To Serve With Love, ...Balancing Loneliness with Empowerment, IEIE

9 years ago I had this idea to create a hobby shop, but not just any hobby shop, a participation hobby shop that could create businesses from within the business.

I thought it was brilliant, that people could come in, browse and purchase the arts, crafts, projects or electronics and actually make things on the project tables.

I thought this could be the introduction to what I really wanted to see, and that was to see people create brand new things, that could potentially turn into patents that I would help fund and turn into a new manufacturing business. If built well, could serve billions of people around the world.

I was then going to create this beautiful big building to have arts, music, robotics, engineers, tinkerers, carpentry and a restaurant with people sharing their ideas and creating teams...

As a multi-entrepreneur with a passion for robotics and all forms of engineering, well it wasn't long before I really put some detail and lots of love into this idea.

Before long my wife was doing that eyebrow thing she does when I talk about 'one thing' for too long or too often, ... which I of course resolved when I noticed it.

A few years later, and a couple of other failed endeavours later, I actually created the opportunity to create this shop, bootstrapped from working 100 hour weeks again wherever I could, and saved several grand to open the shop and introduce the beginning concept to a small town where I live, thinking a hobby shop 'platform' would be the way to introduce the concepts I really wanted to get to later.

Being a small town, the easiest way to create interest in any part of the main street was to simply go in the night we had the keys, and put up black out curtains to prevent anyone seeing in. So the next day, people noticed that the previously-long-time-vacant shop had changed, they could no longer see anything inside, and the guy that just quit his job further down the street came in and out of this secretive shop a few times a week.

Rumours began, and after a week we put a small sign on the door saying that we would reveal what we were doing on the 11th of August. So the sign increased the rumours and slowly put an end to the rumour that we were doing 'less-than-legal' activities in there lol :D

We opened on schedule, the morning after I had planned a surprise 40th birthday party for my wife, which unfortunately no one turned up too, but we celebrated ourselves and our shop anyway.

People expressed their love and appreciation and encouragement for us, etc.

3 months later we had to close up shop.

Love and encouragement doesn't keep the doors open like actual purchases do.

It was too rare to have a sale, and the last week we only had $3 incoming, total, which meant we were so so so lucky that this happened before we would have been forced to shut down in the last couple years of lockdowns. So I'm so grateful that I got to fail separately to 'global event's' because I get to take 100% accountability for the growth, the mistakes, and the lessons learnt from the experience I created for those short few months.

Let me tell you that I sure as hell didn't feel that at the time though.

I was a wreck for the next 3 months. I was upset. I was angry. I was disappointed.

I went quiet for a while and got us new jobs to concentrate on.

Then we began to recover our footing, and put a new plan together.

Then we began to action that plan after being incredibly honest with ourselves as to working out as many red flags as we could identify.

We found and evaluated even more red flags when we discovered someone had done exactly what I was trying to achieve 500kms away, and was making it a success, including creating businesses from within their business by supporting one of their clients' creations.

This is just part of the journey of being a creative person, an entrepreneur, an engineer, and inventor by heart. We have to have thick skin to do the next project, the next business, support the next cause, or we'll never create fulfilment within ourselves.

To create thick skin, we have to go through our losses, minimise our wallows, and create strength and creativity with accentuated confidence enough to try again, without turning ourselves into an arrogant person (or the like).

The red flags in creating each business are noted every single time, so we can adjust for the next creation, and try something different.

A few things are always consistent with the successes and the failures.

The successes have to serve as many people as we can organise to serve simply.

The successes have to appeal to as many people within range of the voice speaking for the business.

The successes could be built steadily, with infrastructure placed as needed, before they were needed.

The successes toppled if flooded with customers and clients.

The failures cannot stand a drought of customers and clients.

Over confidence is an automatic fail.

Under confidence doesn't get created before someone else does it for you.

If you never try, you'll always regret.

If you don't pick yourself up and try again, you'll regret even more.

As long as you're still breathing there is still hope and opportunity to find and fulfil.

To feel loneliness or empowerment is sometimes a choice.

To feel loneliness or empowerment is sometimes just a part of that project or opportunity, and just a fleeting memory of it.

I would have loved to see that particular business thrive.

I'm no less of a man knowing that it didn't.

I've already learnt from two other projects since then, but now I have two other projects succeeding side by side.

The opportunities I create alongside Time itself, will tell how many successes or failures I endure.

This is what it takes,

...To Serve With Love...

... as an Introverted Entrepreneurial Inventing Engineer.

Shaun Svensdotter.