We Thought We Had It Figured Out

This weekend Greg and I worked on the new chicken coop and run for Chicken Village. 

We'd been working on it for a few weeks and knew we were getting close. We thought the new chicks might move into their new home this weekend.

Before we started building, we had measurements, we had a plan, and this isn't the first run we've built. So we were pretty surprised when we realized, after it was assembled, that it needed to be twice the size. 

Then we went inside the coop to finalize our plans for finishing it. My plan was simple. Paint it and be done. 

Except once we were standing there, it was obvious the studs needed to be closed in. And then I said the word "electricity," and we both realized we had more planning to do. 

If the wall board had gone up first, we'd have been running extension cords instead of designing it to have everything we need. 

Here's what I realized, standing in a half-built coop with paint on my hands:

We thought we had it all figured out. We didn't. It took standing inside the coop to see what we'd missed. 

Starting a business works the same way. 

It takes longer than you think. It doesn't look the way you pictured. And some of it won't occur to you until you're in it. 

When I started RocketGirl Solutions in 2010, I was 50 years old and running it out of spiral notebooks. Eleven years and more than 200 clients later, it had become something I never could have dreamed up in year one. I didn't figure it out and then start. I started, and then I figured it out. 

Planning isn't the problem. Treating the plan like it's finished is. The plan is where you start. Then you adjust it, a little at a time, as the business shows you what it needs. 

And here's the best part of realizing our miscalculation. The second half of that run is going to go much faster than the first. The wood is bought. We know what we're doing now, because we already started. 

That's what starting buys you. Not a perfect plan. Momentum. And the chance to catch the big things before the walls go up. 

The girls will get their new home. Just not on the schedule I planned. 

Start building. The rest shows up as you go.