When I was 14, I joined the Junior Air Force in Australia, known as the Air Cadets. The first night I went along, I saw them marching around and calling orders and having their uniforms inspected. As as teenager, I thought it was the stupidest thing ever.

I vowed not to go back.

Fortunately, when I wasn’t looking, my mother paid the $60 annual membership fee, and to give you a sense of how tight finances were at home, I knew that wasting $60 was a hanging offence. So, I went back to Air Cadets and after making it through the first couple of confusing months, it was one of the most formative things I’ve ever done.

I learned a lot from my experience, as I rose up from the rank of “Cadet” (a mirror of “Private” or “Sailor” or “Airman”) to become the equivalent of Staff Sergeant. But there’s only one of those experiences that came to mind tonight as I mentored one of the latest batch of StartMate companies – it is always easier to be the Drill Instructor than to be the guy marching.

While folks with some appreciation of the military will think this is because seniority bestows privileges (it does), what I’m talking about is the benefit that some distance and perspective provide. From a short distance away, you can see the whole squad/company. You can see how they’re moving, what they’re doing wrong, who is out of time. You get a perspective that the people in the parade, who can only see the person beside them out the corner of their eye, can’t possibly see.  They’re focused on what they’re in the thick of, but you, as the Drill Instructor, or DI, you get the benefit of distance and the space of relection.

I believe the same thing is true of many fields. My personal experience, beyond being a DI, is of being an adviser and mentor to startups. It is common to have someone, completely focused on the challenge in front of them, engrossed and committed to it 110%, come to you with a very very long and crappy description of what they’re doing.

This is where the Drill Instructor comes in. One of our companies recently sent a 220 word “quick blurb”, and unfortunately it didn’t really say much. My tips on a format (along with making it shorter) were:

• [ Problem ] – have folks in the industry nodding their heads & identifying with the pain you describe. Two sentences at most.
• [ Solution ] – very very skinny description. you’re not trying to get laid here – just get a first date.
• [ WIIFT ] – why they should give you their time.
• [ Close ] – how to give you their time

The example for these guys, who are in the film production sector, was edited to be:

The irony in all of this is that as quickly as I was able to dispense this advice – probably 15 mins, and just re-reading it I can see lots of room for improvement – I’ve struggled mightly over weeks and weeks to get our own messaging for AffinityLive right. Why? Because with the story above, I’m the drill instructor, but with my main focus, I’m living, breathing and all too close to the subject.

So, if you’re an entrepreneur and you’re having trouble getting is tight, short, sweet, relevant and focused, don’t feel inadequate. We all struggle with it.

Of course, the key in all of this is that its the people marching, the people focusing, driving, continuously improving who live and breathe this stuff that actually star. The Drill Instructors never change the world, they never stand in the arena, take the credit or take the fall, which is appropriate – because it is always easier being the Drill Instructor.