The Guide to Becoming a First Time Founder - Step 1: Love your motivations

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do." --Steve Jobs, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple

Where to begin? Deciding this is often the hardest part of any new venture, including this guide. You could begin by brainstorming, sketching, creating a business plan, or even just talking to a friend about your ideas. However, I think the most critical step is defining your personal mission. This is much harder than it sounds, as knowing what you want is often difficult to break down into words, and why you want it is an even harder question to answer.

So many first-time founders, myself included, want to launch their project for the wrong reasons. Money, fame, independence, freedom, it is after all the dream of entrepreneurship. These founders are often doomed to failure from the start because there is a 90% chance that your startup will fail at achieving any of these things, successful or not.

By now I am sure you have heard the advice often give to founders "Love what you do." I see it as an attempt to warn you that you better love what you are doing because attempting to create a business will be one of the hardest things you do in your life. Considering this, I believe you should take it one step further. Break down why you love what you do, and ask if yourself if you love your motivations.

See, love is such a powerful emotion, one that can transcend almost all others... fear, doubt, excitement, anger the entire cocktail you are bound to experience on the journey ahead. Remember, the only thing that can cause your startup to fail is your willingness to give up. Love will play an essential role in reminding yourself why you do what you do and providing the motivation that you will need when it seems like everything is fucked.

In your effort to become a "successful" founder you will more than likely end up becoming a broke, introverted, and stressed out workaholic. The simple fact is most want to be entrepreneurs would be better off applying their ambitious work ethic to moving up the ladder at a steady well-paid job. Living comfortably and not stressing about the bills, employee relations, taxes, raising money, accounting concerns, and all the other areas where a founder must learn to become an expert.

So if you are just now beginning your journey into entrepreneurship, maybe you have filled out a business model canvas or created a pitch deck, I ask you to revisit it from this angle. Ask yourself do you love this idea, and do you love the thought of being known for bringing it to life. Is it your passion?

I can promise you it is worth the effort, and if you complete this exercise honestly, you will have the answer to your motivation when you need it the most. When your co-founder quits, while you are working unpaid, when you have to fire your best friend, when you get no's, when your first customer tells you that you suck, when you run out of runway, and hundreds of other things that can and will go critically wrong in a startup. Knowing why you love what your doing will be your keys to success, and it is precisely why it is step one in this guide.

A few questions that can help kickstart your reflection process:

• Why do I want to be a founder?
• What do I personally want my company to achieve? Why?
• Who am I doing this for, and why do they matter to me?
• Who/what will I hurt if this idea becomes a Unicorn. Am I ok with this?
• Why am I the right person to pursue this idea?
• What would make me give up or quit on this idea? Why?

NOTE: If you enjoyed reading this chapter of The Guide to Becoming a First-time Founder, please give it a thumbs up and share it with your personal network, and follow my articles if you want to a notification when I release the next chapter. Your support is appreciated. Cheers for now and until next time! -TS