why we feel this way and gain some insight into how we’ve made our own constraints work for us.
How Constraints Improve Organizations
To understand how constraints can be helpful, consider the story of Brené Brown. In 2004, Brené was a little known research professor studying shame and vulnerability. Wanting to share insights from her research, she wrote a book. After many rejections from agents and publishers, Brene asked her parents for money to help self-publish the book. She sold copies out of the trunk of her car to anyone she could, while also writing her second book. In 2007, Penguin Publishing bought both books and published them. Today, Brene Brown has six number-one New York Times best sellers, one of the most viewed TED Talks in the world, two popular podcasts, and is the CEO of The Daring Way, a company devoted to professional training in the areas of shame and vulnerability.
Brene’s story is inspiring because she did not start with access to a publisher, funding, or a store to sell her books. She used the resources around her and used creative problem solving to overcome her constraints.
This concept doesn’t just apply to individuals, but large organizations as well. Google, Apple, and The Walt Disney Co. all began in their founders’ garages, gradually moving into larger spaces as they gained funding and staff. John Schattner, founder of Papa John’s Pizza, used $1,600 to buy used kitchen equipment and started his business in his father’s bar. These companies all show that working within constraints does not mean your idea won’t be successful; when you use your resources, get creative, and ask for help, you can achieve incredible growth.
In history, companies who face challenges and constraints often become more successful than companies with easy access to funding and resources. A well-known example of this is in the story of Netflix and Blockbuster. When Blockbuster, having ruled the world of video rentals for decades, was warned that the industry was evolving into streaming services, they did not change their strategies, even when Netflix offered to sell their company to them. Netflix, just a fledgling company at the time, chose instead to listen to their customers and evolved into the hugely popular streaming service they are today. Blockbuster is now completely out of business, despite once being the leader in home entertainment. Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, spoke about this experience saying:
“We had one thing that Blockbuster did not: a culture that valued people over process, emphasized innovation over efficiency, and had very few controls. Our culture…has allowed us to continually grow and change as the world, and our members’ needs, have likewise morphed around us.”
By working through their constraints–like small budgets, being unknown in the industry, and earning limited revenue in their early years–Netflix proved that innovation and value creation are often borne from scarcity. Companies and individuals with the world at their fingertips may miss out on valuable insights when they don’t encounter obstacles. When you have to make it work within confined circumstances, you learn many lessons, often leading to a breakthrough.
ROI’s Advice For Working Within Constraints
We often encounter individuals looking to start a non-profit. Many people believe they need lots of physical things to start their organization, like office space, vehicles, and classrooms. However, these assets require heavy costs and often will sit unused; offices and vehicles will sit empty for days at a time, piling up costs with low rewards.
At ROI, we do not invest in office space or vehicles. This helps keep our operational expenses low, so we can put more funding toward our programs. When we do need a space, we use our partnerships to find classrooms and workspaces. Despite not having a physical space to work in, we are still able to achieve our goals. As you can see, our constraints have forced us to build relationships with people who have what they need. And in turn, we believe that using those resources efficiently is key for achieving growth.
Thinking about your own organization or startup ideas, what constraints do you foresee standing in the way of your goals? What resources or people do you know who can help get you closer to your goals? Are there any expenses you have that could be eliminated by using your resources more efficiently? These are all great questions to foster creative problem solving in your organization.
Next time you feel stumped by a constraint, reframe your thinking to see this obstacle as an opportunity for innovation–you might just find a breakthrough.
Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Attn: Rural Opportunity Institute (ROI)
Area L AHEC
1631 S Wesleyan Blvd
Rocky Mount, NC 27803
Email: info@ruralopportunity.org
Email: naomi@ruralopportunity.org
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