Stars and Founders: Living Destinies Alike

I was reading an interview by a noted film star today. And despite being born with a bankable ‘surname’, he was talking about overall unpredictability of a life as a film star and how stardom today is no longer a guarantee of continuous success.

This got me thinking that how this is even true for all us entrepreneurs and hustlers out there – and this article endeavors to understand some common grounds and also the success tips that can definitely help us to keep our heads above water.

1.??????Unpredictability: Guess this is perhaps the most commonest thread amongst stars and entrepreneurs. Every day is a new one, filled with ups and downs. The past successes are no guarantee of future opportunities. Gloom can set in at a second’s notice. But then, those who make it through, know one thing – they have to keep believing in themselves and keep up their game – be it maintaining their physical and mental strength, consistently networking with newer people, keep giving back to their fans and backers, and eventually, be in gratitude of what they already have.

2.??????Choices, choices…and patient decisions: Be it stars requiring to read through multiple scripts and choosing where they can best fit, or entrepreneurs going through multiple decision-making challenges every day and deciding what could be the optimal route ahead – choices – and the ability to patiently evaluating them and deciding on the best course of action and then giving in their best to it without worrying too much of the outcomes – is what keeps both stars and entrepreneurs grooving forward.

3.??????Always presenting themselves to the job: It's not that the stars don’t have emotional upheavals in their lives. Yet, they must learn to wake up and show to the world in their best forms. And similar lesson goes out to entrepreneurs. We know that internally, we may be going through thousands of battles – but to our teams, patrons and supporters – we must put up a brave face and show ourselves. (I’m not saying that we shouldn’t discuss our challenges. We MUST – and we should have the right identified channels for this – this could be our families, mentors, supporters, or even doctors as required. Please don’t just make it to fake it)

4.??????Years-long overnight success: The content industry is replete with examples where someone has tasted success and sudden popularity overnight – but what most don’t realize is the hard work, patience, and being giving one’s best for years into it. We entrepreneurs too follow suit. While some big funding news may put us in the sudden spotlight – what it doesn’t may see is the sweat, blood, and tears that we could have put in for years before that ‘one day. And one more critical lesson here is to maintain that emotional balance – neither let failures put us so down that we can’t up, and neither let successes ride on our heads that we forget where our grounds should be.

5.??????We are our best competitors: Again, the glamour industry has hundreds of stars of varying caliber – and those who are successful understand that they should ideally not get petrified of someone’s else success. They succeed because they are unique and bring something to the table which others may not. The same should be learned by entrepreneurs also. Just because someone has beaten us on the funding game, doesn’t mean that we are any less. It may be just a question of time and that someone would acknowledge us for the uniqueness that we bring on board.

These were some of the similarities that I could think of.

Do you think there are more common things, and lessons, that are common between stars and entrepreneurs? If yes, why don’t you share them here!