Lessons when creating a startup: 13 bits of advice that people don’t tell you...

My dad has been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. I saw him build a company, lose his company, and then change direction to rebuild his whole career. I remember multiple cars and a fancy school, but I also remember the day we moved to a house with ivy growing through the walls, where fleas jumped around the carpet after it rained.

My lessons in startup management began the day my dad lost his business. At seven years old, I had a front-row seat to a daily demonstration of humility and grit as he, with the help of my mum , worked all hours to rebuild. Grit is the ability to maintain delivery of an objective whilst absorbing the enormous, often unrelenting, emotional pain caused by high levels of ambiguity. It's learning how to carry on in the face of adversity. From what I’ve seen, grit is often triggered by either a reaction to hardship or a determination to prove someone wrong. When starting your own business, you will need grit… a lot of it.

The other lesson that I learnt from my dad was entrepreneurialism: the ability to identify something that people need, want, or will pay for and then possess enough self-belief to convince others that they want to buy it from you.

At the age of 70, my dad has a silver beard and continues to charge around on a Harley Davidson motorbike, and he's still identifying niches and getting paid for it. If you're looking for someone to replace the brakes on your car, drive a digger, build a kitchen dresser out of floorboards, drive a trailer around, cook a 200-person BBQ, or build a custom three-wheeled motorcycle, he's your guy.

Even armed to the teeth with the teachings of my naturally entrepreneurial dad, starting Phase 3 has been challenging and stretched me in ways that I didn’t anticipate. With this in mind, I want to share some practical and philosophical advice to those of you who want to start your own business:

• Know your mission. The first thing everyone will ask is why you are doing what you’re doing. It’s certainly easier and arguably less stressful to work for someone else, so why take the risk to create something new? If it’s ego or money, then you’re probably doomed. Find something bigger than you, something that allows you to make an impact on the world. Find the reason that you’ll be willing to work a 16-hour day.
• Spread your risk. DO NOT put all of your eggs in one basket. If you’re looking to create a strong foundation, you’re better off taking five assignments from five clients than five assignments from one client. That way, if one client goes down, all of your forecastable revenue won’t vanish as well.
• Cash in your favors and don’t be shy. If you believe in your product, phone every person you’ve ever spoken to and tell them about it. Don’t do what I did and be polite. I’m not saying that you should be overly aggressive, but every conversation you have is an opportunity. Be confident, get out there, and get after it. 
• Create a support network. Running your own business is hard. You’ll doubt yourself. You’ll question everything you do, and at some stage,you’ll think you’re not good enough. You need to create a network of people to remind you that you ARE good enough and that you’ve got what it takes to get through the day. In addition to your larger support network, find five people who will keep you honest, let you know when you’re being egotistical, and challenge you to be the best version of yourself.
• Value your time. When you pay your own salary, you must value your own time. Everyone will ask you to work for free. Don’t. You have honed your skills over years. Value this. Share your knowledge with whoever you like but make sure you get a return — a favor won't pay your bills, but it can open a lot of doors.
• Get a good attorney. Find someone solid to write your contracts, then outsource whatever else you need to a service like LegalZoom. Nobody needs a legal battle.
• Find a great accountant. A good accountant is worth their weight in gold. Unless you have a CPA, find someone to do your taxes and teach you how to do your books.
• Work out your financial priority. Decide if you’re going to set up your business to make as much profit as humanly possible or to look after and really care for your staff. They are almost mutually exclusive, and the company you build will be shaped by your values. So cut the BS and be genuine about what you’re trying to create.
• Lower your expectations. Don’t forecast your first-year revenue to match your best year at your last company; work to 50% of this, or even less. If you set your targets too high and then can only make 90%, you’ll struggle to feel successful. If you can turn a profit year one, you’ll be way ahead of most new businesses — and have plenty of room for growth ahead.
• Look after your energy. Your own energy is a resource and you need to realize that it’s not infinite. Don’t waste it in areas that you don’t need to. If you can afford it, outsource it. If you can’t afford it, make sure that you only spend your energy on things that move you toward your goal.
• Be grateful to others. Don’t get so wrapped up that you neglect those closest to you; they will give you strength during your hardest times, so look after them. Let them know that you’re grateful for their support.
• Find balance. Life is about three things: work, home, and love. If you can find all three things and keep them in harmony, then you’ll be crushing life. Two out of three is good. Less than that and you need to pull yourself together and come up with a plan to get what you’re missing.
• Take time off. A burnt-out CEO is a poor CEO. You need time to let your mind wander. Creativity is not something that you force; it comes from play. Next time you’re around kids, notice how they haven’t been told that their ideas aren’t good enough or that their imagination is silly. Kids are free and unconditioned, and their ideas are often so far outside the box that they’re revolutionary. Give yourself the same freedom to lark around and be childish with things. Let go of what others think and really push those boundaries. Who knows? You could create something that changes the game and transforms your industry. Remember, you can't be an industry leader by doing what everyone has already done.

As I grow Phase 3, I find myself extraordinarily grateful for the life lessons that I learnt first hand from my mum and dad. However, it’s also important to recognize that building a business takes time. You need to make sure that your daily habits allow you to maintain your mental and physical energy to keep persevering and driving toward your goal.

If you follow some of this advice you might look back a year or two from now and realize that when others look at you all they see is grit. However, the secret of surviving is often not in the blind pursuit of something but knowing how to recharge so that you can go again, and again and again.