Lighting a fire / Starting a business

Friday morning was cold. Cold and damp. We’d not lit the fire in weeks and she was sulking. The rain got heavier as I carried the logs over to the Landy and my t-shirt clung to my back - even the northerner in me was starting to concede this was a poor choice of clothing. The first match didn’t take. Nor the second. Nor the third. I was damp at best.

But we got there, eventually the kindling took, then the logs, the oven warmed and we had a great event that evening. It stuck me though, while standing there nurturing the flames, that lighting a fire's a lot like starting a business. Here are the notes I jotted down in the rain:

The initial spark, that first idea burns bright but struggles to take hold

You need to convince those around you, the body of the oven has to warm. Your energy pours into the surroundings

If you don’t work at it, if you don’t keep working at it, you lose that heat, that momentum and have to start again

Early on one damp log chokes the flames. You need to work with the best, be it people or wood 

There will be damp days, cold days, days when you have to cup the embers and blow to keep the dream alive

When the flames are roaring, when the idea’s established things get easier but we’re not there yet