Five lessons I learned in my startup

Initially the title of this post was '5 colossal mistakes I made in my startup'. Before pushing the publish button, I pondered on the implications of the title and decided that ultimately the mistakes were made, they are in the past. When I look at these mistakes now, in the present moment they have become my experiences. By substituting the word 'mistake' for 'lesson', all of a sudden the title is not that gloomy and in fact describes an ongoing process in my startup, one that I wake up everyday grateful to be part of.

1. Lacking discipline. The first few weeks of my startup as I assume in many others, clouded by various predictable and unpredictable obstacles on how to proceed. Questions about target market, business model, financial projections, proof of concept, contracts, shareholder agreements etc were pieces of a puzzle that I had to put together. The workload became more and more overwhelming and I found myself engulfed in 100 things to do. This led to a lack of focus and meeting certain objectives. Luckily, a wise friend someone told me to write down top 3 goals to achieve for each day and focus on those only before moving forward. This has proven very effective and also helped me deal with the second mistake I made below.
2. Placing all the burden on my shoulders. As a medical doctor, I have come to realise that most of my traits I have developed over my career are probably not well suited for entrepreneurship. Sure the ideological characteristics of being empathetic, promoting a healthy lifestyle, being knowledgeable and plain respectful towards others is relevant for a startup owner. However, I also quickly realised that having those same traits have made me vulnerable when dealing with certain business decisions. What I found myself doing was to take on other people 'monkeys' on my back and tried to solve every single problem, crisis that arose. One big lesson learned is that not every fire in a startup needs to be lit out instantaneously. Whilst doctors are trained to work independently, they also must rely on teamwork to achieve results. So this is what I did, I started reaching out to individuals who could guide me in making decisions and little by little I noticed how the monkeys were coming off my back.
3. Neglecting to take care of myself. As mentioned above, it became a daily struggle to meet the needs of those that were directly or indirectly related to my startup. In the midst of trying to over accomplish, something gave, me! As a startup owner, I am glad that in the early phases, I am learning now to take care of myself and take time-out from the demands, pressures and even opportunities. Not every single lead is going to be successful. I can choose to listen to my gut instinct as well and not have to (over) analyse things. Preserving my health on a daily basis is a task in itself and for every startup owner must be top 3 goal in order to nurture the startup. Because at first I was driven by the full-time demands of my startup, I made the following mistake;
4. Not living in the present moment. A startup is needs to be nurtured in order to grow and this can really happen in the present moment. My judgement was clouded by big ideologies. Don't get me wrong, it is good, in fact necessary to think big, as this is what pushes me to move forwards. However, I spent very little time in the now, assessing the current situation and how that would affect future decisions. A startup that practices the present moment on a daily basis will flourish because all its needs are taken care of at that moment. The present moment is the best place to take action for life and for a startup. Visions of the past and for the future can cloud the present moment. The good thing is that I can draw upon those visions from time to time as a reminder on how to make (wiser) decisions. It does not mean that I will not make unwise decisions, but by avoiding the next mistake, I am sure to being on the right track;
5. Making assumptions. When looking back at certain assumptions I made and how it drove me to take decisions, I just want to kick myself. Assumptions come with a price and in most cases this can be costly. As I reflect in my medical career, I base the vast majority of my clinical decisions concerning diagnosis or treatment on evidence not on assumptions. Granted that there are outliers, just as in a startup, I found early on that placing importance or emphasis on assumptions is costly in time, money, effort and even reputation. So how did I overcome this mistake? unfortunately I don't think it can completely be overcome. A startup is 80% based on assumptions and 20% based on facts and as it grows into a business, there is a shift towards 80% facts and 20% assumptions. One way for me to make sure that the assumptions hold strong and justifiable is to do my research, set that as a one of the goals for the day.

Today as we celebrate international woman's day, I ask women who have a startup to also share their lessons learned and any tips that can encourage others to take this journey.