Here is a journey that no one knows the full details of.
Started a #journey few years ago in #digital ventures. I believed that the future in our industry will be about #clientexperience
A big part of client experience is in the process.
We sometimes live #frustrations when we build things and we find out that it doesn’t stand up to the blueprint you imagined.
To exit that frustration, a proper #evaluation of what you’ve done helps. Here is what i have done and here are some findings.
I lived this a #million times over the past few years.
I was spending millions of very hard earned money and the result was unsatisfactory.
I thought of killing the whole thing time after time.
Everyone who cared told me i should kill it. This killed me as i started questioning myself. I did this while continuing to drive forward. It slowed me down however I kept on going.
I spent most of my money and time building (or learning the hard way). It seamed to never work. We fix a side another issue comes up. We build something and then scrap it. We have done this over and over again.
And then we started building cool stuff however it still was with no result. The projects by that time were out of budget 3 times. First time it was out of budget i refunded it from Arms &McGregor Investment fund (we had good money there as i have never taken a penny out of the company since inception, here i am screwing all those savings up), second time i re-funded it from Arms &McGregor operating capital. Third time it happened i sold a personal property and funded.
I had to put an end to this. I have decided that if that money finishes and i get no where i shoot it dead and move on.
At this time i have made my core business suffer, And wanted to go out and grow that business which would not be possible unless the digital ventures work well or i stop them and focus again on my business in a conventional manner.
Feb 2020 came
Everything done at that moment seamed an act of stupidity. Budget depleted again. I have done everything the wrong way. Rather than learning things the right way and doing them right, we were doing things wrong and then changing it multiple times 😂then scrapping it and starting again.
Feb 2020 came and i am contacted by an investment group. They wanted to buy two of the solutions we produced. They were very interested. The group had several investments in similar ventures some of which are very successful. We went forward with talks however hit a wall very fast with the group wanting full ownership of the solution rather than a partial shareholding and they didn’t offer enough profit for me to see merit in it.
😂This fused me up again and i pumped money in again and decided to revisit raising capital. Later that year.
Oops here is Covid-19. Disrupted plans and gave everyone an emotional shock. We have just moved to a new headquarters. 3 times the size, it took us months and lots of money to put it together. We just opened a fine art gallery. Both get shut down with the lock down.
While trying to replan i decided to push forward with transaction automation on propertyeportal.com
It’s definitely a tough decision to take as cash gets depleted that fast and revenues are squeezed.
All of a sudden things look different. I get approached by a new investment group headed by an executive who was leading the talks with the previous one. The approach is to pump capital in return for a share in the business while they come with great expert and give us to new markets.
We may agree or not reach an agreement with the group, regardless it is a breath of fresh air. Sometimes we need validation. When someone sees value you see In something you’re building it reignites your ability to push forward.
Today Arms &McGregor International Group is invested in multiple digital ventures, some solely owned while Others are in partnership with likeminded groups and individuals.
To name few:
Propertyeportal.com
Techchannels ( which is the owner of Verifeco.com the only verified and eco friendly touch less business Card exchange experience
Convert and Get online)
Techchannels Gaming (edutainment & entertainment)
Sharjahre.com (announced in Acres Sharjah an just launched)
Bookanydomainname.com (A holder of hundreds of premium domains)
Stageanyhome.com Transforming spaces
If we reached an agreement with the investment group Propertyeportal will cover 5 countries in Europe.
At such tough times it is more imperative than ever to have your achievements written infront of you as well as your learnings. Confident while Cautious is the ultimate state to be in. 😂although I believe that you should always have the reckless teenager in you alive.
Let me pass on some of my learnings.
1. Be aware but don’t over question yourself. It just cripples you
2. Believe in what you do
3. Be ready to work outside and beyond your plan
4. Research, learn, do. (I did the opposite and it’s painful 🤣)
5. Needless to say never quit
By Makram H. Hani
