Fundraising is a mind game.
I'm currently working with a number of clients, who are founder CEOs running growth start ups.
These individuals are constantly fundraising. Moving from series A to series B to C… forever fundraising. And if they're not fundraising, they're working out how to ensure they get hockey stick growth so that they can fundraise the next round.
Many clients are exhausted and down-troddened by the experience; frustrated that they can't just get on with their primary leadership role.
In this post, I want to direct our attention to what’s going in the mind of the CEO.
I hear things like, “the fundraising market is really tough right now”, “no-one is going to want to invest in me”, or “can we really grow at the speed that I'm projecting in my presentation?”
They’re asking themselves, “I’m just not sure, if we are really that different? Are we really worth investing in? These VCs and wealthy individuals are really sharp. Will they see through me? We've had so many no’s, what if we don't raise the money?”
There is constant noise in the mind, chatter and internal voice that is not that helpful. Those constant thoughts, that rhetoric, what does it do?
If there’s a voice in the head like that, it impacts how you feel. It actually creates some a negative flow of chemical energy in the body, which basically means that you feel bad and perform less well. And if you perform less well, then you’re more likely to get the very thing that you’re worrying about.
It's fascinating how the mind does that. And you can very quickly get wrapped up, immersed in this story that you’re creating.
The key, I believe, is to not get caught up in the noise of the mind. This is about shifting your relationship to the inner voice. And to stay rooted deeply in what you believe in. Stay deeply rooted in why are you doing this business? Stay deeply rooted in what you believe in that grounds you, empowers you and inspires you.
What is the deep-rooted passion that you've got? And use the power of the mind to envision and dream into what you want.
A couple of examples I’d like to share…
The Power of Dreaming
When my friend set up his ethical business many years ago, he very specifically named his three ideal clients. “These are our dream clients”.
And within five years, the three dream clients actually became clients. Somehow he’d attracted them to his business. He still can’t believe how this happened to this day.
The mind has unexplainable ways of operating. What ever you dream of (good or bad) you’re likely to manifest. So be very careful with your thinking.
So what do you dream of?
As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
Just keep going
When I was a student, I did a door-to-door sales job.
In a typical day, I might knock on 100 doors and out of 100, 30 of those people would be in. And of the 30 that I would speak to, on average, 3 would end up buying from me.
So, of the 100 doors, only three are going to buy. Now, I don't know which three are going to buy. But if I don't knock on their doors or if I knock on their doors but I'm downhearted and not at my best, then guess what? I miss the opportunity to get those three sales. I end up with no sales or one sale when actually three were available that day.
This is the same with fundraising. You don't know who's going to be attracted to you and to your business. You just have to keep going. And you have to believe that what you’ve got is special.
And if you do that and you keep going and keep going and keep going, then eventually, eventually, as if by magic, you’ll find those three buyers.
