“Our own mistakes are our teachers”. My mother must have told me a countless number of times. Today, I remember her words almost every single day, especially after starting my own startup venture.
In this article, I wanted to share three lessons I learned through my entrepreneurial journey so far. Ones, I took the hard way to learn!
First, "we support startups" is one of the ecosystem's biggest lies! Why? Because as a startup founder, you support me when, and only when:
• You pay me my dues on time and don't disrupt my cash flow
• You don't ask me to work for free or to offer free services
• You offer me discounted services instead of charging me your usual corporate price
• You don't ask me for costly equity against basic services
• You get back to me after I have shared a proposal, or an invoice, instead of keeping me waiting
• You help me grow by not forcing me into exclusivity contracts
• You are there for me when I need guidance, without invoicing me for each and every piece of advice
• You don't say you "support startups" unless you fully and genuinely do!
These are scenarios we lived during our first year in business!
Second, enterpreneurship is not a part-time hobby. If you want real return on investment, you need to invest seriously in resources, including your own time! No matter how focused you are during those after-hours that you commit to your venture, it needs continuous attention and follow-ups. Many things end up not going as planned and you will need to be addressing them in time! You can hire part-timers and freelancers to support you in day-to-day tasks, yet as a business owner and leader, you cant as it is like giving half your business away.
Third, diverting focus from one priority to another is way costlier than you think! Even if you and your startup are agile, shifting focus from what has a good ROI is costly and not favored. It will take a great efforts and countless resources to get things done right. If you shift focus, this will leave you exhausted in several ways. Also, there is no guarantee that going back will be easy and following the initial plan will still be feasible!
These were the three great lessons my mistakes taught me to date. As for you, how's your journey going?
If you are stuck in any of those scenarios, feel lost, or just want to vent, let's chat. Reach out, I am happy to get on a call to help you out!
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