Blog 3.7 - Lesson #7 about year 1 of Start-up
Blog Caveat
? This isn’t going to include the obvious ‘lessons’ that aren’t really lessons because they’re inherently known and understood to be fact: "It’s hard" "takes a lot of work" "requires a lot of patience" "a little bit of luck" "it ain’t always pretty" etc...etc.
? After writing the list with full explanations and getting to 3,000 words, I’ve come to the conclusion that ain’t nobody got time for that! So due to the limitations of the style of blog LinkedIn allows I’ll release the details of each 1-day at a time. #Cliffhanger
? Comments and questions are greatly appreciated. Let’s start a conversation.
Lesson #7 about year 1 of Start-up
7. It’s okay to take up a job when you realize you need money to keep you going
Issue this alleviates: Just because you’re pursuing your dream, doesn’t mean you have to give up everything and live off of nothing. Taking a job to pay for bills might be a blow to the ego and cause a little shame, but neither of those matter more than your personal standard of life.
What happened for us: After the crazy 5 months of exhaustion and no money coming in, it became irresponsible to think that I had to carry-on this way. The company needed a break and I needed a break from blowing through my savings. Now I will admit, this point is a little personal to me and I want to point out that everyone’s tolerance for standard of living and financial stability is different. What I didn’t expect to happen but ultimately did, was that I learned an INCREDIBLE amount of new things in my new workplace that were directly applicable to what was missing in the business.
Why this was important: The decision to-go back into the workplace was a personal one that stemmed from my self-awareness that if I were to take care of myself (financially) for now, it can repair my spirit and encourage more patience when entering the next (planning) stage for the business. But to be completely honest with all you readers, one of the most important things to taking this job was to just get myself out of bed in the morning, give me a concrete 8-hours of responsibility in the day, and get me into bed a decent hour as well. These were all challenges I was having as the level of autonomy without much to look forward too in the short-term was definitely taking its toll! Self-awareness I tell ya!
Lessons 1-6, 8 - 10
1. It really helps when your product serves the needs/interests of your friend group
2. How you portray yourself to your market is more important than the reality
3. You need to be cocky enough to believe you will be the 1% that is successful
5. Identifying and asking someone to be your mentor is the most invaluable relationship
6. Don’t be afraid to take a step back and pivot
8. It’s really hard to motivate people without paying them
9. Talk to your parents about what you’re doing
10. Every platform is super important to be on, even LinkedIn for the eSports industry
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Corporate Finance & Strategy | Writer | Researcher | Gamer
6 年Welllll said!