IMPORTANT NOTE: I had planned to post this right at the start of the Coronavirus Outbreak. Since then, so much has changed, but the authenticity that went into building this, the work invested to create results like these, really hasn’t changed. To that end, I want to share this highlight. This is no longer a current representation of where things stand and I’ll be sharing an update down the road. That said, we worked hard to earn this and I’m still proud we got there. So, here’s something positive to read for a change!
I don’t want to disguise the purpose of this blog post with too much literary misdirection. Recently, our organization was named one of the fastest-growing companies in California by the Inc. 5000 list. While it certainly doesn’t mean the challenges we face as an organization have vanished, I thought it would be worthwhile to use this honor as a chance to take a step back and reflect on the series of events that for us define the last decade-plus.
To start, I want to share the dichotomous perspectives on how our business came to be.
The Sky < The Limit
When I started Joffe Emergency Services, I was hoping to find a niche in the CPR training world. Instead, I found a passionate and concerned group of school leaders, looking for a partner who had their community’s best interests at heart. As our team grew and we continued to engage with more and more schools, I realized that there was an opportunity to have a profound and holistic effect on the way communities thought about safety.
Today, Joffe serves over a thousand schools (and communities) across the United States as consultants, security officers, school health practitioners, and safety professionals. We partner with national organizations to deliver professional development on topics like business continuity planning, security audits and even responsive topics like Coronavirus (“it’s our 15 minutes!” As one Head of School just said to me).
When schools call us in a crisis looking for support, we answer.
Batten Down The Hatches
The last decade-plus of Joffe Emergency Services has been equal parts tumultuous and exhausting. While it was great to discover that schools found our work to be even more relevant than I thought, it meant that the company almost immediately launched into rapid -- at times -- barely manageable growth.
At various times, the consequences of this rapid growth forced us to make difficult decisions, eliminated our margin for error, and affected our ability to deliver internally the way we do externally. As simply one example, with so much required focus on investing in and building structures that could support more and more clients, investments in salary increases had to wait. Our retention (and thus our institutional knowledge) suffered because of it. The thin margin of error we faced meant that any mistakes could affect the company’s ability to pay key vendors. Frankly, we were too often a business that reacted to outside events, rather than one that could be proactive.
The Blended Reality
Neither of the above sections wholly represent the reality of what it’s been like to lead one of California’s fastest-growing companies (apologies for repeating myself, I’m very excited about this honor). But encapsulating that reality is important!
Most days, I wake up motivated and enthusiastic: ready to tackle the big company goals of the next decade-plus. I want to serve and support schools in a dozen more ways. I believe we can transform the way we talk about lockdown drills as a nation. Hell, I want and expect us to provide medical and security leadership for the 2028 Olympics!
Other days, I wake up defeated. I think about the emails to send, the clients that need problem-solving, the challenges that need to be overcome to make our next payroll. I think about the fact that it took a decade of blood (not literally), sweat (yes), and tears (no comment) to get where we are today. I think about the almost certain truth that the challenges of the next decade will be larger and tougher than the last.
On these days in particular, I think about Brene Brown’s inspiration, her call to drag myself back into action because I believe our work is worth it, because our team deserves it, and because I honestly can’t think of any other place I’d want to be. I think about this iconic quote from Teddy Roosevelt (edited slightly to ensure that it now applies to everyone):
“It is not the critic who counts; not the one who points out how the strong one stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the one who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if fails, at least fails while daring greatly”.
I share these two perspectives -- the glory days and the vulnerable ones -- in hope of reaching a person who is just starting a new company, who’s struggling at the crossroads between big ambitions and daunting tasks, and encouraging them to get back into the arena. I won’t tell you that it gets easier, because I’m not sure that it does. The good news? That’s not a dealbreaker for me or for you.
If anyone out there wants to discuss the processes of starting, running, and maintaining a business, reach out to me through my site! I would love to hear about and learn from our successes and our challenges.
