The other night, we were watching how the first ever rockets were designed and built back in the mid 1940’s by Wernher von Braun. Very interesting stuff and although used at the time as weapons for destruction, they went on to help us leave Earth’s orbit and explore our closest neighbours.

Something struck me as I was watching and learning how they managed to get from a singular rocket engine to a multi-engine rocket capable of blasting through the escape velocity. The answer was shedding weight. They showed an animation of the different fuel tanks dropping off one by one, leaving the core fuel tank to take the rocket into orbit. As we all know, by the time the astronauts are in space, they are just in their command module, the tiny tip of the enormous rocket.

I was struck by similarities between their engineering solutions and the journey of building a business. When I started my journey as an early twenty-something, I was filled to the brim with ambition, naivety, excitement and an extreme lack of doubt. These were my initial fuel cells to launch me off the ground. Burning through each one at the rate of knots, they slowly started to fall off. The time things took to make any real traction was one fuel cell disengaging. The criticism and cynicism you face as you begin conversations with people you didn’t know existed and problems that seemed to crop up out of nowhere. The realisation that the whole project seemed far more complex and daunting in real life than when you were thinking about it in your own time. One by one, the fuel is burnt and you feel momentum slipping.

The next stage is crucial – it’s the final core fuel cell that gets you out of Earth’s orbit and into space. This is the big one and it’s the one directly related to your command module – yourself. Take on board the criticism. Take the knockbacks. Take the differing opinions about where you should go and what your business should stand for. Realise however, that it always comes back to your core and your values. Where do you want to go and how far do you want to take it. Re-energise and escape that velocity of other people’s opinions. You’re then in space. It is a longer game to get to the destination but you are firmly on your way. This is where I am right now. I’ve understood the trajectory that I should be on and I am making my way there. I’m in my command module which only has space for few important individuals who are also totally focussed on the mission at hand.

We’ve come a long way thus far. I’m now waiting for my day to radio down “Mission Complete, Houston”.