Startup lessons from juggling every role possible (and throwing our first party)

It’s been three months since our last behind-the-scenes update. We both seem to have been juggling every role possible lately and so life has felt crazy at times. In a way, it’s hard to believe time is flying by so quickly. But, then we look back and realise we’re making great progress. One step at a time!

Here are a few of our latest highlights…

• We launched our new website (you’re on it!). Hopefully you’ll agree it’s a big step up from the old one
• We officially launched our concept and had our first dabble with film! Thanks so much to Rory for working his magic on us
• We received some glowing feedback from more happy travellers back from their trips. This is a really, really good feeling
• We threw a party to celebrate! Thanks so much to friends, family and travellers for coming to party with us. And a big thank you to The Barrel Project for hosting and keeping us hydrated with delicious craft beers
• We also decided to escape London for a weekend and climb our first mountain here on British soil, Snowdon. We were hoping for fresh mountain air but got more than we’d bargained for… Pouring rain and gale force winds!

Our latest startup lessons…

In between the chaos and celebrations, we’ve tried to step back and reflect on how we work. And, crucially, what we could do better from now on.

Whilst getting Faraway off the ground, we’ve found it essential to throw ourselves into whatever needs doing. (We hope this is the same for any small business?!) In many ways, that’s all part of the fun. But, now we want to get smarter about what we do and stop juggling every role, so we can spend more time on exciting new projects. It’s a work in progress, of course, but watch this space.

As part of that reflection, we’ve explored how we work together with the help of a fantastic mentor. As a married couple, we instinctively know a lot more about how each other thrives than most founding teams ever could. But, it’s been eye-opening thinking about how we can use our strengths to grow our business. It’s easy to get frustrated about all the things you can’t do, so it’s been nice reminding ourselves of the things we can.

In case anyone’s interested, Al’s superpower is that he’s a driving force, great at making sh*t happen and determining the right route forward. Helen’s always got one eye on the future, motivates people to make their dreams a reality and has a strong inner drive to get things done. In other words, a loose cannon and a dreamer…

We haven’t done the exercise that tells you your weaknesses yet……. 😉

Any other founding teams keen to share war stories? If so, we’d love to chat.
Otherwise, head over here and we’ll help you go on a far-flung escape (even founders need a break sometimes, don’t we?).