Avalanche Creative
Making It Stick Is Tough: How One Startup Beat the Odds
In 2019, Lance and Rayanne decided they wanted to grow the business beyond just Lance. Rayanne joined the company that spring to start work toward hiring a team. While they believed they were poised for growth, they knew they were still novices. By early 2020, they needed some clear direction—and expert advice—if they were going to grow the business effectively.
So why did Lance choose StratOp as his strategic planning tool?
“I blame it on Jay Hidalgo!” he said.
Our partner Jay had been friends with Lance and Rayanne for years, and he followed their journey from the start. They’d also heard good things about my coaching and consulting services. So when they needed some expert guidance, he highly recommended StratOp to help them achieve their goals.
Early on, Jay explained to them that “StratOp” is a blend of two words, “strategy” and “operational,” that are vital to any successful strategic planning process. Strategy is the art of planning for tomorrow, while operational is the discipline of managing today.
In their first meetings, Jay started Avalanche’s fledgling team off with a facilitated planning process that was transformative for them.
“Basically, it’s a system, not an event or a seminar,” Lance said. “Four years later, we’re still glad to be on board.”
As we always say: plan the work, work the plan—and the plan will work.
For Avalanche, using StratOp for strategic planning has made all the difference.
“We never could have gotten to where we are today if we didn’t have a clear vision, direction, and plan… as well as someone (Jay) and something (StratOp) to hold us accountable to it,” Lance said.
He noted that the way that StratOp guides Avalanche to evaluate where they are and where they want to go allows them to see what it’s going to take to get there.
“StratOp has helped give us so much clarity about our identity and core values as a business,” Rayanne said. “Understanding our priorities has given us a foundation for every leadership decision. On a personal level, [Jay has] also been fantastic in coaching us through many specific challenges and key decisions over the years.”
StratOp has helped Avalanche Creative grow bigger and faster than they could have imagined.
“We are actually now at a place where we want to intentionally slow down because we’ve built up so much momentum since we started doing StratOp,” Lance said.
StratOp gave Avalanche clarity and perspective, and it showed them things they might have missed.
“On a few different occasions, it has really brought some human resources issues to light,” Rayanne said. “We ultimately have had to let some personnel go because it became clear that they were not a good fit. This is never an easy decision, but ultimately it was in the best interest of both the employer and employee.”
However, these decisions helped Avalanche learn a few valuable takeaways from StratOp.
“If you can dream it, you can achieve it,” Lance said with a laugh. “Seriously, if you set an intentional vision and then build a tactical plan around achieving it—with a lot of accountability mechanisms along the way—you really can make it happen.”
StratOp enables businesses to understand what it takes to “make it happen” and decide whether they want to proceed with it.
Using StratOp for Small Businesses
It is so easy for small businesses to “just wing it” because they believe that’s how people end up starting or owning a business. But winging it will always lead to chaos and inconsistency. That’s why Rayanne says strategic planning has been essential for getting Avalanche Creative to a place of longevity and sustainability. “We spent so much of the early years waiting anxiously to find out what surprise was around the corner, and not feeling confident that we knew how to lead our business and navigate challenges,” she said. “It felt like we were either getting lucky or unlucky and simply had to ride the waves.” But now that they’ve relied on StratOp for nearly four years, Lance and Rayanne know they have the power and ability to proactively direct their business’s future—rather than simply react to external forces. “I’m sincere when I say that I am 100% sure we wouldn’t be where we are today without StratOp and [Jay’s] personalized, practical consulting help,” they added. “I also feel so comfortable knowing that even though we are at a turning point in our business, we have a platform to create the vision and plan for this next stage of the business. And I know I can trust it!”
Consider StratOp for Your Business
If you’re running a business or nonprofit, regardless of your size or specialty, StratOp is a proven path to increasing your growth and impact by providing achievable goals that result in sustainable progress. We have the privilege of facilitating the StratOp process with the innovative leaders and teams at Avalanche Creative, and we invite you to consider having us work with your organization, too. To discuss what that might look like, contact us to set up an informal chat.