Lesson 5: You can learn and do anything if you're willing to get your hands dirty
Not having experience in something doesn't mean you can't rock it in no time
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The way most of us have been brought up and educated suggests that we first learn how something is done, and then go on to do it ourselves. Entrepreneurship takes this notion and breaks it into pieces.
From day one of your founder’s journey, you start wearing many hats and juggling multiple responsibilities. Since you don’t start out with a full-fledged team of experts in each area of your business, you learn how things are being done by having to do them yourself. As a first-time founder, this scares the ssshhh** out of you. You can sense that you’ll inevitably make mistakes and do many things the wrong way.
I studied Digital Media, and then Visual Communication.
Did I know how to develop a product? How to do user research? Marketing? Accounting? Partnerships? How to set up a company? How to find the right people for my team? How to manage and lead them? How to grow our social media following? How to automate workflows? How to define KPIs and do project management? How to track and analyze metrics? How to optimize for PMF?
The list goes on.
My point is, I learned none of it in any of the four universities I’ve been to.
And yet, I have done all of it, and much more.
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The side effect of leaning in and learning by doing is that you gradually lose your fear of the unknown. You learn that you can learn anything.
You even thrive on delving into new fields because you start enjoying the growth you’re experiencing there. You start seeking challenges proactively as you see how the familiar prevents you from broadening your horizon.
What has terrified you once is now bringing you true joy.
Your self-confidence increases in proportion to the number of times you thought you wouldn’t be able to do something and ended up doing it. Your comfort zone expands in relation to the courageous actions you take. Your business grows to the extent you do.
When you leave the “This is not my area of responsibility” world and have no other choice than to make it your job, you enter a new world. In this world, googling is like breathing. Researching best practices becomes a natural part of every new activity. When you can’t find answers fast enough online, you ask other people, e.g. fellow founders, mentors, advisors, or colleagues.
It’s not that fear disappears forever and you never experience it again. Often, it transforms into excitement. Rest assured, it doesn’t stop you anymore. When you’ve been a founder for a while, you can take on any job and rock it.
“IF YOU KNEW YOU COULD HANDLE ANYTHING THAT CAME YOUR WAY, WHAT WOULD YOU POSSIBLY HAVE TO FEAR? The answer is: NOTHING!” ― Susan Jeffers, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway?
This post is part of the series “100 things I learned by becoming an entrepreneur” that I launched to reflect on my founder journey, nudge fellow founders to appreciate their own progress, and inspire more women to make the leap to entrepreneurship. Subscribe to get all hard-earned lessons featuring helpful tips & tools delivered to your inbox as soon as I hit publish ???
Driving impactful fund operations at ACE | BMW Foundation Responsible Leader | Mentor to women founders | Investor scout | All views my own
1 年Learning by doing is how I learn best! One step at a time baby ??
Emerging eco-industrialist
1 年Sometimes I feel frustrated about how long it takes to figure things out. Isn't it easier just to ask or read up about someone else's experience? I think our solutions to problems improve if you took the time to test it and make mistakes while doing it. Sometimes it is embarrassing to "share" your knowledge and then others go "yeh, duh, we know; that is how it works". Don't take that personal. Your experience builds your character and grit.
Referentin für Digitalisierung & Product Owner Digitale Akte
1 年I can so much relate to your description of your founder‘s journey. Stretching yourself to all realms that come with running a company. It’s a tough journey but very rewarding experience. It’s exactly what you describe. You grow so much into this that you feel you can embrace our fear and love her because deep inside you know you can do it all.
Founder at Global Impact Alliance
1 年Saw your post Dora Petrova & smiled. Thought of how I actually stumbled into being a company founder. I had been in India for a year, working for HP. Left the job as I wanted to do my own thing, off the hierarchies & constraints of a job description. Started out as a freelancer offering intercultural training - only to find out that I can’t do that as a foreigner in India. Needed to have a Pvt. Ltd. set up for that. So here I went, no clue on how to do that in general (first time entrepreneur, no entrepreneurial parents, rather academic business training from university & only 2 years of work experience ??) nor a big connoisseur of the Indian market (only being and working there for one year) - plus didn’t have a co-founder nor a business plan. Sat down, came up with a plan (was fun!), found 2 Indian co-founders and got started … which ended up with me being in India for 7 years, helping European SMEs with market research about India, finding the right business partners, facilitating JV workshops, giving intercultural trainings etc… So YES, you can figure it all out. You‘ll fail in between, learn, try again. It all works out in the end. Especially if you realize business can be such an amazing inner growth teacher …
Yes, you can do video without losing your charisma and influence ?? Ready-to-post videos from relaxed?conversations where I pull out your brilliance | Tend to think in GIFs and Tees
1 年I can totally relate to the ‘if you’re willing to get your hands dirty’ part ??